If you are planning to hire someone to help keep your office clean, you should consider several things before letting a janitorial service into your building. Don't hire a cleaning company that cannot ensure that they have all of the appropriate measures in place to protect you as their client.
Does the janitor service carry workman's compensation and general liability insurance? It is not a legal requirement in Texas for employers to carry workman's comp and many cleaning companies do not. Should an accident occur, this puts the liability on your plate. Also, limits on coverage should be one million for both policies or at minimum $500,000. Another good policy for the company to have is a "non-company owned vehicle" rider. This covers you if there is an incident in the cleaning staff's vehicle on the way to your location. A surety bond is good as well, but many are not aware that it only pays out if there is a conviction of a crime which rarely happens in this industry.
Who will be doing the actual cleaning your building? Will the staff cleaning your building actually be employees of the janitorial company, or will they be under sub-contractor status? Using sub-contractors is a very common scenario with cleaning services locally as they attempt to reduce costs by avoiding payroll taxes on employees. Both the IRS and the Texas Workforce Commission are clear on this point: anyone cleaning for your company should be an employee. Additionally, the general liability insurance and workman comp policies will not cover those individuals classified as sub-contractors.
Which additional services will you use from the cleaning company? Avoid lumping additional services like floor care and additional products like toilet tissue, hand towels, etc. in with the monthly cleaning price. Instead, ask for separate pricing on floor care, carpet cleaning and other services on an "as needed" basis. This puts you in control of your budget and keeps your monthly cost lower. Often, it looks like a better deal up front but many cleaning services will simply neglect to perform all the add-on services during the course of the year when no one is noticing. As for hand soap, trash can liners, toilet tissue etc, buy your own. The janitorial company is simply going to add 20% or more to the cost for the convenience of handling it for you.
How does the office cleaning company deal with inspections? Do they even do them? Are they done on a routine schedule? Make it clear you will be looking for a visit from the supervisor each and every month to discuss the results of an onsite inspection. Most companies do not do them and of those who advertise they do, many do not consistently show up to do them. Inspections should not be optional and if your janitor service is not doing them, you will likely end up needing to find a new service eventually because you will end up dissatisfied with their work.
What is the pay scale of the cleaning staff? If they are paying only minimum wage, they will probably only provide minimum wage service. Low quality cleaning and large turnover rate are just a couple of things that will likely happen in this scenario. If the company provides healthcare benefits to their employees, that's even better. It is not common, but if you find one that does, you should feel good about the fact that they will likely take good care of your office as they do their employees.
With just a few short questions you can find out just who you are hiring when you choose an office cleaning company. The time it takes you to do this up front will be well worth the satisfaction you will get when you hire a cleaning company that has it all together.
Does the janitor service carry workman's compensation and general liability insurance? It is not a legal requirement in Texas for employers to carry workman's comp and many cleaning companies do not. Should an accident occur, this puts the liability on your plate. Also, limits on coverage should be one million for both policies or at minimum $500,000. Another good policy for the company to have is a "non-company owned vehicle" rider. This covers you if there is an incident in the cleaning staff's vehicle on the way to your location. A surety bond is good as well, but many are not aware that it only pays out if there is a conviction of a crime which rarely happens in this industry.
Who will be doing the actual cleaning your building? Will the staff cleaning your building actually be employees of the janitorial company, or will they be under sub-contractor status? Using sub-contractors is a very common scenario with cleaning services locally as they attempt to reduce costs by avoiding payroll taxes on employees. Both the IRS and the Texas Workforce Commission are clear on this point: anyone cleaning for your company should be an employee. Additionally, the general liability insurance and workman comp policies will not cover those individuals classified as sub-contractors.
Which additional services will you use from the cleaning company? Avoid lumping additional services like floor care and additional products like toilet tissue, hand towels, etc. in with the monthly cleaning price. Instead, ask for separate pricing on floor care, carpet cleaning and other services on an "as needed" basis. This puts you in control of your budget and keeps your monthly cost lower. Often, it looks like a better deal up front but many cleaning services will simply neglect to perform all the add-on services during the course of the year when no one is noticing. As for hand soap, trash can liners, toilet tissue etc, buy your own. The janitorial company is simply going to add 20% or more to the cost for the convenience of handling it for you.
How does the office cleaning company deal with inspections? Do they even do them? Are they done on a routine schedule? Make it clear you will be looking for a visit from the supervisor each and every month to discuss the results of an onsite inspection. Most companies do not do them and of those who advertise they do, many do not consistently show up to do them. Inspections should not be optional and if your janitor service is not doing them, you will likely end up needing to find a new service eventually because you will end up dissatisfied with their work.
What is the pay scale of the cleaning staff? If they are paying only minimum wage, they will probably only provide minimum wage service. Low quality cleaning and large turnover rate are just a couple of things that will likely happen in this scenario. If the company provides healthcare benefits to their employees, that's even better. It is not common, but if you find one that does, you should feel good about the fact that they will likely take good care of your office as they do their employees.
With just a few short questions you can find out just who you are hiring when you choose an office cleaning company. The time it takes you to do this up front will be well worth the satisfaction you will get when you hire a cleaning company that has it all together.
About the Author:
Looking to find the best deal on Office Cleaning in San Antonio, then visit www.1st callcleaning.com to find the best advice on Janitor Service in San Antonio for you.
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