If you’re looking to hire a cleaning company, you may want to do some research. Get multiple bids, and see what each company has to offer. Quite often the prices may vary. But why? Isn’t cleaning just that? Cleaning? But no, in fact, cleaning between one bid can be very different from another as to what is included. Here is some information to help you figure out what is best for your building.
General Office Cleaning:
The industry standard on general office cleaning (usually 3 – 5 days a week, including vacuuming, moping, bathrooms, kitchens, mostly carpet in the building etc.) usually takes ONE person ONE hour to clean 3000 – 4000 square feet. So if your office is 6500 square feet, you can bet that it will take about 2 hours and 15 minutes with one person EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Now, there will be one night that will take longer as general high and low dusting is done once a week, so you can add an additional hour to one evening a week (depending on the building size). This would total 12.25 hours each week for a 5 day a week cleaning.
Typically if someone can clean 5000+ square feet an hour, they are missing items, cutting corners and clients will be unhappy. Be wary if someone says they can clean 5000+ square feet an hour alone!
The smaller the office, the less square feet can be cleaned per hour. For example, an office that is 1500 square feet won’t usually take 30 minutes. This can be up to 1.5 hours depending on what exactly needs to be done in the small office.
Medical Facility Cleaning:
Because medical facilities usually have a much more detailed sanitation level than a general office, the square footage that can be cleaned per hour is much less. On average it takes ONE person ONE hour to clean 2000 – 2500 square feet. If the medical facility has a high scope of work and a lot of sanitation is required, the square footage can drop even below 2000 square feet per hour to do the job properly. On a building that is cleaned 5 nights a week at 6500 square feet, it should take one person 3 hours and 15 minutes to clean EVERY NIGHT. Again, you would also want to add on additional time once a week for general high and low dusting. This rate can vary depending on how much carpet vs hard flooring there is, number of patients that come through the clinic, etc. Typically if someone can clean a medical facility above 2500 square feet an hour, they are missing items, cutting corners and clients will be unhappy.
Something to Think About:
You have every right to ask each cleaning company how much they pay their employees and how many hours they think the job will take each night. You want a company that treats their employees well, and are paid well. Happy employees equal happy clients. Not many cleaners will stick around if they are paid minimum wage. It is hard, sweaty work. A reputable company will have nothing to hide and will gladly offer the amount of hours on average they think it should take to clean your office. Use this information to your advantage. If you receive two estimates for the same price, which one will offer more value (hours, etc.)?