How to Choose a Commercial Cleaning Company in Durham Region

Start with what you actually need

Before you call anyone, decide what kind of cleaning you are buying. Office cleaning covers the rooms your staff use: desks, meeting rooms, kitchens, washrooms and floors. A janitorial contract covers a whole building, including warehouse floors, common areas and docks. Specialized work, such as post-construction cleaning, floor refinishing or disinfection, is often quoted separately.

Walk your building and note each type of space, roughly how big it is, how busy it gets and when it is empty. That list makes quotes easier to compare, because every company is pricing the same thing.

Get a walk-through, not a phone quote

A cleaning company cannot price a building accurately without seeing it. Flooring, washroom count, clutter, access and the condition of the space all change how long the work takes. A walk-through also lets you judge how the company listens and whether its questions make sense.

Be wary of a firm price given over the phone for a recurring contract. It usually means either the scope will be cut later or extras will appear on the invoice.

Insist on a written scope

The scope is the most important document in a cleaning contract. It should list each area, the tasks done there and how often. Daily tasks, such as emptying waste and cleaning washrooms, are listed separately from weekly or monthly ones, such as baseboards, interior glass or high dusting.

If a company gives you only a price and a vague promise to keep the place clean, you have nothing to measure the work against. Ask for the scope in writing before you compare prices.

• Each area of the building named
• Tasks for each area
• Frequency for each task
• Periodic work, such as floor refinishing, listed with its schedule
• Who supplies consumables such as paper and soap
• How missed items are reported and fixed

Check insurance, WSIB and screening

Ask for a certificate of commercial general liability insurance and a current WSIB clearance certificate. The clearance certificate matters because, under Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, a business that hires a contractor can be held liable for the contractor's unpaid WSIB premiums. Our WSIB clearance guide explains this in detail.

Ask how staff are screened and whether they are bonded. After-hours crews usually hold keys or fobs and alarm codes, so you need to trust who walks in. Bluestone provides its WSIB clearance certificate and certificate of insurance on request, and our staff are police-checked; ask us.

Understand the pricing model

Commercial cleaning is usually priced per visit or per month for a set scope, sometimes based on square footage. Hourly pricing is less common for recurring work because it rewards slow work. Whichever model a company uses, the quote should match the written scope, with periodic work and consumables shown as separate lines.

Recurring contracts usually cost less per visit than one-time cleans, because the crew learns the building. Compare quotes on the same scope and frequency, not on the bottom line alone.

Ask how quality is checked

Ask who checks the work, how often, and how you report a problem. A named contact who answers the phone is worth more than a general inbox. Some companies use checklists signed by the crew; others have a supervisor do spot checks. Either way, you should know what happens when something is missed and how quickly it is fixed.

Consistency matters too. A regular crew learns your building, your alarm and your expectations. Ask whether the same people will usually clean your site.

Read the contract terms

Check the contract length, the notice period to end it, how price changes are handled, and what happens if the scope changes. A reasonable contract lets either side end the agreement with notice, and lets you add or remove tasks in writing.

Also check how keys, fobs and alarm codes are returned at the end of the contract, and who pays for a lost key or a false alarm caused by the crew.

Durham-specific things to consider

Durham's commercial space runs along the 401 from Pickering to Clarington, with industrial areas, retail plazas and downtown cores in each city. If you have sites in more than one city, ask whether one company can cover all of them under one contract with a separate scope for each site.

Some businesses have inspection-driven needs. Restaurants are inspected by the Durham Region Health Department under Ontario's Food Premises regulation, salons and spas under the Personal Service Settings regulation, and child care centres also get public health inspections. A cleaner who understands what the inspector checks is more useful than one who does not.

Red flags

Watch for companies that will not give a written scope, cannot produce a WSIB clearance certificate or insurance certificate, quote without seeing the building, or pressure you into a long contract with no exit. Very low quotes often mean the scope will be thinner than you expect.

Supplies and consumables

Decide who supplies washroom paper, hand soap, garbage bags and similar items. Some businesses buy their own and have the cleaner restock from the storeroom; others have the cleaner supply them and bill them. Either works, but the quote should say which, and supplied items should be listed at a clear price so you can compare.

Ask also what equipment and products the company brings. A commercial cleaner should arrive with its own vacuums, mops and products, and be able to give you safety data sheets for every product used in your building.

Keys, fobs and alarm codes

After-hours cleaning means handing someone access to your building when nobody else is there. Agree in writing who holds keys or fobs, which alarm code they use, who to call if the alarm trips, and how access is returned at the end of the contract. Ask how the company tracks keys internally and what it does if one is lost.

Give the cleaning crew its own alarm code if your system allows it. That way you can see when the crew arrived and left, and you can cancel the code without affecting anyone else.

Extra visits and day porters

Ask how the company handles requests outside the regular schedule: a spill, an event, an inspection, or a busy week. Some businesses also need daytime help, such as a day porter who checks washrooms and entrances while the building is open. Knowing how these are priced and booked avoids surprises later.

Compare quotes side by side

Put each quote into the same simple table: monthly price for the regular scope, visits per week, periodic work and its price, consumables, insurance and WSIB status, contract length and notice period. Gaps in a quote become obvious when the columns are side by side, and you will see whether a lower price simply means less cleaning.

Getting quotes in Durham

Bluestone Janitorial gives free walk-throughs and written quotes across Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington. See commercial cleaning in Durham Region, or go straight to commercial cleaning in Oshawa or commercial cleaning in Pickering.