Check insurance, get more than one bid, and read the cancellation terms. That is the standard advice, it is correct, and it will not save you, because almost nobody gets fired over insurance. They get fired eight to eighteen months in, when the work has quietly declined and nobody said anything.
So the useful version of this question is not what to look for in a good cleaning company. It is what to ask that would have caught the specific way the last one failed.
What follows is built from public complaints buyers filed against national cleaning franchises. The complaints are remarkably consistent, and each one has a question attached that would have surfaced it before a contract was signed.
The eight ways it actually goes wrong
Ranked by how often they appear across complaint sources, the failures are: service that declines after a strong start, missed nights that still get billed, scope quietly reduced to trash removal, an unreachable contact, constant crew turnover, a scope that never matched the sales checklist, contract lock-in, and the moment a client or board member sees the building at its worst.
1. It was good at first, then it slipped
This is the pattern behind most of the others. In buyers’ own words: “Cleaning went downhill very fast.” And: “For 6 months they did an acceptable job, after that they stopped showing up but continued to issue invoices.”
Ask: who inspects this account, how often, and can I see the record without asking you for it? A company with no inspection has no way to notice a decline before you do.
2. Missed nights, unchanged invoices
“They don’t even show up to clean as they should.” Buildings rarely have a way to prove a night was missed, which is why this one runs so long before it is caught.
Ask: how do I know the crew was here last night? A dated log, a check-in system or a signed sheet is a real answer. “You’d know” is not.
3. The scope shrinks to trash
“All that is being done is the trash is taken out.” And from another building: “These people do not even sweep the restrooms.” Trash and vacuuming are visible, so they survive. Detail dusting, baseboards, glass and floor care go first, because no one notices for months.
Ask: which tasks are weekly, monthly and quarterly, and how do you schedule them? If the weekly and monthly work is not on a calendar, it is not going to happen. The office cleaning checklist lists what belongs at each frequency.
4. Nobody answers
“When I would complain, which was every week, they would not do anything.” And: “When we attempted to contact their supervisor she never returned our calls.”
Ask: who is my named contact, what is their direct number, and what happens if I call them at seven on a Monday morning? Ask for the name. A company that answers with a role instead of a person is describing a queue.
5. A different crew every few weeks
“A whole new crew showed up.” This is the mechanism under almost everything above. Janitorial separation rates regularly exceed 50 percent per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and contract cleaning companies run around 200 percent industry-wide. A crew that does not stay never learns the building.
Ask: will the same people clean this building every week, and what is your turnover? Nobody will claim zero. You are listening for whether they have a real number and whether staffing is somebody’s job.
6. The sales checklist was not the working scope
“The checklist they give you to sell the service lures you in and the crews that come out do not do half of what we are supposedly paying for.”
Ask: is this exact checklist attached to the contract as the scope of work? A marketing list and a contractual scope are different documents, and only one of them is enforceable.
7. Locked in while it is going badly
“We are stuck with them for the next two months.”
Ask: what is the cancellation provision, and is there a cure period? A fair contract gives you a stated notice period and a defined chance for them to fix a problem before you leave. If cancellation requires cause you have to prove, that is worth knowing before you sign.
8. The day somebody important sees it
“I actually had to vacuum and mop most of the building myself since we have an upcoming function and it is quite embarrassing how dirty the building looks.” This is the highest-emotion moment in every complaint set, and it is usually what triggers the search for a replacement.
Ask: what happens before an event or a board meeting? A company that works clubs and community associations should already have an answer.
The question that predicts the rest
If you only ask one thing, ask who checks the work and what they file when they do.
Buyers who are unhappy with their cleaning company mostly do not complain. They wait, conclude it is not going to improve, and quietly put the contract out to bid. The industry calls this silent churn, and it means the absence of complaints tells you nothing about whether an account is healthy. A company that inspects its own work and shows you the record is the only arrangement where problems surface while there is still time to fix them.
If you manage a Florida community association
Two statutes shape how you have to run this. Under Florida Statute 720.3055(1), a homeowners association contract that exceeds 10 percent of the total annual budget including reserves must obtain competitive bids. For condominium associations, Florida Statute 718.3026 sets that threshold at 5 percent.
Two things people get wrong about both. The statutes do not require a specific number of bids, so “three bids required by law” is not accurate, though three is common practice. And the association is not obligated to take the lowest bid. You are required to seek competition, not to buy the cheapest option, and the bids become part of the association’s official records. Comparing them is easier once you know what commercial cleaning actually costs.
That last point is the useful one. It means a documented, comparable scope from each company is not just good practice, it is what makes the decision defensible to the board later.
A short version you can take to a meeting
- Will the same crew clean this building every week?
- Who is my named contact, and what is their direct number?
- Who inspects the work, how often, and can I pull the record myself?
- Is this checklist attached to the contract as the scope of work?
- Which tasks are weekly, monthly and quarterly, and how are they scheduled?
- Is floor care in the monthly price or billed separately?
- What is the cancellation provision, and is there a cure period?
- What happens before an event or a board meeting?
- Is the crew background checked, and are you licensed, bonded and insured?
- What changes in season?
Sabal answers all ten in writing before a contract, and the inspection record is yours to pull any week. If you want the version specific to your building, we walk it first. You can request a walkthrough, or read how the standard is held on The Sabal Standard.
Common questions
What should I ask a commercial cleaning company before hiring them?
Ask who inspects the work and what record they file, whether the same crew cleans every week, who your named contact is, whether the checklist is attached to the contract as scope, and what the cancellation provision is. Those five predict most outcomes.
How many bids should I get for commercial cleaning?
Three is common practice and gives you enough comparison to spot a scope that is too thin. Florida community associations must seek competitive bids above statutory thresholds, but the statutes do not set a required number and do not require accepting the lowest bid.
What are the warning signs of a bad commercial cleaning company?
No written scope of work, no named contact, no inspection process you can see, a price well under other bids, a contract with no clear cancellation terms, and an inability to say who will actually be in your building each week.
Does a Florida HOA have to get competitive bids for cleaning?
Under Florida Statute 720.3055(1), homeowners association contracts exceeding 10 percent of the total annual budget including reserves require competitive bids. For condominium associations, Statute 718.3026 sets the threshold at 5 percent. The association is not required to accept the lowest bid.
Why do commercial cleaning contracts get worse over time?
Turnover is the main mechanism. Janitorial separation rates regularly exceed 50 percent and contract cleaners run around 200 percent industry-wide, so crews change and nobody retains knowledge of the building. Without an inspection process, the decline goes unnoticed until a complaint.
