Keeping the house spotless

Hiring a commercial cleaner can be necessary for your office as you don't want to rely on your staff to clean; they might get resentful at being asked to clean the office, and this may take time away from their real job. Hiring a professional commercial cleaning company will also ensure that the place always looks good for visitors, since a professional cleaner will be more likely to get everything clean, including corners, baseboards, and other areas that might otherwise get overlooked. Note a few things you need to understand when hiring a commercial cleaner so you know what to cover with them when they visit your office for an estimate.

1. What it means to be bonded

You may be accustomed to asking a contractor if they're bonded, but being bonded means having a type of insurance policy that protects a customer if a job is left unfinished. This is usually required for construction contractors; if someone does half a kitchen renovation and then leaves, you may incur more than the usual costs for hiring a contractor to finish the job. Your new contractors may need to pull up adhesives that have already dried, clean up the mess left behind by the previous contractor before they can begin, and so on. The first contractor's bond may help with those expenses; it also typically covers the cost if the contractor doesn't pay subcontractors for their work.

However, note that cleaners don't typically need to be bonded as you don't usually incur added expenses if they don't finish the job, and rarely would they hire subcontractors. A commercial cleaning company should have liability insurance that reimburses you if they should damage something while cleaning, but this is very different than being bonded. Make sure you understand that difference before asking a cleaning company if they're bonded.

2. Your first visit may be more expensive

It's good to understand that your first visit from a commercial cleaning service may be more expensive than their visits after that, especially if you've gone a long time without a cleaning company. This is because they may need to spend more time removing thick dust from surfaces or hard water stains that have collected around the base of faucets. When there is thick dust on the surfaces of your office, a cleaning crew may need more product and may need to take more time to really wipe down your office equipment versus just brushing it with a feather duster; the same is true if you have hard water stains or coffee stains in the employee break room sink, or if your bathroom floors have been neglected and now they have discolored tile that needs extra scrubbing. Whatever the condition of your office, be prepared for an initial visit that is more expensive than your next visits from your cleaning company.