15 questions to ask a commercial cleaning company before you sign

Most businesses choose a commercial cleaning company on price and a good first impression. The problems show up later, when a cleaner is off sick, a kitchen gets missed or nobody answers the phone.

You can avoid most of that by asking the right questions before you sign. Here are the 15 we would ask if we were hiring a cleaning contractor for our own premises, with what a good answer sounds like.

Insurance, vetting and compliance

1. What insurance do you hold?

Ask for public liability insurance at the very least, and employers' liability if the contractor employs staff, which is a legal requirement in the UK. Ask to see the certificates rather than taking a verbal yes. Public liability cover is what pays out if a cleaner damages your property or someone is hurt on your premises.

2. How do you vet your cleaners?

A good contractor checks right to work, takes references and can tell you exactly what checks are done before someone works on a client site. Ask whether DBS checks are carried out, especially if your premises hold sensitive information or valuable stock.

3. What training do cleaners get?

Training should cover the products and machines they use, safe handling of chemicals and the standards for your type of premises. A cleaner trained in office work is not automatically ready for a commercial kitchen.

4. Do you have COSHH assessments and safety data sheets?

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations cover the chemicals cleaners use. Your contractor should hold safety data sheets for every product brought onto your site and be able to share them.

5. Can you provide risk assessments and method statements?

Managed buildings in the City of London, Canary Wharf and other estates often ask for these before any contractor can start. A contractor who already works in managed buildings will have them ready.

How the cleaning is done

6. Will we have the same cleaner each visit?

Consistency is the biggest factor in cleaning quality. A regular cleaner learns your building and notices when something is wrong. Ask how often teams change and why.

7. Who covers holidays and sickness?

This is the question that catches out small operators. A reliable contractor has trained cover ready, so your clean still happens when your regular cleaner is away.

8. Do you supply products and equipment?

Most commercial cleaning companies bring their own. Ask what products they use. If you run a food business, check they use food-safe products on contact surfaces. If you care about sustainability, ask whether they use biodegradable products.

9. Will you write a cleaning specification?

A specification lists each area, the tasks done there and how often. Without one, there is no agreed standard to hold anyone to. Our guide on writing an office cleaning specification explains what goes in it.

10. How do you handle keys and alarm codes?

Ask who holds them, how they are stored and what happens if a cleaner leaves the company. Access should be limited to the team assigned to your premises.

Quality, contracts and price

11. How do you check quality?

Look for regular site inspections and a simple way for you to report missed tasks. Ask how quickly a missed task gets put right.

12. Who is my point of contact?

You want a named person who answers the phone, not a general inbox. If you have several sites, ask whether one person can manage all of them.

13. How long is the contract and what is the notice period?

Be cautious about long fixed terms. A rolling agreement with a clear notice period means the contractor has to keep earning your business. Our article on what a commercial cleaning contract should include covers the clauses to look for.

14. What exactly does the price include?

Check whether the quote covers products, consumables, travel and parking. In central London the Congestion Charge alone can add up if it is billed separately. Our guide to what affects the cost of office cleaning explains how quotes are built.

15. Can we speak to a current client?

A contractor with happy clients will usually put you in touch with one. Ask the client one thing: what happens when something goes wrong?

What good answers have in common

The best contractors answer these questions quickly and put the answers in writing. Vague replies about insurance, cover or quality checks are a warning sign, however good the price looks.

Ask us anything on this list

JJ Prime Clean Solutions is a fully insured commercial cleaning contractor working across all 32 London boroughs and the City of London. Our cleaners are vetted and trained before they work on any client site, and regular cleaning runs on a rolling agreement with an agreed notice period. Book a free site visit and put these questions to us in person.