7 Tips on Choosing the Best Commercial Janitorial Cleaning Services

If you’re tired of cleaning your commercial building by yourself, it’s time to hire a janitorial cleaning service.

The problem is, there are over 46,000 janitorial services in Illinois alone. If you’re going to find the perfect one to take care of your building, you need to do your due diligence.

In today’s post, we’re going to give you 8 tips for choosing the best commercial janitorial cleaning services around Chicago. Having a clean building is essential for your reputation as a building manager, as well as the health and well-being of your tenants. Keep reading and you’ll know exactly how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to cleaners.

1. Look Into Experience and Licensing

Once you’ve got your ideal candidates, it’s time to start doing more extensive research into how the company operates. Firstly, you need to gain an understanding of how long they’ve been in business. The more experienced a janitorial service is, the better equipped they are to clean your building.

When it comes to commercial cleaning in Illinois, companies don’t need any specific licenses. That being said, they’ll need an occupational license to work in the cleaning industry, so make sure they’ve got that.

If the cleaner is part of any professional organizations, like the ACI or the BSCAI, that’s a good sign. Membership in any of these organizations indicates a standard of excellence that you want in your janitorial service.

2. Inquire About Insurance Policies

Whenever you have a third party coming into your building to perform cleaning duties, you need to ensure they’re equipped with the right insurance policies. In the event of any property damage due to improper cleaning or worse, injuries to workers, you shouldn’t be left to deal with it.

General liability insurance covers a business against both property damage and injuries. You may already have this for your commercial building, but always ask janitorial services to see proof of insurance just to make sure.

A business that is equipped with this, as well as workers’ compensation insurance is a business that cares for its employees as well as its customers.

3. Ask About Equipment and Chemicals

A lot of emphasis is put on green cleaning in 2024. In the past, it would’ve been common practice for janitorial services to use harsh chemicals that are both dangerous and harmful to your surfaces. These days, no respectable cleaning company should use these types of materials.

Of course, most cleaning companies will claim to use green cleaning products, but you can fact-check them. Green cleaning products are biodegradable, non-toxic, and come in recyclable packaging made from recycled materials. They’re free of phosphates, dyes, chlorine, and hypochlorite.

4. Be Clear About Your Needs

When you start reaching out to different janitorial services about cleaning your building, make sure you’re clear about what you need from them. Here’s where it’s crucial to understand what it takes to clean a building like yours.

If you’re a commercial building owner, there may be any number of businesses in different industries operating under your roof. You need to make sure that your cleaners have commercial-grade cleaning equipment that can handle everything that your building throws at them

So, as the building owner, sit down with all of your tenants to discuss exactly what cleaning their space entails. It may even be helpful to involve some of your tenants when you’re broaching this subject with the cleaning companies.

5. Learn About Services On Offer

Simultaneously, you’ll need to find out about what services the company offers. Of course, they’re a commercial cleaning company, so they offer cleaning for larger commercial buildings, but try to find out what sets them apart from the competition.

You’ll also want to learn more about their cleaning process. Find out what time of day/night they can fit your cleanings in, for instance. Ask how many janitors arrive to clean a building of your size and how long it might take them.

Come up with a list of questions to ask about the cleaning services before you choose one. The more information you can glean about how they operate, the easier it’ll be to pick the right cleaner.

6. Ask About Hiring Processes

If you want to minimize the amount of risk involved with hiring a cleaning crew, it’s important to ask about hiring practices. In commercial spaces, there’s often expensive equipment sitting around. It’d be easy for a member of the cleaning staff to steal something when no one’s around.

You want to make sure that they perform thorough background checks on their new hires. Find out what’s involved in their hiring practices and how they’re going to protect your space from criminal activity.

7. Get Quotes

Lastly, always get quotes from every cleaning service you speak to. Having more than one quote will help you get a sense of how much these services cost. You can then formulate a budget and figure out which service has the right combination of quality and affordability.

Get the Best Commercial Janitorial Cleaning Services in Chicago

Follow this guide and you’ll find the best commercial janitorial cleaning services in Chicago. It can be a tiresome process whittling the giant pool of cleaners in Chicago down to a few of the best, but it’s worth the time and effort.

At Anchor World Services, we can make this process a lot easier. For over 100 years, we’ve been Chicago’s top choice for commercial cleaning services. We’ve got experience with all sorts of commercial spaces, including medical offices, residential buildings, and schools.

If you want the most reputable cleaning service in the city, contact us and we’ll give you a free quote for your cleaning needs.