Most commercial cleaning quotes look similar on paper. The difference shows up three months in, when a cleaner is off sick, a clean gets missed, or you have to chase someone to find out what happened. This guide covers the questions that tell you which kind of company you are dealing with — before you sign.
Ask how they handle absence
Every cleaner is off sometimes. The question is what happens to your site when they are. A one-van operator usually has no answer except "I'll let you know" — which means an empty office and a problem that lands on your desk.
Ask directly: when my cleaner is off sick, who cleans my site, and how quickly? A serious provider arranges cover as a matter of course and treats no-shows as their problem to solve, not yours.
Ask how you will know the work was done
This is the question that separates modern providers from the rest. "You'll just have to trust us" is not an answer when you are the one accountable for the building.
Look for a company that gives you evidence of every visit:
- Photos of the work
- A ticked checklist against an agreed scope
- The time the cleaner was on site
If they cannot show you the proof loop at the pitch stage, assume it does not exist.
Check insurance and vetting, properly
Two non-negotiables, and both are easy to verify:
- Public liability insurance. Ask for the figure and the certificate. Five million pounds of cover is a sensible benchmark for commercial work.
- DBS-checked, vetted staff. Cleaners often work out of hours with keys and alarm codes. You want people who have been checked before they ever set foot on site — not after.
Ask who your point of contact is
When something needs fixing, you do not want a call centre or a rota of strangers. Ask whether you get a named account manager who knows your sites and your standards. One person who picks up is worth more than a glossy brochure.
The best signal of a reliable cleaner is not the price. It is whether they make the things that usually go wrong — absence, missed cleans, finger-pointing — into their problem instead of yours.
Be wary of the lowest price
Commercial cleaning is mostly labour. A price well below everyone else usually means corners somewhere: fewer hours than the job needs, no cover arrangement, or staff who churn constantly. Cheap is easy to quote and expensive to live with.
That is why we never publish a price list. Every site is different, so we do a free walk-round, scope the work properly and give you a clear written quote you can actually compare — with a guaranteed free re-clean written into it. If something is not right, we put it right at no charge.