Commercial cleaning contracts rarely fail at the start. They fail in month five, when the same money buys visibly less, nobody has a mechanism for raising it, and the relationship curdles.
The questions below are designed to identify, before you sign, whether that is likely. Ask all twelve. The answers matter, but so does how readily they are given.
1. Can I see the written specification, with hours?
The single most important question. A price without a specification is a number you cannot compare with anything.
You want every task listed with a frequency against it, and the hours allocated per visit. Two cleaners for one hour is not the same as one cleaner for two hours, and neither may be enough for your list.
Bad answer: "We do a full office clean." Good answer: a document, sent the same day.
2. Are your cleaners employed or subcontracted?
Employed staff have been vetted, trained and insured by the company you are contracting with. Subcontractors may have been vetted by nobody.
If they subcontract, ask who carries the insurance, who does the vetting, and who is accountable when something goes wrong. A company that subcontracts without disclosing it gives you agency pricing with independent-level accountability, which is the worst combination available.
3. What vetting do you carry out?
References, right to work checks, identity verification, and DBS checks where staff work unsupervised or in sensitive settings such as schools and healthcare.
Ask what level of DBS. Most cleaning roles are only eligible for a Basic check, which shows unspent convictions only. A company claiming Enhanced checks for general office cleaning either misunderstands the eligibility rules or is overstating.
4. Will it be the same people each visit?
Consistency is the strongest predictor of quality in cleaning. A regular cleaner learns your building, notices what changed, and takes ownership. A rotating pool does the minimum specified and nothing else.
Ask what their staff turnover is. A contractor who knows the number and tells you is a good sign in itself.
5. Can I see your insurance certificates?
Public liability, commonly £5m for commercial work, and employers liability, a legal requirement for almost all UK employers with a £5m minimum.
Check the expiry dates and diarise them. Ask what the excess is, because a £2,500 excess on a claim for a damaged floor effectively means no cover for most realistic incidents. Ask specifically whether damage to items being worked on is covered, since standard public liability often excludes it.
6. Will you provide site-specific RAMS?
Risk assessments and method statements specific to your building rather than a template with your name pasted in. Many landlords and managing agents will not permit access without them.
Ask for COSHH assessments and safety data sheets too.
7. Who is my named contact, and what happens out of hours?
You want one person, their direct number, and a defined escalation route. "The office" is not a contact.
Ask what happens if the cleaner does not turn up on a Tuesday night. A contractor with cover arrangements will describe them specifically. One without will say it does not happen, which is not an answer.
8. How do you handle keys, alarms and access?
Keys stored in a locked cabinet and coded rather than labelled with your address. A written procedure if a key is lost, and insurance that covers lock replacement.
Individual alarm codes that can be revoked, rather than one shared code everyone knows. A lone working policy, since cleaners will often be alone in your building in the evening.
9. What is included, and what is charged separately?
The gaps are almost always the same four: consumables, periodic carpet and floor work, window cleaning, and anything above about two metres.
Get each priced at contract stage, because ad hoc pricing later is invariably worse, and periodic work that is not scheduled simply never happens.
10. How do you monitor quality?
Look for scheduled supervisor visits, a documented audit against the specification, and a simple way for you to log issues. Some contractors use digital checklists with photographs and timestamps, which is genuinely useful.
The important part is that quality monitoring is theirs, not yours. If the only quality control is you noticing things and complaining, standards will drift, because they always do.
11. What happens about TUPE?
If you are changing contractor and existing cleaners are assigned to your site, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations may require the incoming contractor to take them on at existing terms. This affects pricing materially and carries consultation obligations.
A bidder who raises TUPE unprompted has done this before. One who has not considered it may have underpriced, which becomes your problem after award.
12. What are the contract term, notice period and exit arrangements?
Look for a notice period you can live with, commonly one to three months, and no automatic multi-year rollover. Check what happens to keys, equipment and consumables stock at the end.
Be wary of long minimum terms combined with mediocre answers to the questions above. A contractor confident in their delivery does not need to lock you in.
Reading the answers
Beyond the content, watch for three patterns.
Documentation on request versus documentation promised. A company that emails the specification, insurance certificates and RAMS within a day has systems. One that keeps promising to send them is showing you exactly how the contract will run.
Questions asked back. A good contractor will ask about occupancy, hybrid working patterns, washroom count, flooring types, access, security procedures, waste arrangements and periodic requirements. One who quotes from floor area alone has not understood the job.
Price that makes sense. If a quote is far below the others, work out the implied hourly rate against wage costs, employer national insurance, holiday pay, insurance, equipment and overhead. If it does not add up, something is being omitted, and it is usually hours.
The site visit
Insist on one before quoting. A contractor who quotes without visiting has not seen your washroom count, your flooring, your access or your kitchen, which are the four things that actually determine the hours.
During the visit, notice whether they look at the things that matter or simply walk the floor. Ask them what they think the hours should be before you tell them your budget.
After you sign
Book a review at one month and then quarterly. Walk the building against the specification with your contact and log what you find, dated.
Contracts that are reviewed stay good. Contracts that are never reviewed decline slowly, and by the time anyone says anything the relationship is beyond repair and you are back to tendering, having lost a year.
Frequently asked questions
How many quotes should I get? Three, all working from the same written brief. Quotes based on different assumptions cannot be compared.
Should I always take the cheapest? No. Compare hours and scope first, then price. The cheapest is often the smallest rather than the best value.
How long should a contract run? One year with a one to three month notice period is common and reasonable. Longer terms should come with better pricing, not just a longer lock-in.
What if standards slip? Raise it in writing against the specification, dated, and escalate through the named route. Keep a log. Most slippage is fixable if raised early.
Can I change contractor mid-term? Subject to the notice period. Check the exit provisions and the TUPE position before you start the process.
