Commercial cleaning services: What do they do?

The basics
Commercial cleaners deliver an array of services. The most common day-to-day janitorial duties include:

• Disposing trash
• Vacuuming and mopping common walkways
• Sweeping debris
• Washing interior windows
• Cleaning and dusting desktops
• Maintaining bathrooms (e.g. mopping floors, scrubbing the sinks and stalls, replenishing consumables)

A cleaning company will perform any number of these services depending on your business' needs. If you have a small company with only 25 employees, you may only need trash takeout 2-3 times a week and an occasional vacuuming. Larger companies, or businesses that frequently invite clients into their offices, may choose a daily cleaning where the cleaners take care of everything.

Some businesses value a clean, professional appearance so much that they may choose multiple cleanings per day including day porters cleaning throughout the workday and the standard cleanup crew working at night.

Most cleaning services will be able to clean any type of commercial facility. However, certain industries - especially healthcare - have specialized cleaning requirements. If relevant, make sure the cleaning company is well trained on how to clean your environment (e.g. biohazardous materials such as bodily fluids) before awarding any contracts.

Special services
In addition to basic day-to-day cleaning, many commercial cleaning services can provide special tasks. Special services run the gamut from the labor intensive like stripping and waxing tile floors to those that prolong the life of expensive office furniture.

Special services may take several hours and even days, depending on the size and complexity of the project. They include:

• Grouting tiles
• Washing exterior windows
• Dusting ceilings and light fixtures
• Pressure washing outside of building
• Maintaining heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment
• Carpet extracting (dry foam)
• Cleaning parking lots
• Cleaning every crevice of a facility ("Q-Tip cleaning")

You may need to set up these services well in advance to give the cleaners enough time to get the job done without disrupting work areas or employees. Also, some cleaning companies require that you have a contract for regular cleaning services before they will perform these special services. If you only want a one-time special, you may have to shop around for a cleaning services vendor that will take the job.