How to Select the Right Commercial Cleaning Company

To ensure your business’ success, providing a clean and sanitary space for customers and employees is the first vital step. Why hire a commercial cleaning service A professional janitorial service can keep your business sparkling, to the delight of everyone who walks through your door. A cleaning company can tidy and maintain your entire facility, from cleaning the restrooms to vacuuming to trash removal, the right cleaning company will handle it all.

So how do you choose the right cleaning company? What should you ask about the commercial cleaning services offered? We have the complete guide to help you select the right commercial janitorial service company for your business.

How Selecting the Wrong Cleaning Company Can Be Bad For Your Business

The success of your business is built not only on your company’s reputation but on the reputations of companies you partner with. The employees of the cleaning company will generally be on your facility’s property after hours, meaning this company will need to work with minimal or no supervision.

Selecting the wrong cleaning company could have some negative consequences for your business. The quality of the employees’ work may be poor if they are inexperienced or mismanaged. Worse, some companies offering janitorial services simply don’t care about conducting themselves professionally or getting the job done.

Here are some red flags for commercial cleaning companies you’ll want to avoid:

• No formal programs for quality assurance: If a cleaning service company does not have a quality assurance program, the responsibility of managing the cleaning crew falls to you, the customer. However, this is one of the main motivators for outsourcing cleaning services to give someone else the task of managing the cleaning crew.
• No documented safety program: If the company is missing a safety program, they could be putting your business at risk by not complying with OSHA.
• No background checks or drug testing: This lack of effective background and drug testing could make your facility or employees vulnerable.
• No formalized training: Without a training program, the crew may face safety and health risks.
• No consistent price structure: While the company may underbid for the job, this also means they’ll probably do less work, do low-quality work or push for more money later.
• Illegal hiring and paying methods: If a company uses illegal hiring practices, working with them could pose a risk to your business’ image, along with putting that company’s employees at risk. You don’t want to support these companies or align your business with them.

To avoid working with companies that won’t give you the effective, quality cleaning services your business needs, you can ask questions upfront to address these concerns.

1. Ask about how many hours their company plans on working per week: Calculate what their hourly rate is, and if that rate is close to $10 an hour or lower, it’s likely this isn’t a company you’ll want to work with.
2. Ask for a copy of their safety plan: Any hesitation or lack of follow-through on their part is a red flag. Companies that care about their employees and customers will ensure safety is a priority and will have safety materials available.
3. Ask for documentation of employee background checks: You can ask that the cleaning service provides documentation from the company that conducts their employees’ background checks. You’ll want to have this information before any of the cleaning company’s employees enter your facility. This may take some time, but neglecting this step isn’t worth the risk.

If a janitorial service is CIMS-certified, you can rest assured this company has been verified and has a solid reputation, sparing you from conducting this research yourself and saving you a lot of time and worry.

Things to Look For in a Cleaning Company

If you’re planning on outsourcing the cleaning responsibilities for your facility, you’ll want to look for these eight qualities when choosing a janitorial service.

1. Quality of Staff

You’ll want to work with a cleaning service that is selective in its hiring and has a crew that is hard-working, reliable and trustworthy. This crew will be entering your building, possibly with little supervision and after hours, so you’ll want to feel confident in their ability to do good work and take care of your facility when you’re not there.

2. Professionalism

Professionalism should be a core quality of any business. Staff should receive the training and support they need so they can deliver service of the highest caliber to their clients. The work crew should be presentable and amicable throughout the entire duration of the job.

3. Reliability

As with any company you work with, you’ll want a reliable crew. A cleaning crew that is punctual and provides a thorough service is essential for the effectiveness of their work. If a staff member is unable to work due to illness, another should be sent as a replacement so your cleaning service requirements can still be met.

4. Attention to Detail

The key to retaining clients is ensuring customer satisfaction through high-quality work. You’ll want a cleaning company that pays close attention to detail so that you can be sure they meet or even exceed your expectations. The crew should be willing to cater to your needs during the cleaning process, and supervisors should be on hand in case adjustments are needed.

5. Comprehensive Services

You may want to work with a company that offers a wide variety of cleaning services, depending on your business’ needs. Whether you need daily, weekly or monthly cleaning, you want cleaning experts that can handle all your cleaning needs. Cleaning services may include:

• Vacuuming
• Sweeping
• Mopping
• Dusting
• Laundry
• Bathroom cleaning
• Recycling and trash removal
• Stocking consumables

If you need more specialized services, you may want to hire a company that also provides services such as:

• Disinfecting
• Carpet shampooing
• Floor waxing
• Computer and hardware cleaning
• Construction clean-up
• Speciality cleaning services

Whatever your cleaning needs are, you’ll want to be sure that the company you work with can effectively address those needs.

6. 24/7 Services

Some clients prefer that their cleaning is taken care of during the day, while others prefer that the cleaning is taken care of after work hours. Whatever your situation may be, you’ll want a commercial cleaning service that caters to the best time of day for you.

7. Best Value for Your Money

You want to get the best value for your money, so consider customer feedback when selecting your commercial cleaning company. Are the company’s clients satisfied with the quality of their service? Are the prices reasonable? You’ll want a company with a proven track record, so if customer feedback is not easily accessible, you may want to request references from their clients.

8. Effective Management

Without effective management, a cleaning crew may not provide you the quality service you’re looking for. The management of the cleaning company you choose should train their staff effectively and closely monitor their employees’ quality of service to ensure that all customer expectations are being met.

When selecting a professional commercial cleaning service that’s right for your facility, look for a company that provides a quality staff, the best value for your money, comprehensive, around-the-clock services and effective management of a cleaning crew with qualities of professionalism, reliability and attention to detail.

Questions to Ask a Commercial Cleaning Company

Before hiring a commercial cleaning company, you may want to ask a few questions to make sure this is the right company for you.

1. Are References Available?

You’ll want to work with a company that has experience and a great reputation. You may want to select a well-established organization that serves a few businesses in your area. Reputable companies are more than willing to share references with you.

2. What Are Your Employee Screening and Training Policies?

A commercial cleaning company should effectively train their employees in cleaning methods, safety and professionalism. Who trains the staff? How often is training updated and refreshed? The company should also screen employees by securing background checks. Ideally, they’ll also have a low turnover rate, so that the same employees will be responsible for your facility.

3. What Facilities Do You Serve?

Has this company worked with a facility that is similar to yours? Do they work with offices of about the same size? Some companies specialize in a single type of facility, such as medical or industrial facilities, so you’ll want to be sure the company you select can handle the needs of your business.

You may want to inquire about a company’s experience if your facility is one of the following:

• An industrial facility
• A medical facility
• A childcare facility
• A daycare center
• A retail facility

Do they offer one-time cleaning? Not every company offers one-time cleaning services after events, so if that’s what you’re seeking, you’ll also want to inquire about that upfront.

4. Are You Insured?

What are their credentials and licenses? A cleaning service you work with needs to be insured because they will be responsible for any of their employees who are injured while at your facility. Don’t forget to acquire verification of their business license.

5. What Are Your Certifications?

Request a list of the company’s certifications. These certifications may include Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and CIMS Green Building. The company should also be OSHA compliant. Make sure the cleaning company has the certifications necessary to protect your business.

6. When Is Your Staff Available?

Does the cleaning company have any blackout times? What is the policy for emergency requests? How have they utilized their time to go the extra mile for their clients?

7. What Equipment Does Your Company Use?

Is the company environmentally friendly? What’s the quality of the equipment and products they use? Do they buy local? If being eco-friendly is a priority for your business, you’ll want to make sure your cleaning partner uses green practices, too. Maybe they use low-energy equipment or green cleaning products. If this is an important factor to you, address cleaning technology before agreeing to work with a company.

8. Do You Have a Set Cleaning Process? Is There a Checklist for Your Staff?

With an established, set cleaning process, a company is likely to be more efficient and have a positive reputation. You may also be able to access a typical list of tasks they follow for their jobs. Do they have a list of areas to cover, such as the halls, entryway, stairs, desks, windows, wastebaskets and kitchen areas? Do they identify and tackle issues such as mildew and mold? Are they willing to deviate from their standard checklist to address your specific concerns?

Ask the questions you want the answers to before agreeing to work with a commercial cleaning company.

Questions to Ask the References

After you request references from a cleaning company, what questions should you ask their references? Here are some suggestions:

1. Were You Satisfied By the Company’s Performance?

You may want to ask the company’s references what they liked about the service they received. What didn’t they like? Have they utilized the company’s services more than once?

2. Were Your Employees Healthier?

Not only can a commercial cleaning company tidy up your office space, dispose of waste and vacuum the carpets, but they can also have a vital role in maintaining or even improving the health of your employees. Germs build up in the areas where workers tend to congregate, and illnesses can run rampant through a facility. A cleaning crew can eliminate the bacteria that spread illnesses before half of your staff is out sick.

3. Would You Recommend This Company?

Maybe a particular reference only needed the company’s services once for clean-up after an event. But just because they’ve only hired the cleaning company once doesn’t mean they wouldn’t recommend them to other businesses. Ask the references if they think this company would work well for your facility.

Which Cleaning Company Should You Hire?

If you’re in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area and want to work with a commercial cleaning service that offers everything you’re looking for in a cleaning service, contact us at Corporate Clean Services today. We care about our clients and their satisfaction with our services, so we place our focus on exceeding expectations. How do we manage to consistently exceed expectations?

• Our employees are trained and well-paid: Our pay rates are higher than the industry average, which enables us to hire on and retain excellent employees.
• We use high-quality cleaning equipment: We use the best cleaning solutions on the market, including the best carpet cleaners and hard floor cleaning equipment.
• We schedule frequent inspections for quality control: We’re one of the few cleaning professionals in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area performing quality control inspections frequently at our customers’ facilities. We conduct these inspections to improve our custodians’ training and to improve our relations with our customers.

We offer a free quote, and we don’t bill our customers until we make a follow-up call to ensure they’re happy with their service. You can see what our customers are saying about us on our testimonials page, and if you’re ready to work with us, fill out our form for a free estimate today.

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