Most janitorial schedules are set once, at the start of a contract, and then never questioned again. That's how a busy office ends up with washrooms cleaned twice a week, while a quiet one pays for daily service it doesn't need. A better schedule starts from how the space is actually used. Here's how to work it out.
What drives frequency
- People. Headcount and visitors matter most. More people means more washroom use, more garbage and more traffic on the floors.
- Washrooms and food.These set the minimum frequency. They can't go a week.
- Public-facing space.Anywhere customers or clients see, such as reception, a sales floor or a waiting area, has to look right every day it's open.
- Flooring.Carpet hides dirt until it suddenly doesn't; hard floors show it straight away. Entrances need more attention than interior floors.
- Season. In Calgary, the months of snow, salt and gravel add a lot of work at the entrances. Plenty of buildings run a heavier schedule from November to April.
Sort the tasks by how often they really need doing
Daily, or every visit
- Washrooms cleaned and sanitised.
- Garbage and recycling emptied.
- Kitchens and breakrooms: counters, sinks, tables.
- High-touch surfaces disinfected: door handles, switches, railings.
- Entrances and reception tidied, floors spot-cleaned.
Weekly
- Carpeted areas fully vacuumed.
- Hard floors mopped throughout.
- Ledges, sills and furniture dusted.
- Meeting rooms fully cleaned.
Monthly or periodically
- Hard floors machine-scrubbed.
- High dusting: vents, the tops of partitions and shelving.
- Carpet deep cleaning, usually a few times a year and more often in high-traffic areas.
- Interior glass and partitions.
Your building will move some tasks up or down this list. What matters is that every task has its own frequency written into the scope, instead of one frequency for everything.
When after-hours cleaning makes sense
Cleaning while the building is in use has one real advantage: problems get dealt with as they happen. Almost everything else favours cleaning when it's empty. Crews work faster with nobody in the way, floors can be mopped and left to dry, vacuums don't interrupt meetings, and no one walks across a wet lobby.
After-hours cleaning does mean trusting a crew with access while nobody is there, so settle keys, fobs, alarm codes and any off-limits areas before the first visit. Early mornings before opening suit most retail; evenings suit most offices. Some busy buildings add a short daytime check of washrooms and spills on top of an after-hours clean.
Three sample schedules
These are illustrations to adjust for your own building, not quotes or recommendations for it.
A 20-person office, about 4,000 sq. ft.
- Three evening visits a week: washrooms, kitchen, garbage, high-touch surfaces, traffic areas vacuumed.
- Weekly: full vacuum, hard floors mopped, dusting.
- Periodically: carpet deep cleaning a few times a year.
A street-front retail store
- Daily, before opening: entrance and sales floor, washroom, garbage, the glass at the door.
- Weekly: fixtures and shelving edges dusted, full floor clean.
- Winter: entrance and matting every day, more at the height of salt season.
Common areas in a multi-tenant building
- Several times a week: lobby, elevators, garbage room, high-touch surfaces.
- Weekly: hallways vacuumed, stairwells swept and mopped.
- Periodically: corridor carpet deep cleaning, lobby floor scrubbing.
Review it after the first few months
The first schedule is a best guess. After a couple of months you'll know which areas are over-served and which are always behind, so build in a review. Headcount, hours and tenants change too.
If you're setting up or resetting a schedule, our commercial janitorial service is built around daily, weekly and after-hours options, and what janitorial service costs in Calgary shows how frequency changes the price. For buildings with residents or tenants, see cleaning for property managers and condo boards, or start from commercial cleaning in Calgary for the full picture.