The Best Way to Find the Right Janitorial Cleaning Company for You is to:
Ask the right questions, pre-screen and choose your group.
Pick a date and time to conduct an organized group walk-through.
Be sure all bidders have all the information they need to work up an informed bid and that they all have the same information.
Here are our suggestions for a well-designed cleaning services procurement system.
Pre-qualification: Put together a one-page Questionnaire (or contact us at https://www.ab-clean.org/contact-us and type “questionnaire” for our free template) to email to all the maintenance contractors you are interested in. Have them fill it out, get it back to you, and then pick your group.
Notify the Contractors that they have been chosen to bid.
The Bid Package: Prepare a Janitorial Bid Package to be handed out at the beginning of your walk-through or better yet, fax or email it to them prior to the walk-through so they are better prepared and know what to look for when they're touring your facility. Here are our suggestions for the types of information your Bid Package should include:
A set of cleaning specifications, with frequencies (or contact us at https://www.ab-clean.org/contact-us and type “Specs” for our free Sample Specs template).
A simple floorplan. Nothing fancy, and it doesn't have to be to scale.
Estimated number of visitors each day and how they use the facility. Do they simply visit the front counter, or do they routinely come into the building for extended periods and use the restrooms and lunchrooms as a regular employee would?
Special populations, such as children, senior citizens or tour groups.
Number of restrooms and lunchrooms.
If your company has a commitment to the use of environmentally responsible cleaning chemicals, specify that.
Special instructions, such as "Recycling paper marked SHREDDING is not to be removed." Things like this can make a difference in bid prices, as they can often eliminate a lot of work.
All hard-surface floors that will require periodic refinishing, and carpeted areas that might need to be cleaned more often than other areas due to heavy traffic.
If this is a multi-tenant building that you manage, you might consider getting 2 prices; one price for all the common areas that would be cleaned regardless of occupancy, and another "cents-per-square-foot" price to be added or deducted as suites are filled or vacated.
Time frames for cleaning such as, "Starting after 6pm, Sundays through Thursdays".
Consider telling your bidders that you encourage "prompt-payment" terms in their cleaning proposals.
Insurance and bonding requirements. Ask that proof of coverage be sent to you directly from their providers. If you feel it's important, require that the winning contractor designates your company as a co-insured.
When you want the bids to be in. In our experience 1 week is plenty of time for all but the most complicated bids. On very large buildings you might want to allow 2 weeks.
Hope this information was helpful in picking the right cleaning company for your space. For more free resources, hit the subscribe button below!
Comments