Office cleaning in particular is the one area of contract cleaning which is extremely competitive. For cleaning companies bidding for contracts it can be virtually guaranteed that there will be someone out there who is willing to undercut you and put in a price solely to gain the contract. Should businesses simply go for the lowest quote or should they be looking for other things?

Sadly many go for the lowest quote and then pay further down the line by having inferior cleaning that they continually have to chase and complain about. Obviously price is important but firms should also be looking for other things. A lot can be found out about a particular cleaning firm by asking a few simple questions.

What is your staff turnover?
Do you provide verifiable training?
Will the cleaning be supervised and how often?
Can you provide a full cleaning survey?
Are your staff fully trained in appropriate Health and Safety practices? Can this be verified?
Can your staff speak and understand English?
Will your staff be able to understand written instructions?

These are all pertinent questions that are very relevant to how efficiently the company are likely to carry out the clean. What you need as a company is to be able to forget about the cleaning so your staff can concentrate on what you are good at. You do not want them constantly complaining about the cleaners or the cleaning. In the second part to this article I will explain why those questions are important to you.

In my own experience of bidding for contracts only about one firm in ten will even ask one of those questions and none have ever asked two or more and yet as you will see they could be vital to the smooth running of your cleaning. Don't just concentrate on cost consider the wider picture.

About the Author
David Andrew Smith has been working for many years in the cleaning industry and is the owner of http://www.wesparkle.co.uk, general cleaners and specialists in the cleaning and polishing of natural stone