The Best Way to Choose a Cleaning Service
Typically, businesses seeking to hire cleaning and janitorial services are most interested in one thing—cost. This is not so surprising, but there are many important items to evaluate when comparing cleaning service companies.
Flexibility
Flexible Hours of Service. Most cleaning companies do their work at night, and this is also the majority of the work performed by A&D Cleaning Services. But we can adjust to work around our client’s schedule, by cleaning mornings, afternoons, or on weekends. For example, some clients want maximum control over who enters and leaves their place of business during off-hours. For those offices, we’ll come in during the early morning hours or late afternoon. For those jobs, we don’t even need an office key! Flexibility in Work Frequency. Not every client wants (or needs) daily servicing. Many janitorial services will only work with businesses that need top-to-bottom cleaning, each day.
At A&D Cleaning, we can come in everyday or a couple of days per week. We even do one-time cleaning projects. For example, we completed a job recently for a company that had requested a comprehensive office disinfection, after finding an employee contracted a contagious virus. Flexibility in Contracting.
All of our customers sign monthly contracts. We discourage the use of yearly contracts, because we do not want clients to feel obligated to engage with us over the course of 12 months. All we require is a 30-day notification if they are dissatisfied with A&D Cleaning Services.
How to Decide on a Cleaning Service
Virtually anyone can start a cleaning business. It may be as simple as going to Walmart to pick up supplies, and start marketing. But there are several things you can evaluate first. As always, checking references takes center stage (see our checklist). You should get at least 3 references and spend more than 60 seconds on the phone with prior or existing customers.
Who will actually be cleaning your office? The prospective cleaning company should tell you whether they have in-house staff or contract out the daily cleaning to someone else. In the latter case, what kind of accountability does the subcontractor have? Does the cleaning service hold any certifications? Is the cleaning service insured? Potential customers should also ask about the training requirements of each employee.
Customers are seeking engagement and efficiency. When working with prospective customers, I’ll visit their place of business or facility—whether it’s a corporate office in Cherry Hill, NJ or a small business in Doylestown, PA—and do a walk through. I’ll ask the client to tell me what he or she is most concerned about. We’ll discuss how often the office will be cleaned (and what time of day). Within 24 hours of the site visit, the client will receive a quote, along with a copy of my proof of insurance and references. If they like the quoted price, they sign a month-to-month contract.
A simple, straight forward process. As with most things in life, it is best to keep things as simple as possible. K.I.S.S. is the best philosophy in commercial cleaning solutions, but that does not mean consider price only. It means make sure you know what you are paying for and have confidence in the people providing the service.