The scope of work is the most important document in a janitorial contract. It's what contractors bid against, what their crews work from, and what you inspect against later. A vague scope produces bids that can't be compared and service that can't be measured. A clear one does most of the work of choosing a contractor for you.
Describe the building
- Cleanable square footage, broken down by space type — offices, restrooms, break rooms, lobbies, conference rooms, warehouse or back-of-house areas
- Floor types: carpet, vinyl or VCT, sealed concrete, tile, wood
- Number of restrooms and fixtures
- Occupancy and operating hours — roughly how many people use the space, and when it's empty
- Anything unusual: secure areas, labs, clinical spaces, food prep, rooms that need an escort
Set frequencies by task, not just by visit
"Clean the offices five nights a week" leaves too much open to interpretation. List the tasks and how often each one happens: restrooms cleaned and restocked nightly, trash removed nightly, traffic lanes vacuumed nightly with full vacuuming weekly, horizontal surfaces dusted weekly, high dusting monthly. A task-and-frequency table is the format most contractors expect, and it's what makes two bids line up.
Separate routine work from periodic work
Carpet extraction, floor stripping and refinishing, window washing and similar periodic services are often priced separately from nightly cleaning. Say which ones you want, how often, and ask for them as separate line items. That stops one bid looking cheaper only because it left them out.
Spell out supplies and equipment
Who provides consumables — paper towels, toilet tissue, liners, hand soap — and who provides cleaning chemicals and equipment? If the contractor supplies consumables, ask for that as its own line so you can see it. If you have preferences on dispensers, product types or green-certified chemicals, say so here rather than after the contract starts.
Define access and security
- Service hours, and any times the crew must not be on site
- How keys, access cards and alarm codes are issued, logged and returned
- Areas the crew should not enter, or should only enter with an escort
- What the crew should do if they find a door open, a leak or an alarm fault
Say how quality will be measured
State how often inspections happen, who does them, and how problems are reported and corrected — for example, a monthly joint walkthrough and an agreed response time for complaints. Without this, "the building doesn't look clean" is an argument rather than a process.
Ask every bidder for the same things
- A site walkthrough before bidding, offered to every bidder
- Pricing in the same format — a monthly figure for routine service, with periodic work and supplies itemized
- A current certificate of insurance, proof of workers' compensation, and bond details
- A staffing plan: crew size, labor hours per night and supervision
- Two or three references from similar accounts
Asking every contractor for the same format is what lets you compare them on substance, rather than on how each proposal happens to be laid out.