Janitorial Service Quote too Expensive? Your Scope of Work Could Be to Blame.

Received a janitorial service quote that made you do a double take? Many times, the scope of work that the quote is based on is to blame. Whether you provided your own scope of work, shared with the office cleaning service what you would like done verbally or the commercial cleaning service prepared a scope of work based on their standard services, these tasks will be the determining factor in what you pay. 

The scope of work is what outlines the cleaning tasks the commercial cleaning company will perform for your business. The scope of work is also what staffing decisions and cleaning hours will be based on. That makes those bullet points of seemingly simple cleaning tasks very important to the bottom line you’ll see as your monthly bill.  

Given the impact that the scope of work can have on your janitorial services costs, it’s always a good idea to be conservative with what tasks are included. While some tasks are absolutely necessary, like daily cleaning of restrooms, others are not. In some cases, tasks are included that are not needed to maintain a clean facility or are nice-to-have.  

If lowering your janitorial service expense is a priority, then taking a close look at the scope of work can save a significant amount of money over the long term. In this article we will share five cleaning tasks that are likely to increase what you pay for janitorial services. These items will give an idea of other cleaning tasks that could possibly be eliminated to help lower your office cleaning bill. 

1. Cleaning appliances like microwaves and refrigerators 

We get it, no one in the office likes cleaning the microwave or refrigerator. Often the breakroom refrigerator is where food goes to turn into a science project. The interior of the microwave can easily make eating a cold lunch more appealing than putting your food container on top of splattered who knows what.

But the fact remains that when this task is added to your scope of work, it will result in paying more for janitorial service. To avoid including this task in your regular janitorial service, consider other ways to keep appliances clean. (We share some ways to keep your office microwave clean here.) 

2. Emptying recycling or transporting recyclables to collection dumpsters 

Recycling programs are great for the environment, but not so great for your janitorial service budget. Collecting, sorting and transporting recyclables to designated collection dumpsters takes time.  

Time spent cleaning your facility is a major factor in what you’ll pay for janitorial services. Instead of assigning janitorial staff for this, consider having maintenance staff complete this task. Or if there aren’t on-sight maintenance staff, think of ways to make this task less time-consuming for the janitorial service.

3. Emptying Shredders ​

Emptying a shredder takes considerably more time than a regular trash can. While it may be nice to have someone else to deal with dumping the shredder, it will cost you.  

Employees with shedders at their desk can easily empty their own shedders. For community shredders, this task could be assigned to administrative staff, or the lucky person who tops off the shredder.  

There are many options to consider, especially if keeping your janitorial expenses in check is a priority. ​

4. Cleaning Showers 

Depending on your facility type, cleaning showers may not be a negotiable task for your scope of work. If you manage a gym or have one for employee use, then frequent cleaning will be necessary to maintain a hygienic environment.

The mention of it here is to recognize that adding cleaning of showers to your scope of work will add to your overall janitorial costs.  

5. Unlocking and locking doors with multiple keys 

This may sound strange but having to lock and unlock doors will add to your cleaning time. Think about it. If you have a facility with twenty offices that all need to be locked and unlocked, that means cleaning is paused during the locking and unlocking process. Even more time is needed when all the offices have different keys because the cleaning staff must search for a different key at each door.  

With what seems like a few seconds, over multiple offices, days, weeks and months will add up. This time is generally added to your overall cleaning time. Increasing cleaning time will increase what you pay. There are several ways to make securing offices less time consuming for office staff. Those include: 

• Swipe card of code access to offices 
• Office doors that lock on being closed 
• Office doors that lock by pin or twist lock 
• Having all offices keyed to a master key 
• Only secure offices that have a reason to be secured. 
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As you can see, there are many options to both secure offices that need to be and minimize impact on overall cleaning time.  ​

There are many ways in which your scope of work can increase your janitorial service bill higher than what you’d like. This is not an exhaustive list, but it will get you thinking of things to look at in your scope of work that may not be necessary. Removing unnecessary and time-consuming tasks from your scope of work can result in significant savings in what you pay for janitorial services.  

Quality Maintenance & Repair Service Inc

​Quality Maintenance & Repair Service Inc is a full service commercial janitorial company. We provide office cleaning, medical office cleaning multi-tenant office cleaning for in Jacksonville Florida and surrounding areas. In additional to janitorial service, we can help you easily maintain your building in excellent condition with maintenance services such as window cleaning, carpet cleaning and tile cleaning services.  ​
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