Some say that the quality of a man’s questions reveal the quality of his life.

pile of question mark signs

We tend to think that the same applies for the apparent quality of a cleaning company.

As such, we’ve assembled this list of 10 crucial questions you should ask your cleaning company before you sign up for your next cleaning contract.

So, let’s dive into 10 questions you should ask if you want to find the best cleaning company:

1) Do you have any references from buildings similar to ours?

A proven company can offer you multiple references from any buildings that are similar in scope or size to your own. These references should be able to vouch for how high quality their services are. While our systems can be scaled to a number of different scopes, time, costs, and sizes, we acknowledge the fact that a program we offer a 10,000 sq. ft. commercial space is going to be different from a million sq. ft. warehouse.

2) Can I see your training program?

It’s so easy to claim that you have a great training program. However, a company that has a great system should be capable of providing checklists and videos so you can ‘virtually’ assess their team training for yourself. Be sure that you ask for information about what training the staff cleaners receive, who it is that trains them, and how frequently their training gets refreshed. If you’re a specialized facility such as a school or hospital, then ask if you can see how they train for your kind of facility in particular.

3) What type of insurance are you carrying?

Be sure that any commercial cleaning company that you consider gets fully bonded and insured for the security and safety for yourself, company, and facility. If a company doesn’t actually meet your requirements, then that’s okay. However, they do need to be able and willing to get the required insurance as part of your contract. If you’re not sure what type of insurance that you need, then ask them about the things they do for any other clients similar to you.

4) What sort of availability are you offering?

Ask the cleaning company about any blackout times that are in their schedule? Are there any? What policy do they have regarding emergency requests or issues that show up outside of normal business hours? Get actual instances of how they’ve previously come through for any specific clients that had special requests. Consider the last time you yourself had a special request; ask them how they’d handle it and what their extra costs would be?

5) How exactly do you hold your staff accountable?

Learn how the company measures and tracks success on any job site. Do they do electronic inspections? How do they define ‘clean’ (scoring, ranking, pass/fail, etc.)? Does their company have a department or program handling quality assurance? How can you provide feedback to them? What do they do with that? Do they have a formal procedure for complaints? Are they able to offer you tracking tools?

6) Do they offer green cleaning methods?

This is one is particularly important to find out if you’re a LEED-certified facility. Discover what specific green cleaning certifications, processes, and cleaning products that the cleaning company has. Also ask if they can help your own business attain the types of green certifications that can help you meet the environmental goals that you have.

7) Can your cleaning programs get customized?

Don’t get overly cornered into a specific cleaning program that offers either too much or even not enough for your own facility. For some buildings, it could benefit you to just use your provider’s standards. This is something that can save you hassle in terms of management and money. However, if you have particular needs, like if you are a lab, then you should ask your provider if they can add extra scheduled project work or additional services that wind up meeting your distinct needs.

8) What do you do to make safety a high priority?

The sad reality of cleaning happens to be a quite a bit of unsupervised work. Even in a large campus environment that has dedicated non-cleaning supervisors, many times, staff happen to be spread out through various areas of the building. Also, if a building is remote or small, such as a small office or a bank branch, then your crew is probably not going to be supervised most of the time.

9) What supplies and equipment are you going to utilize in my account?

Are they eco-conscious? Do they buy things locally? How much do they spend on their supplies? Are they always actively looking for ways that they can save? Where do they get their supplies and equipment? Do they get faster service and better pricing thanks to direct relationships with manufacturers? If so, be sure to ask what they use for your account as well as why? For instance, some cleaning companies might use scrubbers instead of mops in your bathrooms. However, that might mean you only get weekly cleaning with a scrubber instead of daily mop cleaning.

10) Who is going to manage my account?

Ask to meet the specific folks that are going to be responsible and/or accountable for the management of your account. If your contract is really big, then the cleaning company might need to hire a specific person for that role. It that happens to be the case, then be sure you ask what they are looking for and also meet the specific person who is going be boss over them. Find out the specific procedures in place for the replacement of cleaning personnel that are just not getting the work done or just otherwise not a good fit in your facility.