A contract that says clean restrooms is not a scope, it is a disagreement waiting to happen. Here is what to specify, task by task, and how often each one genuinely needs doing.
Janitorial complaints usually sound like a performance problem and usually are not. A facilities manager thinks the contract covers wiping down the break room appliances. The contractor priced trash, floors, and restrooms. Neither is lying. The scope never said.
Everything below is a way of removing that ambiguity before it becomes a monthly argument. A scope that lists tasks and attaches a frequency to each one is also the only way to compare three bids honestly, because otherwise the cheapest number is just the narrowest interpretation.
What happens every service visit, whether that is five nights a week or two.
These are the tasks that make a building look maintained rather than merely tidy. They are also the ones quietly left out of a low bid, because their absence takes months to become visible.
| Task | Typical frequency | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Carpet extraction | Twice a year, quarterly in high traffic | Vacuuming removes surface soil. Extraction removes what has worked into the pile, which is what makes carpet look permanently gray. |
| Hard floor strip and refinish | Annually, or burnish quarterly | VCT looks worn because the finish is worn, not because the tile is. Burnishing between strips extends it. |
| Tile and grout deep clean | Annually | Restroom grout is the single most common reason a clean restroom still reads as dirty. |
| High dusting | Quarterly | Vents, ledges, light fixtures, and the tops of partitions. Nobody notices it until it is photographed. |
| Interior glass and partitions, full | Quarterly | Beyond the nightly hand-height wipe. |
| Restroom deep clean and descale | Monthly to quarterly | Hard water scale on fixtures is mineral, not soil, and the nightly product does not touch it. |
| Upholstery and fabric panels | Annually | Especially in waiting rooms. |
| Exterior glass | Quarterly | A different service and worth coordinating with the interior schedule so the glass is done from both sides at once. |
| Entry concrete and walkway | Twice a year | The approach to the door is the first interior surface a visitor forms an opinion about, even though it is outside. |
Put the periodic tasks in the contract with dates or a stated month, not as available on request. A task with no date is a task that will be quoted separately later.
These solve different problems and buildings routinely buy the wrong one.
Works after hours. Best for the bulk work: floors, restrooms, trash, dusting, and anything disruptive or noisy. Nobody is in the way and nothing is interrupted.
Present during business hours. Best for anything that degrades during the day: restrooms at peak use, lobby glass, spills, break room at lunch, and conference rooms turned between meetings.
Standard for buildings with real foot traffic, a busy lobby, or patient-facing space. The night crew resets the building, the porter holds it through the day.
The diagnostic is simple. If the building looks good at eight in the morning and bad at three in the afternoon, the night crew is doing its job and you need a porter. If it looks bad at eight in the morning, that is the night crew.
Some spaces are not generic office.
Most commercial properties have a janitorial contract, a window contract, a pressure washing contract, and a landscaper, on four schedules with four invoices and four points of contact. The interior and the exterior meet at the entrance, which is the surface everybody judges the building by and the one that falls between two vendors.
We do interior janitorial and the exterior work on the same schedule: entry concrete, glass from both sides, canopies, and the dumpster enclosure alongside the nightly interior service. Janitorial is the one interior service we offer and it is commercial only.
If you want a scope written rather than a number quoted, we will walk the building and draft the task and frequency list with you, and you are free to take that document out to other bidders. Call (919) 698-3669.
“We manage several properties and they are the only vendor who sends the insurance paperwork before I have to ask.”
“They keep our storefront and sidewalk clean on a schedule and always work around our hours.”
“They wash our trucks at the yard overnight. Every unit is ready when the crews show up in the morning.”
Everything on the outside of a building, what method each surface actually wants, how often it needs doing, and the handful nobody thinks about until something fails.
Read the guide →WindowsMost of what people call dirty glass is three different problems with three different fixes, and one of them permanently etches the pane if you leave it long enough.
Read the guide →GuttersA pressure washer empties a gutter fast, which is exactly why people try it. It also dents the trough, drives water behind the fascia, and packs the downspout tighter than it was.
Read the guide →We fly the roofline and show you the footage on the spot. You see your own gutters, joints, and downspouts on the screen instead of taking our word for it. It costs nothing and you are not committing to the cleaning.
Free for homes and businesses across the Triangle and Johnston County. No obligation to book any work afterwards.
Call (919) 698-3669 for a free quote. No obligation.
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