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A janitorial bid comparison checklist, one sheet per company
Fill in one copy of this printable for every cleaning bid you receive, then lay the sheets side by side. Missing tasks, vague supply terms and absent insurance paperwork surface long before you look at a total.
Printable checklist
How the sheet works
Proposals for a single office seldom share a format: a bulleted page, a full task matrix, a brief letter with a single monthly figure. Reading them one after another, it is easy to remember the friendliest one rather than the most complete.
This checklist slows that down. Print one copy for each bid and work through it with the bid open beside you, ticking a line only when the bid actually states it. When every copy is filled in, line them up on a table. Unticked lines are the questions to send back before you compare anything else.
It pairs with two guides we already publish. Choosing a cleaning company covers the walkthrough and what to ask, and what goes into a cleaning quote explains why figures differ. The sheet is the record you keep while you read.
Rooms, tasks, nights and hours
This group comes first. If two bids cover different rooms or different nights, nothing further down the sheet compares fairly.
- Every room type you listed appears, from entries to storage
- Tasks are spelled out room type by room type rather than in one general list
- A frequency sits beside each task
- Nights per week match what you asked for
- The cleaning window fits your occupied hours
- Periodic floor and carpet work sits on its own line with an interval
- Any requested porter hours appear on a line apart from the night routine
- Restricted rooms and entry rules are acknowledged
Bidders quote more consistently from one shared room-and-task list, and our scope of work guide lays out how to assemble it before bids go out.
Supplies and equipment
Supplies are where similar-looking bids most often part ways, so pin down who buys, stores and reorders each item.
- The bid says whether restroom and kitchen consumables are included
- If included, the items are named
- Reordering is assigned to a person or a routine
- Dispensers are addressed: existing units kept, or new ones mounted
- Storage space the crew needs on site is stated
- Floor machines and equipment are the company’s to bring
Supervision, inspections and communication
A task list only holds up if someone checks it. Look for how the work is inspected and how you reach a person when it isn’t right.
- Quality inspections are described, with how often they happen
- Your contact at the company is named
- The way to report a missed task is spelled out
- How corrections reach the crew is explained
- How changes to rooms or schedules get added to the plan is covered
With us, supervisor inspections happen on a regular schedule, and a miss they find is put right with the crew before it turns into a habit.
Insurance and crew screening
This group is a matter of paperwork in hand, not promises. Tick a line only when the document or written statement is in front of you.
- Certificate of insurance received
- Workers’ compensation coverage is confirmed
- A bond is confirmed in writing
- The bid explains how crew members are background-checked
- Key, fob and alarm code handling explained
For our own bids: we are insured and bonded, workers’ compensation covers every member of the crew, and every client of ours holds a copy of that insurance certificate. Nobody starts a shift with us before a background check.
The start-up plan
The first few weeks decide whether a written plan turns into a dependable routine. A bid that explains its start says a lot about how the account will run.
- A walkthrough before the first night is part of the plan
- A start date is proposed
- Handover of keys, badges and alarm codes is covered
- Early check-ins on the first visits are described
- A point for reviewing the task list after the first weeks is set
Still under contract with someone else? Notice periods, start dates and the access handoff are covered in changing cleaning companies.
Reading the sheets together
With every copy filled in, count the blank lines on each. A blank isn’t a mark against a company; it is a question to send back, and the answer tells you whether something was left out or simply assumed. Once the sheets match line for line, the monthly totals finally describe the same job, and our Mountain View cleaning cost guide gives you a yardstick for them.
Hold on to the finished sheets once a decision is made. They serve as a quick record of what the winning bid put in writing, which is useful at the first review of the routine and any time the task list is revisited.
When you are ready to add us to the pile, request a walkthrough. Every quote we send starts from what we see on site.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Why fill in a separate sheet for each bid?
Each company gets measured against the same lines, one at a time. When the copies sit side by side, missing items stand out in a way they never do when you read proposals back to back.
Should the monthly price go on the checklist?
No. Leave totals off until the lines match. A figure only means something once each bid covers the same rooms, nights, supplies and floor work.
A bid skipped several lines. Does that rule it out?
Not on its own. Ask that company about each missing line and write its answer on the sheet; then the copies can be compared fairly.
What proof of insurance should we ask for?
A certificate of insurance, received before you decide. Every client of ours gets one, and the sheet has a line to tick when it arrives.
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