In short: Choose a commercial cleaning company based on its bidding process and quality control. Have the company walk your building before they provide a quote. Make sure they write their scope room by room, specify who performs inspections and how often, provide you with one named point of contact, and disclose company ownership. Then analyze how each company broke down their pricing and review contract terms. In Metro Detroit, RCO Cleaning will perform your walkthrough at no charge and return a quote within 24 hours: (248) 849-0000.
Got burned by a cleaner in the past? It happens. Month one is great, then it slowly slips. And there's no one you can reach to make it right. Every question below is designed to help you avoid that scenario before you hire, not six months down the road.
What to ask before the quote
1. Will you walk the building first?
A telephone price, or price from floor plans only, is an estimate. The walkthrough answers questions about what determines the labor involved: types of floors (carpet, vinyl tile, ceramic tile, sealed concrete), number of restrooms and break rooms, amount of glass, how the entrances are exposed to weather, and usage between 7 a.m. and midnight. Ask who will perform the walkthrough. Ideally, it will be the person that will service your building after the contract is signed.
2. Will the scope be in writing?
The scope is the contract. It should list all areas, specific tasks to be performed in those areas, and how frequently: nightly, weekly, monthly, quarterly. If your scope says "general cleaning, five nights a week" and nothing else, you have nothing to hold your cleaner accountable to and every issue ends up being your word against theirs. Here's our office cleaning checklist as an example of what a written scope should look like.
3. How did you build the price?
Commercial cleaning pricing is typically based on the cleanable square footage, or area to be cleaned, and requirements of that space: what needs to be done, how frequently, types of flooring, hours of service, etc. One company's proposal for the same facility may look completely different from another's simply because the scope of work is different. Make each company provide a line-by-line explanation of what is included so that you are comparing apples to apples. Visit our How RCO prices and bids page for an explanation of what's included in ours.
What to ask about the work after you sign
4. How is the work checked?
All companies claim work is inspected. Ask how. Who? How often? What is inspected, and what happens when something is missed? Look for a specific answer: a manager walks the building based on a schedule, notes the items that passed inspection and the items that failed, and the misses are corrected quickly by someone whose job it is to correct them. If you get a fuzzy answer you can usually assume inspections occur when you complain.
5. Who is my contact?
You want a name. You want a phone number. You want someone who knows your building without googling it. Ask who comes by. Who do you call when the restroom didn't get stocked? Who do you call when the person you usually call is out of town?
6. Who owns the company, and who answers for my building?
Large commercial cleaning brands are often franchise networks. Here's how the Small Business Administration defines franchising: a franchisor licenses its trade name, symbols, and methods of doing business to a franchisee. In exchange, the franchisee must adhere to the rules and regulations of the franchisor. It can be successful for many facilities. The relevant question is really who you will interact with on a daily basis: the local franchise owner, a district manager or the brand's call center.
An independent locally owned company has a different structure: the individuals bidding your project are typically the same ones who own the company. The person making the promise is the person delivering the promise. Whether you choose one or the other, the test is the same: If something isn't done correctly at 7 a.m. on Monday, who corrects it and can you reach them?
“We, as owners, come in and work directly with our clients.”
Vadym MakoveyCo-Founder, RCO CleaningThere are two fast tests that will work for any company. Search Michigan's business entity search tool, maintained by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, to confirm it is registered and in good standing. Then request the safety data sheets (SDS) for chemicals the company will bring into your facility. According to OSHA's hazard communication standard, employers must keep a safety data sheet for each hazardous chemical, readily accessible to employees during every shift. Professional companies will have them.
What should a commercial cleaning contract say?
7. What are the terms?
Term and notice
Term: how long the agreement lasts, and how much notice either party can give to terminate. Read this first.
Schedule
Which nights? Hours? What happens on holidays? During your busy season?
Scope changes
What is the process for adding or dropping jobs when tenants move in, headcount changes or a floor is renovated?
Supplies
Who supplies chemicals, paper towels, liners, and soap? Who restocks them?
Chemicals
Safety data sheets for the products used in your building.
Keys and access
Who holds the keys and alarm codes, how they are logged and how they are retrieved.
8. Will you start with a deep clean?
Routine cleaning preserves a building. It can't take months of accumulation and fix it overnight. When a company begins with a deep clean (carpet, hard floors, restrooms and high dusting), they set the building up in the ideal condition from which to start that routine. You both now have a clean baseline: going forward, the question is if the building stays that way.
What are the red flags when hiring a commercial cleaning company?
Think twice about a company that
- Quotes a price without seeing the building
- Won't put the scope in writing, room by room
- Can't say who inspects the work, or how often
- Gives you a general phone line instead of a person
- Can't produce safety data sheets for its products
- Pushes you to sign before you've compared scopes
How RCO Cleaning answers the eight questions
A free walkthrough
We walk every building prior to quoting. This ensures that every nook and cranny ends up in scope.
A quote within 24 hours
Of the walkthrough, with the price built from the cleanable square footage and the work your building requires.
A free first deep clean
During the first week we give the building a complimentary deep clean to get it in its best condition. Then we begin the regimen.
A system for your building
We write a customized cleaning system specifically for that building once you approve.
Managers check the work
Our managers regularly audit what has been done and problems are remedied swiftly.
Locally owned, not a franchise
Vadym and George Makovey have been operating RCO out of Southfield since 2019 and work directly with customers.
Choosing a commercial cleaning company: questions
How much does commercial cleaning cost?
It's based on cleanable square footage, the tasks and frequency and the floors and hours. That's why we do the walkthrough first: any estimate prior to that is a shot in the dark.
Is a franchise or a local company better?
Neither is automatically better than the other. Find out who owns the company you will be contracting with. Ask who is responsible for your building and if you can speak to them directly.
What should a cleaning scope include?
All locations throughout the building, jobs by location, and frequency of each job, from nightly trash and restrooms to quarterly carpet and floor maintenance.
Who should I hire to clean a large commercial building in Metro Detroit?
Look for a company that walks the building before they quote, writes the scope out and can tell you who will inspect the work. Locally owned in Southfield since 2019, RCO Cleaning cleans large buildings all over Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties and will quote you within 24 hours of a free walkthrough: (248) 849-0000.
Sources
Next guide
Five commercial cleaning companies clean in Southfield, MI, and here is why we listed ourselves first. Our home is Southfield: office buildings, medical offices and hotels.
