The decision to hire a commercial cleaning service—and the process to hire the commercial cleaners—can be fraught with mistakes that cost your company time, quality cleaning, and money. If you want to hire the best commercial cleaners for your company, avoid these common mistakes that companies make when hiring commercial cleaners.
Not evaluating company cleaning needs
Before you contact any commercial cleaners, evaluate your facility and compile a list of cleaning services necessary for daily, monthly, and annual operations. Next evaluate what employees can or are performing these operations now. If you need to hire additional employees to take on the tasks, do a cost comparison. Will it cost you more in salary and benefits to hire employees than for commercial cleaners? Are you going to have to pay your employees overtime or additional wages to work during off hours or over the holidays when it is the easiest to get cleaning tasks (i.e. floor cleaning) done?
If you need maintenance at your facility as well, be selective about the commercial cleaners you contact for quotes. Contact commercial cleaners that offer maintenance services such as parking lot maintenance and minor HVAC and electrical repairs.
Not being realistic about the cleaning schedule
One of the most common errors company owners and managers make is by being unrealistic about the amount of tasks, schedule needed, and the cost to keep that schedule. Do you have the amount of employees you need to keep up your cleaning and maintenance schedule? Can they realistically meet those needs?
When evaluating your schedule, consider dates for a deep cleaning, how often you need a complete cleaning of your facility, and the cost of bringing in employees versus commercial cleaners during plant shut-downs or during off hours. These tasks can be done on set dates during company shut-downs.
Not asking the right questions
Once you’ve got a final list of cleaning tasks and a realistic schedule to complete those tasks, request quotes from local commercial cleaners. Be prepared with a list of questions to ensure you get a realistic cost that fits your expectations and budget:
- Service specifics. Be prepared to discuss the cleaning jobs you need completed, preferred schedule, maintenance tasks, and any other special requests you may have.
- Proof of Insurance. Ask the commercial cleaning service for proof of insurance, in case any items at your business are damaged.
- Ask for references from commercial cleaners that can provide the cleaning and maintenance services you need at a price within your budget. Don’t miss this important step; hiring commercial cleaners that meet your budget but provides subpar cleaning service is not going to benefit your company in the long run.
Not reading the contract fine print
When you’ve narrowed your list of commercial cleaning services, request a draft of the contract for your company’s review and legal counsel if that is standard practice. Make sure you read through entire contract and look for any terms that could cause conflict later.
