Most cleaning contracts are too vague to be useful. They name a price and a rough frequency, and leave everything that actually matters — what gets cleaned, who covers a sick day, how you prove a visit happened — to goodwill. That works right up until it doesn't, and then you have no document to fall back on. This is what a commercial cleaning contract should spell out before you sign it.
A scope you can point at
The single most important clause is the scope of work, broken down by area and task. "General office cleaning" means whatever the supplier decides it means on a busy night. A proper scope lists the rooms, the tasks in each, and the frequency of each task — daily, weekly, periodic. When a standard slips, you want to point at a line, not argue about what was implied.
- Areas and tasks, room by room, not a single paragraph.
- Frequency per task — not just per visit.
- Consumables: who supplies soap, paper and liners, and how restocking is tracked.
How absence is handled
Ask one question early: what happens when my cleaner is off sick? If the answer is vague, that is your future no-show. The contract should commit the supplier to arranging cover so your site is still cleaned, and make clear that managing absence is their job, not yours. A clause that simply says "reasonable endeavours" is not a commitment.
Proof and how you verify visits
You cannot manage what you cannot see. The contract should state what evidence you get after each visit and where it lands.
A clean you cannot verify is a clean you are taking on trust. The point of proof is to take it off trust.
A modern supplier should give you photos, a ticked checklist against the agreed scope, and the time on site, in a portal — not a paper signing-in sheet you never read.
The guarantee and how complaints are resolved
Look for a written re-clean guarantee: if something is not right, they put it right at no charge, within a stated timeframe. Vague promises of "satisfaction" mean nothing. A clause with a timeframe and no extra cost is one you can actually enforce.
Notice, exit and what happens to your data
Read the exit terms before you read the price. Long lock-ins and short notice windows favour the supplier, not you. Check the notice period, whether there is an early-exit penalty, and — if there is a portal — that you can export your proof records when you leave. You should never be trapped by a contract you have outgrown.
Get a contract that does what it says
Every Lume contract spells out the scope task by task, commits us to arranging cover, writes in the free re-clean guarantee, and gives you photo proof of every visit in your portal. If your current contract leaves the important things to goodwill, get a free quote and we will scope your site properly and show you exactly what you would be signing.