Professional office cleaning companies offer a variety of services, but not all companies are the same.  Even if you compare janitorial services with commercial or office cleaners, you’re likely to find some disparity in the services they provide.  Nevertheless, when hiring a cleaning service for your office, you should have some basic expectations.  Ultimately, you want affordable cleaning services from a reputable company so that you always know that you are getting your money’s worth.

Most cleaning companies will offer individualized cleaning services.  Large office buildings may require top-to-bottom cleaning including services for the bathroom, kitchen, offices, and desk space.  They may require garbage and recycling removed on a regular basis, and floor cleaning is another common service.  On the other hand, smaller companies may require only basic cleaning services such as keeping restroom facilities sanitized and vacuuming common spaces.  Regardless of your specific needs, a quality cleaning company will be able to provide a list of the services they offer and should work with you to develop a contract that meets your needs.

Indeed, most professional cleaning companies will offer a range of basic services including dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping floors, window cleaning, removing trash and recycling, and cleaning bathroom or kitchen areas.  At the very least, you should expect a professional cleaning company to offer these services, but if you require extensive cleaning services such as steam cleaning carpets, washing exterior windows, or confidential document shredding, you’ll need to make sure your company can provide those services.  Most importantly, you’ll want to ensure all your cleaning requirements are covered in your contract.

Fortunately, the best cleaning companies provide additional services, usually for an added cost.  Waxing floors and carpet cleaning are examples of services that are not usually included as standard cleaning, but may be required in many office environments.  As such, cleaning companies will add such services on an as-needed basis.  Similarly, standard cleaning contracts will include the cost of cleaning the inside of windows but not the outside.

Moreover, the frequency of cleanings will vary from contract to contract.  For example, you may work in a paperless office, so you require only bi-monthly recycling, while some larger corporations will want confidential documents removed and shredded on a weekly basis.  The best cleaners will work closely with their clients to work out a customized cleaning schedule that meets all their specific needs.  Whether you require daily, weekly, or monthly cleanings will depend on the nature of your business and the impression you want to make with your clients.

Finally, the most professional cleaning companies will offer regular inspections of cleaners’ work.  While you should also be able to provide information about the quality of the cleaning, you should expect management of the cleaning company to follow up to ensure superior cleaning quality.

The business model of any successful company will focus on increasing profits while limiting costs.  Nevertheless, regardless of the size of your company, there are some expenditures you must be willing to make; and even for the smallest independent business, janitorial services is most likely one of these expenditures.  Fortunately, professional janitorial services help managers and business owners to improve efficiency by providing an optimal working environment, and to create a good impression with current and potential clients.  So what should you expect to pay for janitorial services?

First, it is important to understand that each business will have individualized cleaning needs.  An industrial company will require more advanced cleaning services while a small start-up may need only minor cleaning.  Regardless of your type of business, your budget, and the services you require, you will be able to find a good cleaning company that provides professional janitorial services.  Still, you should spend more time determining which cleaning company can meet your needs rather than simply searching for the cheapest option.

Janitorial companies that provide surprisingly low estimates will likely skimp on their cleaning services to meet their budget.  In most cases, these cleaners will not maintain your facility to the level they promise, and in many cases the level of cleaning will diminish over time.  Moreover, by hiring the lowest bidder, you actually put your company and staff at risk.  Lowball bidders may employ illegal workers or those with criminal records because they will work for cheap.  Clearly, the quality of the staff as well as the quality of the cleaning job may suffer when you choose janitorial services that are significantly cheaper than the average bid.

So, when it comes to hiring a cleaning company, you want to consider your janitorial service needs, your budget, and the reputation of the cleaning company itself.  Most cleaning companies have a list of basic services available at a standard fee.  If you require specialized cleaning, such as external window cleaning, floor waxing, or industrial cleaning services, you should expect to pay more.  One way to keep your costs reasonable is to get bids from three to five cleaning companies, eliminate the most and least expensive bids and meet with remaining companies.  By seeking cost figures from multiple sources, you’ll get a better idea of what you should expect to spend.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to give a one-size-fits-all answer to the question “what should you expect to pay for janitorial services.”  Simply put, your cleaning needs will not be the same as your competitor, much less the needs of a company in a different industry.  As such, you should carefully consider which services you require and meet with many potential janitorial companies to find affordable and effective cleaning services.