Have you ever searched for a cleaning service and didn’t know whether to look for commercial cleaning or janitorial, let alone know how to select the right cleaning service provider? Here’s a five minute tutorial to help navigate your way around the web to find a suitable cleaning company.
Janitorial Services and Commercial Cleaning Services – which is which?
The terms janitorial services and commercial cleaning services often get mixed up. While some parts might overlap they actually describe different types of services. The main difference between janitorial services and commercial cleaning services is that janitorial are usually recurring cleaning tasks while commercial cleaning typically relate to stand-alone activities.
Commercial Cleaning Services
Commercial cleaning services cover bigger cleaning jobs that do not need to be done on a regular basis. Most businesses hire a professional commercial cleaning service for a one-time job but you can also contract their services for a few appointments per year. It helps for your company to know what bigger cleaning projects you want done and when, so you can plan your commercial cleaning services accordingly.
Examples of commercial cleaning services:
- Pressure Washing
- Tile & Grout cleaning
- Construction Clean-up
- VCT Strip & Wax
- Commercial Kitchen deep clean
- Event cleaning
Janitorial Services
A Janitorial service provider will take care of everyday cleaning duties and keep your workspace clean and well maintained on a regular basis. With consistent janitorial services, your office or facility will always look good and be ready for visitors, customers, and business associates. Companies tend to schedule janitorial services based on their needs, typically on a daily, weekly, or bi-weekly basis. If your company hires a janitorial service provider for office cleaning, you will be responsible for putting together the schedule and the cleaning tasks to ensure that the job is done to your satisfaction.
Examples of Janitorial Services:
- Office vaccuming
- Furniture dusting
- Porter services
- Restroom cleaning
- Breakroom cleaning
- Restocking paper towels
Read more about the difference between a porter, janitor and custodian
Commercial or Janitorial – why should I care?
If you are only looking for consistent daily office cleaning services you will need a janitorial services provider. If you are solely looking for a one-time VCT flooring strip and wax you’ll need a commercial cleaning services provider. However, a lot of businesses – if not most – require both types of cleaning services throughout the year. Now some service providers offer both types of cleaning however not all of them do, so make sure you probe the service provider on what they offer.
Here are some challenges when you do not select a full service provider:
- Coordinating access to the building (especially at night or over the weekend)
- Background check
- Ensuring appropriate insurance coverage
- Getting them familiar with the building layout
- Setting up a new vendor in the system
- Reviewing contractual terms
Unless you are willing to juggle multiple vendors you are best served to select a company that is competent in covering both janitorial and commercial cleaning.
System4 of Delaware is part of a national network and is a full service commercial cleaning and janitorial service provider. All the cleaning activities listed in this article can be provided by System4. Schedule a no obligation consultation with one of our experts to learn more about what we can do for you.
