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Let me first explain that there is a great diversity in janitorial services. It is a business that can be started with minimal capital, as a second job, or you can hire a multi-million dollar revenue company that employees hundreds of workers. You will find an entrepreneurial guy and his brothers, or a corporation that has hundreds of accounts to manage every week.

The fact is that a small or a large cleaning service can do the job for most normal buildings. Smaller janitorial firms will generally be less expensive, but larger janitorial firms promise more in support and associated services. It is easier to check the track record of an existing firm, whereas smaller firms may have only a year or two of business to research. Looking for quality of workmanship is an important factor in any company that you hire, and you want more than a spurt of good service at the beginning. Few firms will do more than check references (which are hand picked from their best customers), but it would be good to know how they handle a company like yours before you make your choice.

There is no perfect company. Large or small, you are going to encounter some cleaning services that do not have the right attitude about customer care, and it will show up not long after the contract has been signed. They know that you do not want to go back to the beginning to hire another firm or the hassle of firing them. Therefore, you are going to see the low bids are more often firms who must cut costs internally to turn a profit from these low bids. While it is an industry standard, hiring based on low bid is probably the best way to insure that you will have trouble from your cleaning service. I wonder if the lowest and highest bid should be kicked out before you start your consideration.

The debate over small versus large janitorial services will never be resolved. Big cleaning services have more to offer, and small cleaning services will often be more price competitive while promising to bring superior cleaning effort. Large or small, quality is the prime issue, and it is one of the hardest issues to discover as you look over the proposals that you will receive. Advertising, by the way, is not about telling the truth, but impressing the customer with their promise.

Choosing a janitorial service is therefore not as simple as sending out an RFP (Request for Proposals), doing a walk-through with vendors, and selecting the lowest bid. There are a variety of important decisions that must be made before choosing a janitorial service. In my opinion, taking the lowest bid is the wrong way to select a company even though they claim to be able to service the account as described in the RFP.

It’s time to change the process. Although price will always be a part of the consideration, it is important that you discover the quality and reliability of the cleaning service that you hire. To help you understand this better, I have prepared a ten page report called “How to Hire a Janitorial Service.” It includes a sample RFP and offers some needful advice on a subject that few people really understand. You’ll find this report at www.GreenJanitor.net.

The lagging question that is becoming a more important issue is that your janitorial service should be providing a bona fide Green program for your office. More and more cities and states are pressing for companies to “Go Green.” Here’s a clue. It starts with a Green janitorial service. My report at www.greenjanitor.net will explain how to get your building GCI Green Building certified as well. If you really want to find a good janitorial service, do your homework first, and you will eliminate a lot of headaches later.