Commercial cleaning services represent a highly specialized array of services that require unique skills and knowledge depending on the cleaning context.  In fact, when it comes to commercial cleaning, there are many types of cleaning services depending on the type of commercial facility.  For example, commercial cleaning may refer to cleaning retail spaces, office spaces, and other business environments.  So exactly what is considered commercial cleaning and how does it differ from residential cleaning?

It’s true that commercial services may be similar to residential services.  Just as you would clean the bathroom in your home, you would also clean the bathroom in a restaurant or retail space.  I suppose the main difference is that you might consider commercial cleaning akin to residential cleaning on steroids.  Commercial cleaning tasks tend to be bigger, more frequent, and sometimes even more arduous.  Commercial spaces tend to see more traffic, and we also tend to expect different types of surfaces and materials to be cleaned.

As you may expect, commercial cleaning services must be performed by employees with specific training as well as with commercial cleaning products and equipment.  For example, commercial waste cleanup may require training and experience cleaning up hazardous materials.  Additionally, commercial cleaners will offer recycling and document shredding services to ensure sensitive information isn’t breached.  Whereas you may separate your home recyclables, commercial waste management must be tailored to the commercial environment, the volume of waste, and the specific cleaning requirements for that waste.

Speaking of the cleaning products and equipment, commercial cleaners offer unique skills and abilities.  Commercial spaces often include machinery, technology, and other equipment that must be carefully cleaned to ensure proper operation.  In fact, any good commercial cleaning contract will carefully explain which tasks cleaners are expected to provide to ensure that commercial equipment is not damaged.

Finally, while we might expect residential cleaning services to be detail oriented, the depth and scope of cleaning for commercial services is much different.  For example, a residential cleaner might focus on sanitizing and dusting every nook and cranny of your home, commercial cleaners almost take a macro approach to cleaning.  Certainly, floors, windows, and surfaces will be cleaned, but it’s the approach that differs.  Carpets must be deep cleaned more regularly in a commercial space, and hard flooring will be regularly buffed with special equipment.  Commercial cleaners aren’t usually going to wash the dishes in a shared kitchen, but they will sanitize areas where people eat.

So, when it comes to commercial cleaning, you really can expect everything you would see in a residential setting, but with a different perspective.  Commercial cleaning includes all the tasks required to keep a healthy and safe work environment in offices, retail spaces, buildings, and other facilities and you’ll even find commercial cleaners doing clean-up after floods and fires.  It’s a huge industry where various commercial cleaning companies may specialize in one area or another.

Office cleaning is an important but underappreciated endeavour when it comes to improving workplace health and safety and in promoting productivity and efficiency.  Clean offices can not only improve workflow by ensuring staff are focused on their job rather than stressing about a disorganized workspace, but also promote a healthy environment and lower rates of employee sickness.  One crucial component of office cleaning that you may never have considered very carefully is carpet cleaning.  So then, how often should your office carpets be cleaned?

Regular carpet cleaning helps to prevent the growth of mold and mildew, reduces dust and other particles that negatively affect office air quality, and allows business owners to present an office that looks and feels clean and efficient.  Most professional cleaning companies recommend cleaning at least twice a year, but many factors influence the optimal schedule for office carpet cleaning.  These factors include the type of office carpet, the volume of traffic in your office, and the cleaning services you require.

With respect to the type of carpet in your office, you may be surprised to learn that even the colour and style of your carpet will influence cleaning schedules.  Obviously, lighter coloured carpet will show dirt more readily and will require more regular cleaning.  On the other hand, darker carpets and certain styles will hide dirt better.  Additionally, heavy carpets with thicker fibers are less likely to trap dirt so require less cleaning.

Next, if your office sees a lot of traffic, you will have to get them cleaned ore often.  Even the location of your office can impact how often your carpets will need to be cleaned.  For example, if you are operating an office in an industrial setting where dirt or other substances may be tracked into the office from the facility, you’re likely to require more frequent cleaning.  That being said, cleaning your carpets too frequently can gradually wear the carpet, so finding the right balance between cleaning and maintenance can be tricky.

Finally, the type of cleaning you require will influence the regularity of carpet cleaning.  Professional cleaners will generally offer shampoo services, vacuum services, and absolute cleaning services.  Ideally, regular maintenance will help protect your carpet and prolong more thorough cleaning needs.  As such, more regular vacuuming will prevent the need for absolute cleaning services.

From the overall appearance of your office to improved health and productivity, there are many excellent reasons to schedule regular office carpet cleaning.  However, as you can clearly see, there is no simple answer to the question, “how often should you clean office carpets?”  Working with professional office and carpet cleaners can help you identify the perfect schedule for your office carpet cleaning so you keep your carpets fresh and clean now and into the future.

Quality assurance programs exist to ensure the quality of a service or product that is delivered to a customer.  Quality assurance programs require a comprehensive approach to maintaining quality in each stage of production or service delivery.  When it comes to janitorial services, quality assurance programs are just as important as in any service industry.  Especially when you are outsourcing your cleaning services to a professional janitorial company, you’ll want to know more about their quality assurance program.  Ultimately, your janitorial professional should provide consistent cleaning services that promote a sanitary and healthy environment no matter your industry or organization – commercial facilities, schools, public buildings, residences, and offices.  So what do you need to know about quality assurance in janitorial services?

Whether you are a business owner or a facility manager, one of your main priorities is going to be ensuring your staff, colleagues, customers, and other guests are presented with a well-maintained and hygienic environment for conducting business.  Your responsibility to key stakeholders is to meet the highest safety and sanitation standards to promote health and efficiency.  Quality assurance in the janitorial industry starts with quality cleaners.  In other words, at the foundation of a quality assurance program for a janitorial company is experienced staff members that are well-trained, properly insured, and managed effectively.  Throughout the employee selection and training process, qualified employees are identified and nurtured to provide the best possible cleaning services.  Additionally, as part of quality assurance, your janitorial company should have an effective personnel department that not only ensures proper training but also monitors employees’ progress and productivity in order to provide them regular feedback to promote ongoing success.

Additionally, an effective quality assurance program in the janitorial industry is one that reflects on industry standards so that the most advanced cleaning techniques and equipment are employed.  Indeed, the cleaning industry is always changing – as consumer values change and cleaning technology improves, you want to know your janitorial service provider is abreast with the current state of the industry.  For example, environmental cleaning practices are much more important today than a few decades ago – a janitorial quality assurance program allows service providers to adopt new cleaning technologies to continually serve their customers better.  As such, expect their quality assurance program to include research and development related to equipment and supplies.

Finally, the day-to-day operations of your cleaning company should be regularly reviewed through a quality assurance program.  Regular visits and random inspections can help to verify the quality of the services you receive.  Effective reporting also helps the business owner to communicate with their janitorial service provider and promotes quality cleaning services.

Ultimately, a quality assurance program is essential for janitorial companies to keep up-to-date with the world of cleaning and to provide their customers with effective, affordable, and quality cleaning services.

How dirty can an office really be?  As a business owner, you may think that you can rely on your employees to maintain a tidy work environment.  But what about shared spaces such as break rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms?  Well, maybe you’re considering hiring in-house staff to maintain these areas.  While these are certainly viable solutions, they overlook the importance and value of working with professional cleaners for maintaining your office.  So, to that end, let’s discuss why you should hire a professional office cleaning company.

Health and Safety

Perhaps the most important reason to ensure that your office is cleaned properly and thoroughly is the health and safety of your staff.  Ample evidence supports the link between a clean office environment and staff productivity.  Not only does a clean, well-organized office promote efficiency, but a well-maintained office can also improve productivity through reduced sick time and fewer workplace distractions.

Cleaning Costs

Another factor you may not have considered is the long-term cost of professional cleaning.  Whether you hire in-house staff to clean your office, or you rely on office employees to maintain the space, there are often unforeseen or hidden costs associated.  For example, hiring in-house cleaning staff requires that you manage the hiring, training, disciplining, and all other human resource-related tasks for your cleaners.  Additionally, you would be responsible for sourcing and stocking cleaning equipment and supplies.  If you rely on your office employees to maintain the cleanliness of your office, you are potentially distracting them from more important work.  When your employees can focus on specific duties, they will be more effective in those areas.

Hiring a professional office cleaning company can make for significant savings.  Not only will you save money on cleaning and maintenance costs, you allow yourself and your staff to focus on the services your company provides.  Your outsourced cleaning company will work with you to identify your specific cleaning needs and then deliver those services along with all the supplies and equipment required.

Cleaning Efficiency

A professional office cleaning company will also have the skills, expertise, and equipment needed to ensure your satisfaction.  They not only know which equipment is needed for which cleaning tasks, but they have the experience required to effectively assess cleaning problems and adapt their approach accordingly.  For example, different types of flooring will require different cleaning equipment and approaches – your professional cleaners can quickly and effectively identify how best to approach a cleaning task to maintain your office while keeping things hygienic.

Ultimately, working with a professional office cleaning company will ensure that you get the best cleaning results for the lowest long-term costs.  At the same time, you’ll maintain a clean and sanitary office environment that allows each of your employees to focus their skills and talents on the work they are most suited to do.

Operating costs are obviously at the forefront of any business owner’s mind.  Whatever you spend on running the business is money coming out of the business, so you want to spend wisely.  So, when it comes to budgeting for commercial cleaning services, a lot of managers and owners are looking for ways to cut costs while maintaining cleanliness.  At the end of the day, what’s right for you and your business is the best way to develop a budget for any services; and yet, without knowing the typical costs said services, it can be very difficult to budget appropriately.  With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at what you can expect when budgeting for commercial cleaning services.

One Size Fits All?

The most important thing you need to remember about commercial cleaning services is that there is not a one size fits all solution for cleaning costs that applies to every business.  Depending on the type of business you are running, the size of your commercial space, the equipment and furniture in that space, and other aspects of your day-to-day operations, commercial cleaning services costs can vary widely.  Always reach out to potential commercial cleaning companies and get quotes that are based on your specific cleaning needs.  By comparing the quotes of various companies, you should be able to get a good idea of what costs are reasonable in your geographic region.

But What Does It Cost?

Alright, alright…you want to know what commercial cleaning is going to cost, and we want to give you answers.  But first, you need to ask yourself a few questions.  First, how frequently do you need your commercial space cleaned?  Do you require weekly cleaning, monthly cleaning, or more frequent?  For example, a day care or doctor’s office will need to be cleaned more frequently, and this is obviously going to impact cleaning costs.  Likewise, your total square footage will have an impact on costs.  Even the number of bathrooms in your facility or areas that see a lot of traffic (such as kitchens and reception) will impact cleaning frequency and cost.  Nevertheless, a good estimate for budgeting commercial cleaning services would be somewhere in the vicinity of $2 per square foot per year.

Still, remember that the size of your company, your number of employees, whether you provide cleaning supplies and equipment, and even the types of surfaces that require regular cleaning are going to impact your commercial cleaning budget.  The only way to get a definitive estimate of your budget for commercial cleaning services is to first identify your explicit cleaning needs and then get a quote (or quotes) from potential commercial cleaning companies in your area.