What should a janitorial contract include? A buyer's checklist
Most janitorial contract templates online are written for the cleaning company. If you are the one paying, you need different clauses, and a few the templates never mention.
National Cleaning Group ·
A janitorial contract should tell anyone who reads it what gets cleaned, how often, who pays for what, how quality is checked, and how either side gets out. If a clause would not help you settle an argument six months from now, it is filler.
Search results for "janitorial contract" are mostly templates for cleaning companies and guides on winning bids. This is the buyer's version: the clauses to require, the wording that prevents common disputes, and a redline list for any vendor. If you have not chosen a vendor yet, start with our guide to hiring a commercial cleaning company.
The clause checklist
Every janitorial service contract should cover these items. Copy the list into your procurement file or RFP:
- Parties and sites. Legal names, each address, and the floors or suites covered.
- Scope exhibit. Every area by name, its tasks, and nights per week.
- Periodic work. Floor care, carpet extraction, high dusting, and window work as separate line items with frequencies or target months.
- Schedule. Service days, start and finish times, and your holiday list.
- Daytime coverage. Porter hours, clock times, and areas, if any.
- Supplies. Who buys paper, liners, soap, and chemicals, and how restocking works.
- Quality. Inspection frequency, what inspections check against, how you report misses, and the response time.
- People. Background checks, training, uniforms or ID, and whether subcontractors may work on site.
- Insurance. Required coverages and limits, additional insured status, bonding, and certificate renewal.
- Keys and security. Who holds keys, fobs, and alarm codes, and what happens when someone leaves.
- Price. Monthly price per site, rates for extra work, and how the price can change.
- Term and exit. Start date, term, renewal, notice periods, and handover duties at the end.
Scope: write it by area and frequency
The scope should be an exhibit listing each area with its tasks and the nights each task happens. "Clean restrooms daily" is not a scope. "Restrooms (6): clean and disinfect fixtures, refill dispensers, mop floors, five nights; detail partitions and walls weekly" is.
Three wording habits save trouble:
- Use nights per week, not "daily." Daily means five nights to one vendor and seven to another.
- Name the rooms. A building with a fitness room, a server room, and a locked executive suite should list each and say whether it is in or out.
- Separate nightly, weekly, and periodic work. Periodic work is where scope quietly disappears.
Our page on what janitorial services include shows the typical nightly tasks by area, a good first draft.
Periodic work and the skip rule
Periodic work, such as stripping and refinishing vinyl tile, carpet extraction, and high dusting, should appear as its own priced lines with a frequency or a target month. Folded into the monthly price, it is easy to skip unnoticed.
Add a skip rule. If a scheduled periodic service does not happen in its window, the contract should say whether it is rescheduled within a set number of days or credited at the line-item price. Without it, a missed floor job just becomes part of the monthly fee.
Quality: inspections and the response clock
The quality clause should say how often a supervisor inspects, what the inspection checks against, how you report a miss, and how fast the vendor responds. Each of those needs a number or a name.
- Inspection frequency. Weekly or every other week is common in the first months, then monthly once the account is stable.
- The standard. Inspections should score the same areas and tasks listed in the scope exhibit, so a score means something.
- Reporting. One channel for complaints, such as an email address or a named account manager, so issues do not scatter across texts to the night crew.
- Response time. Separate urgent problems (a flooded restroom, a spill in the lobby) from routine misses (a skipped trash can). Urgent ones need a same-day clock.
- Results. Ask to see the inspection reports themselves, not a summary.
Add a review meeting at 60 to 90 days, once the crew knows the building.
Clauses that settle year-one disputes
Templates cover parties, payment, and termination. Year-one disputes come from somewhere else, and these clauses settle them early.
| Clause | What to write | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Scope change rate | A stated price per added suite, floor, or square foot, and an hourly rate for extra porter time | Every new space becomes a fresh negotiation, usually under deadline |
| Wage-driven increases | Price changes only on a set date, tied to a stated cause such as a minimum wage change, with notice | Surprise increases mid-term, or a vendor that cuts hours to absorb costs |
| Supply pricing | Whether paper and liners are included, cost-plus, or billed at a listed price, plus who sets stock levels | Paper costs drift upward with no basis to check them |
| Holiday and closure schedule | The nights with no service and whether those are credited | Paying for nights your building was closed |
| Building rules exhibit | Locked rooms, alarm steps, do-not-touch items, and tenant-specific rules | Crews learn the rules by breaking them |
| Inspection standard | What a passed inspection looks like, by area, and who signs it | "Clean" becomes a matter of opinion |
| Exit handover | Return of keys and fobs within a set number of days, removal of vendor equipment, final inspection | Keys that never come back and a closet full of someone else's machines |
The wage clause is the one buyers skip most. Labor is most of the cost in janitorial work, so a contract with no stated rule for wage changes invites one of two outcomes: an unplanned increase, or fewer hours on your building.
Insurance, keys, and the people in your building
Ask for the certificate of insurance before signing and at every renewal. List the coverages and limits your lease or risk team requires, additional insured status if you use it, and bonding if you want it.
For keys and alarm codes, write down who holds them, how they are logged, and how fast the vendor tells you when a holder leaves. Ask for individual alarm codes so activity traces to a person. Ask whether any part of the work is subcontracted, since that changes who is in your building at night.
Price changes, term, and exit
The price section should show a monthly amount per site, rates for extra work, and the only conditions under which the price changes. The rest is about getting out cleanly.
- Term. One year with renewal is common. Check how renewal happens and how much notice it needs.
- Termination for cause. A short cure period for documented service failures.
- Termination for convenience. Commonly 30 to 60 days' notice. Without it, a weak vendor can hold you to the full term.
- Handover duties. Keys, fobs, alarm codes, vendor equipment, and any supplies you paid for, with dates.
Read the vendor's paper for auto-renewal windows and liquidated damages, the two clauses that quietly favor the vendor. When pricing is the open question, our guide to commercial cleaning cost walks through what drives a monthly number.
Redlines to send any vendor
Paste these into your reply when a vendor sends its standard agreement:
- Attach our area-by-area scope as Exhibit A and make it controlling.
- List periodic services as separate priced lines with a skip rule.
- State extra-work rates and the scope change rate.
- Limit price changes to a set date and a stated cause, with 60 days' notice.
- Add termination for convenience on notice, and remove or shorten auto-renewal notice windows.
- Add exit handover duties for keys, codes, equipment, and paid supplies.
- Require a current certificate of insurance before start and at renewal.
If you are still collecting bids, the same structure belongs in your RFP. Our janitorial RFP guide lays out the fields that make bids comparable.
Bring your clause list to the walkthrough
If you already have a scope exhibit or a redline list, bring it. We walk your facility against it and send a written quote for janitorial services that your counsel can read next to your clauses. National Cleaning Group is insured and bonded, and your risk team can have our certificate of insurance before anything is signed.
Frequently asked questions
Can you provide a template for a commercial cleaning agreement?
Templates online are mostly written for cleaning companies and protect the vendor. As the buyer, start from your own clause list instead: areas and frequencies, periodic work, supplies, inspections, insurance, keys, price changes, term, and exit. Have the vendor's paper reviewed against that list and by your counsel before you sign.
How much is a cleaning contract worth?
It depends on cleanable square footage, nights per week, restroom count, floor types, porter hours, and whether supplies are included. Two buildings of the same size can differ a lot in price because one has twice the restrooms or a heavier floor-care calendar. Compare bids only after they price the same scope.
Who pays for cleaning supplies in a janitorial contract?
Either side can, and the contract should say which. Supplies are commonly included in the monthly price, billed at cost plus a stated markup, or bought by the building. List who buys paper, liners, soap, and chemicals, who sets stock levels, and how restocking is checked, so the paper bill cannot drift upward with nothing to compare it against.
How long should a janitorial service contract be?
Many buyers sign a one-year term that renews, with termination for cause on short notice and termination for convenience on 30 to 60 days' notice. Watch automatic renewal clauses with long notice windows. Put the renewal date in your calendar 90 days ahead so you have time to review or rebid.
How do you write a simple contract for services?
Name the parties and the site, describe the work and the schedule, state the price and payment terms, set the term and how either side can end it, and cover insurance and liability. For cleaning, attach the area-by-area task list as an exhibit so the main agreement stays short and the scope can be updated without rewriting it.