Top 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Commercial Cleaning Company

1. What hours are they willing to work? If you’re choosing a commercial cleaning company for your business, you need to be sure that the company will be available during the hours you prefer them to work. If you don’t mind having some cleaning going on during your regular business hours, then this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’d rather them not be sweeping up while business is going on, then you need to be sure they’re willing to clean after everyone has vacated the premises for the day.
2. Do they have a track record of good customer service? If you want to make sure that you’re getting the spiffiest cleaning treatment available, find out about the commercial cleaning company’s history and reputation before deciding to hire them. There are a variety of ways to find out if the company is worth its salt—or soap, as it were. One of the very best ways is word of mouth. Ask your friends and business colleagues to refer you to a top-notch cleaning service. Another reliable option is to go online to find customer reviews and ratings.
3. What are their rates? Just as in any other business transaction, you want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to hiring a janitorial or other commercial cleaning company. Not only should you compare their rates to their competitors, you should also find out exactly which services they will provide for the agreed-upon fee. This should be thoroughly explained in the contract agreement.
4. What are their hiring guidelines? To protect your own company’s reputation and assets, it may be a good idea to find out how the cleaning company goes about hiring its employees. Specifically, ask if they require a drug test or references for potential employees. If the person cleaning your business is going to be doing it during business hours, you need to ensure that he or she will appear and behave as professional as possible. If the individual will be working after hours, you need to be assured that the person is responsible and trustworthy.
5. Are they insured? This is another question targeted toward protecting your business and your financial security. You need to make sure that the company has insurance so that if they damage any furniture, flooring, or equipment in your facility, they will have the means to replace it. Otherwise, you might be footing the bill.
6. What are their quality assurance policies? Ask the company what they will do to ensure that you are satisfied with their services. Anticipate beforehand what will happen if you are unsatisfied with their work. Do they offer a satisfaction guarantee? Will you receive a credit for any work that is less than quality? Will they send someone out immediately to correct the error? These are all things that need to be resolved before a problem occurs, and preferably in writing.
7. Will the same person be providing the service every time? Depending on your personality and your face-time with the person providing the cleaning services, you may or may not prefer the same provider for each cleaning session. If this is important to you, be sure to find out beforehand if you can count on building a working relationship with any one individual.
8. How do they train their employees? This is something you should be concerned with in order to ensure that any cleaning individual or team the company sends to clean your business will have the skills and professionalism needed to clean your office or facility thoroughly and with care. This is an especially important question if the corporation has a large number of employees.
9. Do they offer incentives? Find out if there are any special benefits that come along with hiring the company. For instance, do they provide their own cleaning solutions, equipment, and paper products? Do they offer a referral incentive? Will you receive a loyalty discount? These little extras can help you make the decision between two or more reputable companies.
10. Do they offer the option of using environmentally-friendly cleaning products? There’s been quite a bit of buzz lately about the dangers of traditional cleaning solutions. More and more evidence is pointing to the fact that some common cleaning ingredients—namely, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phosphates, heavy metals, and artificial fragrances—are not only polluting the Earth, but posing dangerous health risks as well. If you don’t want these toxic chemicals to invade your business or facility, ask any potential cleaning company directly whether they make it a practice to use green cleaners.

Hiring a commercial cleaning company is not a decision that should be made hastily. Be sure to ask the right questions beforehand to make sure that you receive the best service available at the most competitive rate.