The 12 questions to ask a cleaning contractor before you sign
Written by Rowles & James · 30 years in commercial cleaning
In short
— Ask how many hours per visit are priced in. It is the number that predicts whether the clean holds up.
— Find out who supervises, how often they attend, and whether they are on site or on a phone.
— Get the escalation path in writing before you sign, not after the first problem.
A cleaning contract is unusual: you sign it based on a walk-through and a number, then judge it every day for the next three years. Most of the disputes we are called in to fix started with a question nobody asked at the quote stage. Here are the ones worth asking, in the order they matter.
1. Are the cleaners employees or subcontractors?
Subcontracted labour is not automatically worse, but it changes who is accountable and whose insurance applies. Ask for the employer name on the payslips and the certificate of currency in the same breath.
2. Who supervises, and how often?
A contract with no named supervisor is a contract that degrades quietly. Ask who owns your site, how often they physically attend, and what they do when standards slip.
3. How many hours are priced into each visit?
This is the question that exposes an underquoted contract. A building that needs four hours a night cannot be cleaned in two, whatever the task list says.
4. What happens when someone does not turn up?
Absence is inevitable. The answer you want is a named backup and a phone call, not a note the next morning explaining why the bins were not emptied.
The cheapest quote is almost always the one that assumed fewer hours than your building needs. Ask how many hours are priced in, per visit.
If you are going through this now, we will walk your site and put the scope in writing — no charge, and no obligation to switch contractors.
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