How to hire a commercial cleaning company

Hiring a cleaning contractor is a decision you live with every morning. Tenants, employees, and visitors see the restrooms, lobby, and break room first, and they notice quickly when a crew falls behind. A careful hiring process takes a few weeks and can spare you a rebid a year later.

Here is how facility managers, property managers, and office managers can run it.

Start with your own requirements

Before you call anyone, write down what you need. The proposals will be better and easier to compare.

• Sites and areas. Each address, the floors or suites to be cleaned, and any areas that are off limits.
• Schedule. Service days, the hours the building is empty, and the time the crew must finish.
• Daytime needs. Whether you need someone on site during business hours for the lobby, restrooms, and spills. That is a day porter, priced separately from the night crew.
• Floors. Floor types and whether you want stripping, refinishing, or carpet extraction this year.
• Access rules. Badges, keys, alarm codes, escorts, and loading dock hours.
• Insurance. The limits your lease, landlord, or RFP requires.
• Supplies. Whether the contractor should supply paper, soap, and liners.

Questions to ask every provider

Ask each company the same questions and the answers will line up.

1. Will you walk the building before you price it? A price without a walkthrough is a guess.
2. Who will be my point of contact? Look for a named account manager who answers the phone.
3. How do you inspect quality? Ask how often a supervisor checks the work, what they check against, and how you see the results.
4. What happens when something is missed? Ask how you report it and how fast it gets handled.
5. Who employs the crew? Ask whether any subcontractors will work in your building, and whether staff are background-checked.
6. Can you send a certificate of insurance? Get it before you sign and compare it with your required limits.
7. Which products do you use for disinfection? Ask for the product names for restrooms and touchpoints. Our disinfection services page explains how we run those programs.
8. How do you handle keys and alarm codes? Ask who holds them and how access is controlled.
9. What changes the price after we sign? Added suites, extra porter hours, or another floor-care cycle should each have a stated cost.

What a strong proposal includes

A strong proposal reads like an operating plan for your building. Look for:

• Each address and every area to be cleaned.
• The task list for each area, with frequencies.
• Start and finish times and any porter hours.
• Periodic work such as floor care, with dates or a set frequency.
• Who supplies chemicals, equipment, paper, and liners.
• Your account manager and how inspections work.
• Line-item pricing.
• What would change the price.

For how a task list should read, see what janitorial services include. For the numbers, read how much commercial cleaning costs.

How to compare bids

Put the proposals side by side and check them line by line.

Same areas and frequencies. If one bid is much lower, look for what it dropped: restroom detailing, a nightly floor, the floor-care calendar, or supplies.

Same supplies. A price that includes consumables will look higher than one that leaves them out. Adjust before you compare.

Same schedule. Five nights and three nights are different contracts, even if both proposals call it "daily."

Quality plan. A contractor who can explain inspections and reporting in plain terms usually follows through.

Signs you have found a good fit

The strongest candidates tend to:

• Ask about your building before they talk about price.
• Give you a named account manager.
• Explain how supervisors check the work.
• Send the certificate of insurance when you ask.
• Say clearly what is included and offer options for anything extra.

Be wary of a price quoted over the phone for a building nobody has seen, a one-line proposal that just says "janitorial services," or a vague answer about who will be in your building at night.

After you sign

The first month sets the tone. Walk the building with your account manager in the first two weeks and adjust the task list where needed. Agree on how you will report issues and how quickly they get handled. Book a review at 60 to 90 days, once the crew knows the building and you know where the traffic really is.

How National Cleaning Group handles it

Every account starts with a free facility assessment. We walk your building and send a written quote. Our staff are background-checked and trained, supervisors inspect the work, and each client has a dedicated account manager. We are insured and bonded, a certificate of insurance is available on request, and we serve facilities across the United States. Learn more about our janitorial services or book your assessment.

Call (202) 968-1190 or email info@national-cleaning.com.

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