Can You Reduce Commercial Cleaning Costs Without Reducing Cleaning Standards?

Businesses are under pressure to control costs.

Wages, energy, fuel, supplies and many other operating expenses have increased, so it's understandable that businesses are reviewing what they're spending and looking for savings.

Commercial cleaning is unlikely to escape that scrutiny.

If you're paying for 10 hours of cleaning each week, reducing that to eight hours appears to offer an immediate saving.

But there's an important question to ask first:

What happens to the work that was previously being completed during those two hours?

If the cleaning specification remains exactly the same, simply reducing the hours doesn't necessarily create an efficiency.

It may just give the cleaner less time to complete the same amount of work.

There can be better ways to control commercial cleaning costs without unnecessarily reducing cleaning standards.

1. Review How Often Different Areas Are Cleaned

Not every part of a workplace necessarily needs cleaning at the same frequency.

A busy reception area used by employees, customers and visitors could require considerably more attention than a meeting room that's only used occasionally.

The same applies to corridors, kitchens, toilets, individual offices and storage areas.

Rather than applying one frequency across an entire building, look at how individual areas are actually used.

You may discover that some areas need more attention while others can be cleaned less frequently.

That's a more targeted approach than simply cutting cleaning time across the whole contract.

2. Look at Actual Footfall

Floor area is only part of the picture when determining cleaning requirements.

Consider two offices of approximately the same size.

One has 30 people attending five days a week.

The other has 10 employees working on a hybrid basis, with only a handful of people in the building on certain days.

They may have similar floor areas, but their cleaning requirements could be very different.

If working patterns have changed since your cleaning contract began, it may be worth reviewing whether the original cleaning frequencies are still appropriate.

3. Identify Areas That Are Rarely Used

Most workplaces have them.

Perhaps there's a spare meeting room, storage area, secondary office or other space that receives very little use.

Does it genuinely need the same level of cleaning every visit as the busiest areas of the building?

That doesn't mean ignoring it completely.

It might simply mean changing a task from every visit to weekly, fortnightly or another suitable frequency.

Small changes across several low-use areas can reduce unnecessary work without compromising cleanliness where it actually matters.

4. Decide What's Essential

A good cleaning specification should distinguish between tasks that need completing regularly and those that can be carried out periodically.

For example, maintaining toilets, kitchens, high-use floors and frequently touched areas may be a priority.

Other detailed tasks may not need completing during every cleaning visit.

If budgets are under pressure, it's worth identifying:

What absolutely needs doing?

What needs doing, but less frequently?

What is currently being done simply because it's always been done that way?

Those questions can uncover savings without simply asking a cleaner to work faster.

5. Schedule Periodic Tasks Separately

Some cleaning tasks are important but don't need doing every day or every week.

Rather than trying to fit everything into the regular cleaning visit, periodic tasks can sometimes be scheduled separately.

This also makes the cleaning specification clearer.

Everyone knows which tasks form part of the normal routine and which are completed at agreed intervals.

It can also help prevent the gradual build-up that eventually results in a much larger deep-cleaning requirement.

6. Review Consumable Usage

If your cleaning arrangement includes items such as toilet rolls, hand towels, soap or other consumables, it's worth periodically reviewing usage.

Unexpectedly high consumption doesn't necessarily mean anything is wrong, but it can be worth understanding where products are being used and whether wastage can be reduced.

The same principle applies to cleaning products.

Professional chemicals should be used according to the manufacturer's instructions. Using excessive amounts doesn't automatically produce a better result and can simply increase costs.

7. Review the Cleaning Specification Before Cutting the Hours

This is perhaps the most important point.

If a business needs to reduce its cleaning expenditure, there is nothing unreasonable about discussing that with its cleaning contractor.

But the conversation shouldn't simply be:

“We need to cut the cleaning from three hours to two.”

A better conversation is:

“We need to reduce our cleaning costs. What can we change while protecting the areas and tasks that matter most?”

That allows the contractor and customer to review the specification together.

Perhaps some frequencies can change.

Perhaps low-use areas can receive less attention.

Perhaps periodic tasks can be reorganised.

Or perhaps, after reviewing everything, the existing hours genuinely are required.

Either way, the decision is being based on the cleaning requirement rather than an arbitrary reduction in time.

Cheaper and More Efficient Aren't Necessarily the Same Thing

There is an important distinction between reducing cost and improving efficiency.

If someone is expected to complete exactly the same workload in significantly less time, the invoice may be cheaper – but the cleaning service hasn't necessarily become more efficient.

Something may eventually have to give.

That could mean rushed work, tasks being missed or gradual deterioration in cleaning standards.

Real efficiency comes from making sure the available cleaning time is being spent on the right tasks, in the right areas, at the right frequency.

When Did You Last Review Your Cleaning Specification?

Cleaning requirements aren't necessarily permanent.

Businesses grow. Staff numbers change. Hybrid working alters building occupancy. Rooms change purpose and customer footfall can rise or fall.

Yet a cleaning specification written several years ago can continue unchanged.

If you're reviewing costs across your business, that makes it a good time to review the cleaning specification too.

You might find opportunities to reduce unnecessary work.

You might discover certain areas actually need more attention.

Or you may confirm that your existing arrangements are already appropriate.

All three outcomes are useful.

Start With the Requirement, Not the Number of Hours

There isn't a universal formula for reducing commercial cleaning costs.

Every workplace is different.

But if savings are required, our advice is simple:

Review what needs cleaning, how frequently it needs cleaning and how the building is actually being used before deciding how many cleaning hours to remove.

At Jmr Cleaning Ltd, we carry out a site survey before preparing a commercial cleaning quotation so that the cleaning specification can be based on the individual premises.

We provide commercial cleaning services across Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Abergele, St Asaph, Bodelwyddan and surrounding areas of North Wales.

If you're reviewing your existing cleaning arrangements, contact Jmr Cleaning Ltd to arrange a free site survey and quotation.