Answers To 10 Frequently Asked Questions About Office Cleaning

• How do you charge for office cleaning?

The first thing to understand when hiring an office cleaning company is that every building is different. That means that what you pay depends on the needs of your building. Cleaning companies will schedule visits with you and will tour your building so that they can create an office cleaning checklist based on the reality of the situation. If you have multiple buildings, they will create a unique cleaning schedule for each facility so that they are properly clean and disinfected. 

The two factors that will go into setting a price for service are time and frequency. An office cleaning company will assess how much time it will take to do a full clean of your building and use this to determine the amount of man hours it will take. 

The other factor is the frequency of the cleaning which is based on how often the company will be regularly cleaning. Using these two factors, an office cleaning company will make sure that each building is getting the individual attention it deserves. 

• Has the pandemic changed office cleaning?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives, including our relationship with sanitation. Employees are returning to in-person work with hesitation and anxiety. Public places have become a source of worry over the past year of the pandemic and it’s important to create a clean and welcoming environment for anyone who walks into your building. 

Before the pandemic, office cleaning focused on improving the appearance of a building in order to appear clean and well kept. Since the pandemic, however, office cleaning now focuses on the prevention of infectious diseases. Cleaning companies have adapted to the pandemic with higher standards of what we consider sanitary. Even though the pandemic is starting to go away, these standards are here to stay now that the importance of a clean public environment has cemented itself in our minds.

• What is Green Cleaning?

Let’s start with what Green Cleaning is not; it is not just using green or environmentally friendly cleaning supplies like glass cleaner or disinfectant wipes. Green Cleaning is an entire cleaning system that requires cleaning staff to be rigorously trained. With a growing focus on sustainable resources, the cleaning crew learns how to provide a professional deep clean while making the health of the environment a priority. 

• Why is Green Cleaning important to me?

Green Cleaning is important to any company that is trying to support a more environmentally friendly future. As the world becomes more concerned with protecting the environment, it’s important that cleaning services follow suit. 

Cleaning companies can receive a CIMS-Green Building certification from ISSA as an indicator that they take the environment seriously and can maintain the highest quality of service. Certified companies are audited regularly for the products that they use when cleaning, so you have a better idea of the quality of the service that you’re receiving. 

• Why is good communication important with my cleaning service?

Communication is the bedrock to any type of relationship and the relationship between you and the office cleaning company that you hire is no different. When you create the initial cleaning plan for your building, it’s based on your needs at that moment. Over time your cleaning needs or the use of your building can change and it’s important for whatever cleaning plan you have to adapt to these changes.

 If there isn’t a direct line of communication between you and the office cleaning crew, then they’ll be cleaning based on outdated standards. Cleaning contracts are generally three years long and a lot can change over three years. Parts of buildings can open up like new break rooms. A good cleaning company will adapt to these changes in order to provide you with the service you need as long as you communicate what you need. 

• How can I feel safe with the people you send to my building at night?

All members of a cleaning company’s cleaning crew will go through rigorous screening before being hired to work at any building. Each member goes through a background check, an I9 check, and is required to have references. On top of that, regular drug tests are administered to make sure that they are working their best. 

Additionally, office cleaning companies are insured to cover any damages to the building by cleaning staff. All cleaning staff should be easy to identify from a distance and should have a labeled uniform and I.D. Having an identifiable cleaning staff is crucial for feeling comfortable with letting other people work in your building at night. 

• Are all cleaning companies insured the same?

Not all cleaning companies are insured the same and it’s critical to ask for proof of insurance from any potential janitorial company you plan to hire. Their insurance should cover most to all damages to your building as a result of cleaning. Two of the major types of insurance are general liability and umbrella insurance.

Beyond that, is workman’s compensation. A good cleaning company will have measures in place for whatever could happen on the job. It’s worth the extra digging for the peace of mind of knowing that your building and the cleaning crew they send are protected and insured. 

• How do I know if I need a day porter?

It’s different for every customer, but there are a couple of signs that it might be worth hiring a day porter for your building. The first sign is that your maintenance team is constantly getting taken away from their job to do porter work like stocking the office bathrooms bathrooms or to empty trash. A maintenance crew already has enough to do around your building and splitting their attention between what they are hired to do and what needs to be done will hinder productivity. 

The second sign that you might need to hire a day porter is that your building is becoming messy between cleanings. If your building is being cleaned on Mondays and Fridays and by Wednesday trash is building up and the building looks dirty, your building needs more frequent upkeep. A day porter will keep your building clean between deep cleans and help keep your employees focused on their jobs. 

• How do I know if it’s time to increase the frequency of my office cleaning service? 

One of the telltale signs that you need to increase the frequency of your cleanings is the feedback you receive from employees and customers. If you know for a fact that a certain area of your building is being cleaned, but you’re hearing complaints before the next cleaning, it’s time to increase the frequency. 

Each building has a different amount of traffic, but the higher the traffic a building has, the more frequent the cleanings should be. It’s important to maintain a high standard of cleaning throughout the week and have your office building consistently cleaned.

• Is it alright if my cleaning company subcontracts out my service?

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when hiring a janitorial company is to let them subcontract your building out. Subcontracting creates a middleman and distance between you and the crew tasked to clean your facility. This makes it even more difficult to maintain a healthy line of communication so that the cleaning crew can adapt to whatever situation comes up. 

When the company you hire subcontracts, you can’t be as certain of the quality of the service you’re going to receive either. If the company that they subcontract isn’t insured, it can lead to a lot of unnecessary risk to your building. It’s better to work with a company directly, so that you can build a relationship as well as understand what you’re paying for.