Most cleaning companies sound identical on the phone. Usually the same promises, the same language, the same reassurance that they handle buildings like yours all the time.
These ten questions separate the companies that will still be doing good work in month six from the ones that will not. Ask them before you sign anything.
1. Are your cleaners employees or subcontractors?
In fact, this is the most important question on the list.
The company trains, supervises and insures directly employed cleaners under its own policy, and holds them accountable. Subcontracted crews are a separate business, and the company you hired has less control over who walks into your building. Neither model is automatically wrong – what matters is that you know which one you are buying.
If the answer is subcontractors, ask who carries the insurance and who runs the background checks.
2. Will the same people clean my building every visit?
Cleaning quality is mostly familiarity. After all, a crew that has cleaned your building for a year knows the place. Which door sticks, which restroom needs extra attention, what your office manager cares about. Meanwhile, a rotating crew never learns any of it.
In practice, high turnover is the single best predictor of falling quality.
3. Are your crew background checked?
Your cleaners have keys, alarm codes, and unsupervised access after hours. Ask what the screening process is and whether they document it. If the company hesitates, that is your answer.
4. Can I see your certificate of insurance?
You want general liability and workers compensation, and you want to see the certificate, not just hear that it exists. If someone is injured in your building and the contractor has no workers comp, the claim can land on you.
Ask to be named as a certificate holder so you are notified if the policy lapses.
5. What exactly is in the scope?
Ask for a task list by frequency – nightly, weekly, monthly, quarterly. Not a paragraph. A list.
Notably, most disputes between building owners and cleaning companies are not about quality. Instead, they are about two different assumptions of what was included.
6. Is this a fixed price or an estimate?
An hourly estimate is not a quote. Ask for a fixed price with a clear statement of when a change order applies, and make sure change orders require your written approval first.
7. What happens when someone calls in sick?
A real answer sounds like: we have a supervisor and float staff, and your building is covered the same night. Conversely, a vague answer means your building gets skipped when someone is out.
8. How do I report a problem, and how fast do you respond?
In short, you want one named contact, a direct number, and a stated response time. Not a general inbox.
Ask what happens if the same problem comes up twice. Generally, companies with real quality control have an answer ready.
9. Can you show me the work?
Certainly photo-verified checklists are becoming standard, and they should be. It means someone documented the job that night, and you can see it without walking the building at 11pm.
10. Can I speak to a client with a building like mine?
Not a testimonial on a website. An actual phone number.
Ask the reference two questions: what happened the first time something went wrong, and how long the same crew has been in their building.
Warning signs
- A quote without a site visit. Nobody can price a building they have not seen.
- A price far below everyone else. Cleaning is 60 to 70 percent labor. A much lower price means fewer hours, not better efficiency.
- No written scope.
- Long lock-in with a heavy exit penalty.
- Vague answers about employment and insurance.
- Pressure to sign today.
Franchise or locally owned
Both models can be run well. Rather, the difference to look for is where decisions get made.
With a locally owned company, the person who quotes the job usually owns the outcome. With some franchise models the local operator buys leads and follows a national playbook. Problems then escalate through a system rather than to a person.
Ask directly: if something goes wrong at 10pm, whose phone rings?
The short version
Know who is actually cleaning your building. Written scope. Fixed price. Insurance you have seen. One person who answers the phone.
We are happy to answer all ten in writing before you commit to anything. That holds whether you need post-construction cleaning in Cincinnati or an ongoing janitorial contract. If another company will not, that itself tells you something.
How to verify the answers
Two of these questions can be checked rather than trusted. Ohio workers’ compensation coverage is verifiable through the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Safety data sheets for every chemical brought into your building are required under OSHA’s hazard communication standard, so a contractor who cannot produce them on request is telling you something.