Cleaning and sanitizing a business requires a lot more work than simply straightening up around the house. Whether you run a small retail store or a company with hundreds of employees, you need a professional cleaning service that has the staff, resources, and materials to handle a big job.
In other words, you need a commercial cleaner. While most of them operate nationwide, it’s common for them to franchise. Much like the chain fast food restaurants in your neighborhood look and feel like every other location around the country, they’re owned by a local person who follows corporate rules and regulations.
So how do you find a good commercial cleaning service? Fortunately, there are plenty to choose from. Even better, most have been in business for decades. These big national cleaners can handle everything from vacuuming your company’s carpets to sanitizing surfaces after a viral outbreak.
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Commercial cleaners can tackle just about any cleaning task you have in mind. Most of the big names can even deliver medical-grade cleaning services, which requires certain protocols and products to remove bloodborne pathogens and microorganisms.
• Customized pricing
• Advanced cleaning methods
• Over 1,700 locations
• Total satisfaction guarantee
In business since 1989, Anago Cleaning Systems services just about every industry you can think of. Their site touts their experience in education, government, manufacturing, health care, hospitality, worship facilities, and property management. Basically, they do it all. They also offer cleaning services 24/7, which is ideal if you don’t want your customers or employees sidestepping cleaners during the day.
Every franchise in Anago’s network gives its customers a Total Satisfaction Guarantee, which means an Anago cleaning team will show up at your site within two hours if you call with any concerns after their initial visit. This is great for those times when you notice the cleaners missed a spot on the carpet or neglected to take care of some overflowing trash.
Headquartered in Florida, Anago has over 1,700 locations. Most locations are located in the United States, but the company also has a handful of franchises in Canada.
• Customized pricing
• Superior scheduled cleaning
• Totally green cleaning options
• Quick, courteous and convenient
Bonus Building Care is a smaller national cleaner compared to others on the list, but it has a good reputation online. It also has an impressive pedigree, having been founded in 1997 by Arleen Cavanaugh, one half of the husband and wife team who started commercial cleaning behemoth Jani-King. Using her experience and background in the commercial cleaning space, Arleen started Bonus Building Care after the couple’s divorce.
Headquartered in Oklahoma, the majority of Bonus’s franchisees are located in the south. Bonus also offers totally green cleaning through its BoGreen program, which uses plant-based cleaners rather than harsh chemicals.
• Customized pricing
• Commercial & medical
• Comprehensive nightly cleaning
• Floor care & window washing
Buildingstars was founded in 1994, and it breaks its commercial cleaning services down to five industries: health care, offices, financial, industrial, and educational. The company has four primary headquarter locations in Arizona, Missouri, Florida, and Illinois. It has around 800 franchisees spread across the United States.
As part of its routine office cleaning program, Buildingstars disinfects “common touch” areas like door handles, elevator buttons, vending machines, and water coolers. It also provides hand sanitizer stations to cut down on viral transmissions (since, as the Buildingstars website points out, 15 percent of men and 7 percent of women don’t wash their hands).
Buildingstars’ comprehensive cleaning service offers nightly cleaning, floor care, window washing, and carpet cleaning.
• Customized pricing
• Flexible to fit your schedule
• 1,700+ franchise locations
• Specialized cleaning services
According to CleanNet USA, the company cleans over 160 million square feet of commercial space each day. The company got its start in 1987 and now operates about 1,700 franchises throughout the country.
CleanNet USA also oversees its franchisees by using proprietary quality control software that lets corporate keep track of maintenance standards. If needed, the company can step in and provide remedial training if a particular franchise is failing to meet CleanNet standards.
Businesses that use CleanNet can also track their cleaning services through the company’s mobile app. The company is headquartered in Virginia and also pairs with local licensed contractors to offer pest control, painting, and handyman services.
• Customized pricing
• Advanced disinfecting
• Preventative maintenance
• Services 14,000+ health providers
Founded in 1985, Coverall has over 8,000 franchises in the United States. The company’s focus is on medical facility cleaning, and it services over 14,000 health providers. This makes it a good choice for doctor’s offices, hospitals, dental clinics, dialysis centers, and veterinarian offices.
However, Coverall also operates in a wide variety of other industries, including business offices, schools, industrial, retail, and fitness centers. The company uses hospital-grade disinfectants, no-dip flat mops, HEPA vacuums, and microfiber cleaning cloths.
Unlike a lot of commercial cleaning services, Coverall offers a cost estimate on its website. While you’ll still need to get a quote to determine exactly how much you’ll pay, Coverall says that basic service for a small office a couple times a week ranges between $170 and $250 per month, with service for larger facilities spanning anywhere from $800 to thousands per month.
• Customized pricing
• Detailed & accountable
• EnviroShield disinfection
• Founded by a military veteran
JAN-PRO got its start in Rhode Island in 1991. Today, it has over 8,000 franchises in the United States. Its main service offering is its EnviroShield® disinfection process, which adheres to the same cleaning requirements used to sanitize hospital operating rooms. JAN-PRO cleaners also use color coded microfiber cloths to avoid cross-contamination from one cleaning area to another.
Founded by a military veteran, the company also features a special program designed to make it easier for veterans to open a franchise. JAN-PRO also gives all its franchisees five weeks of rigorous training in the company’s procedures and protocols.
JAN-PRO also offers a satisfaction guarantee. If a customer is unhappy with a cleaning, the next standard cleaning service is free.
• Customized pricing
• Services most business types
• 120 offices in 10 countries
• Consistent, quality cleaning
Jani-King bills itself as the “world’s largest commercial cleaning franchise company” and it has the numbers to back this up. The company operates 120 support offices in 10 countries and maintains a global network of 9,000 franchisees.
Jani-King handles just about every industry out there, including office buildings, retail, sports venues, hotels, health care, restaurants, college campuses, and manufacturing facilities.
The company is also one of the oldest commercial cleaning services on the list, having been founded in 1968. Jani-King offers a number of video reviews from big name clients on its website. Reviewers include the House of Blues, Methodist Hospital for Surgery, Marriott Hotels, and Coca-Cola.
• Customized pricing
• Specialty cleaning services
• Project based options
• In business since 1929
ServiceMaster Clean has been in business since 1929, when it started out as a moth-proofing company. It switched to commercial cleaning in 1952 and has grown to become one of the largest commercial cleaning services in the country, with over 8,000 company-owned and franchise locations.
ServiceMaster Clean also has several well-known brands under its corporate mantle, including Merry Maids and Terminix. One of the company’s mottos is “any building, any industry, we can clean it.” Indeed, ServiceMaster Clean counts every industry from banks and hospitals to schools and retail stores among its customers.
• Customized pricing
• Disaster recovery services
• Document recovery & art restoration
• A leader in commercial cleaning
Steamatic is a bit different from the other commercial cleaning services on the list in that it offers disaster recovery services in addition to commercial cleaning. The company handles restoration and recovery cleaning following fire, mold damage, flooding, and wind damage from hurricanes and tornadoes.
The company also offers customers the option of bringing a Steamatic crew on site or shipping damaged items to a Steamatic location for cleaning.
If a customer chooses the “pack-out” option, Steamatic can handle the inventory, packing, transportation, and property storage. This can work well for things like document recovery, dehumidification, and art restoration, which are all services offered by Steamatic.
Steamatic was founded in Texas in 1948 and began franchising under the Steamatic, Inc. name in 1967.
• Customized pricing
• Tailored to meet your needs
• Advanced janitorial equipment
• 18,000+ commercial cleaning accounts
Vanguard Cleaning Systems was founded in 1984. Today, it has over 3,000 franchisees around the United States and Canada. It also offers janitorial services, which can be convenient for a business looking to hire one company to handle both commercial cleaning and janitorial duties.
According to Vanguard, it operates over 18,000 commercial cleaning accounts. While Vanguard has earned a number of awards for its franchising opportunities, its site doesn’t list any cleaning or eco-friendly cleaning certifications.
Commercial cleaning can be a pricey addition to your business’s budget, so you want to make sure you get the most value for your investment.
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And that’s exactly how you should view commercial cleaning services: as an investment. Ideally, you want to find a cleaner you can work with over the long haul. That way, you’re not constantly getting quotes and dealing with a revolving door of cleaning crews.
So what should you look for in a commercial cleaning service? What kinds of criteria should you use to measure the various companies side by side? Here are five tips for picking a cleaner that will keep your business sanitized and healthy for your employees and customers.
Look for a commercial cleaner that’s both reliable and knows your business. This means you want to look for a company that’s been around for at least several years. Fortunately, the majority of national cleaning companies have decades of experience under their belts, so this shouldn’t be an issue.
However, also make sure the cleaning service has experience handling your type of business. Some commercial cleaners are known for their excellent work in a medical setting. While they might be perfectly capable of cleaning your 10-person office, do you really need that level of cleaning? Furthermore, are you prepared to pay for it?
In this case, you’re probably just fine going with a cleaning service that focuses on retail stores or office buildings.
What kind of hours is the cleaning service willing to work? Does it charge more if you request a nighttime cleaning?
The reality is that most businesses don’t want a cleaning crew coming through in the middle of the workday. Not only is this disruptive to employees, but it can be a major turn off and inconvenience for customers.
A good commercial cleaning service will accommodate your schedule rather than trying to strongarm you into working around theirs.
The majority of national commercial cleaners state explicitly that they offer nighttime cleaning as a standard service.
When you hire a commercial cleaner, you’ll often save money by combining two or more services. For example, many commercial cleaning companies offer janitorial services as well as cleaning. It’s also common to see cleaners provide regular maintenance cleaning along with more in-depth cleaning on a quarterly or semiannual basis.
Think about the cleaning tasks your office needs and what makes your facility unique. Do you have industrial work areas that gather a lot of dust or debris? Or maybe your office building features dozens of windows that require regular cleaning. These are all considerations you should take into account when looking for a commercial cleaner.
If you’ve ever hired a residential cleaner, you might have encountered a service that required you to supply the cleaning products and equipment. This isn’t something you want in a commercial setting. For one thing, the cleaners required to achieve a deep clean or a hospital-grade sanitation usually need to be stored in specific temperatures and under certain conditions.
Also, most business owners don’t have time to source a large volume of cleaning supplies and equipment, price it out, and manage the inventory needed for an entire office building or business with multiple locations.
A good commercial cleaning service will have its own cleaning products and equipment, and its workers will be trained on their proper use.
Additionally, many commercial cleaning services offer green or eco-friendly cleaning services that use plant-based cleaning solutions. If this is important to you and your business, ask a commercial cleaner what kind of products it uses, if it carries any environmental certifications, and if it’s willing to provide you with a list of ingredients in its products.
Most commercial cleaning services do their work at night. This means they’ll need to work inside your building when employees are absent and the office is closed to the public. You want to make sure you contract with a commercial cleaner that employs reliable and trustworthy professionals.
If your business handles sensitive records, such as patient information or customers’ financial account data, you need to know you’re working with cleaners who will take appropriate steps to protect records and documents.
You should also verify that the commercial cleaning service is insured. That way, you’re not responsible for any injuries a cleaner suffers while working on your property.
Life gets messy, whether you’re at work or at home. In a business setting, foot traffic and product production can create industrial size messes. Fortunately, commercial cleaning services have the manpower and resources to tackle even the biggest jobs. If you do your homework and take time to get a few quotes, you can find a commercial cleaning service that eases the burden of keeping your business in top shape.
