A commercial cleaning scope of work is the document that names every area of a facility, every task performed in that area, and how often each task happens. If a proposal does not do all three, it is a price, not a scope. Most disputes between a facility and its cleaning vendor trace back to a scope that said "general cleaning of common areas as needed" and left both sides to fill in the blanks differently. This article covers what a real scope names, how frequencies should map to the way facilities actually get dirty, which services belong on a separate line, and what to ask any bidder before you sign.
What a real scope names, task by task
A usable scope is organized by area, because that is how a crew moves through a building and how a manager inspects it. Within each area it lists tasks, not adjectives. "Restrooms cleaned and sanitized" is an adjective. A task list for the same restroom reads: toilets and urinals cleaned and disinfected; sinks, counters and mirrors cleaned; partitions and doors spot cleaned; dispensers restocked with paper, soap and liners; trash emptied and liner replaced; floor swept and damp mopped with disinfectant; odor control applied.
The same discipline applies to every area. For workstations and offices: desks dusted around items, monitors and phones wiped, chairs straightened, trash and recycling emptied, glass partitions spot cleaned. For a lobby: entry glass inside and out to reach height, reception counter, seating, floor care appropriate to the surface, entry mats. For a breakroom: tables, counters, sink, exterior of appliances, microwave interior, refrigerator exterior, floor. For a warehouse: pallet lanes, dock aprons and thresholds, driver restrooms, dock offices, high-touch stations.
A real scope also names what is excluded. Pool chemistry stays with the pool vendor. Landscaping stays with the landscaper. Unit interiors in a residential community stay with the residents. Biohazard remediation beyond routine spill cleanup is referred out.
Frequencies that map to how facilities actually get dirty
The second column in a good scope is frequency, and it should vary by area rather than being a single number applied to the whole building. Facilities do not get dirty evenly. A restroom used by 80 people needs attention every operating day. A conference room used twice a week does not. A blanket "three days per week" either overspends on the spaces nobody uses or underserves the two or three spaces that generate every complaint.
In practice, frequencies fall into a handful of tiers. Every operating day: restrooms, breakrooms, trash and recycling, high-touch surfaces, entry floors. Weekly: full vacuuming of low-traffic carpet, dusting of horizontal surfaces, interior glass, dock aprons and thresholds in industrial buildings. Monthly or quarterly: high dusting, vents and light lenses, baseboards, upholstery vacuuming, the bottom two feet of warehouse racking. Annually or by project: floor refinishing, carpet extraction, exterior window cleaning, pressure washing. The tier an area lands in should follow from headcount, hours of operation and what happens in that room, and the scope should say which tier each area is in.
Add-on services that should be priced separately
Some work does not belong inside the recurring janitorial price, and folding it in hides the real cost of both. Four services in particular should appear on their own line, with their own frequency and their own price:
- Window cleaning. Exterior glass, and interior glass above reach height, require different equipment and a different crew than a nightly route. Typically quarterly or semiannually.
- Floor care. Stripping and refinishing VCT, machine scrubbing sealed concrete, burnishing, tile and grout restoration. This is project work with dates, and it is the most common item to disappear from a contract that bundled it.
- Carpet cleaning. Hot water extraction and traffic lane treatment on a schedule set by traffic, separate from the nightly vacuuming that is in the recurring scope.
- Pressure washing. Entryways, sidewalks, dumpster pads, breezeways and parking structures, usually two to four times a year.
When these are separate, you can see what recurring service costs, compare that number across bidders on equal terms, and decide how often the project work actually needs to happen.
What to ask any bidder before signing
Five questions sort a scope from a price:
- Will you walk the facility before quoting, or is this a per-square-foot number? A scope written without seeing the building cannot know the fixture count, the traffic pattern or what is bonded to the floor.
- Does the scope list tasks by area, with a frequency for each area?
- What is excluded, in writing?
- Which services are priced separately, and at what frequency?
- How will I see that the work was done, and who do I call when it was not? A named local point of contact and photo documentation on request are the two answers worth having.
Star's Janitorial Services writes a scope this way for every account: a walkthrough of your facility first, then a written scope by area, task and frequency, with exclusions and add-ons named. Before-and-after photos are available on request. Star's is a family-owned commercial cleaning company based in Concord, California, serving Contra Costa County and the East Bay since 2012. Licensed, bonded, and insured, License #929771. Call (925) 521-4048 or read how to choose a commercial cleaning company in Contra Costa County.