Switching commercial cleaners without a gap.

When is it time to switch cleaners?

When the same problem comes back after you've raised it in writing. One missed night is a conversation. A pattern is a reason to leave.

Give your current cleaner one documented chance first. Write down each miss with the date, send the list, and ask for a fix-by date. It's fair to them, and if nothing changes, that list becomes the first page of your new scope.

The reasons managers give most often:

• Missed nights, or the same checklist items skipped week after week
• Messages that go unanswered for days
• A different crew every week, and nobody tells you
• Service that was good for the first few months, then slipped
• Keys or alarm codes handled carelessly, or a door found unlocked in the morning
• No current certificate of insurance when your landlord asks for one

What should you check in your current agreement?

The notice period, how notice has to be given, the term and any renewal date, and what happens to keys, supplies and equipment when service ends.

If your agreement continues until cancelled or renews automatically, Virginia's automatic renewal and continuous service law covers many small businesses as well as households, and calls for a way to cancel that's at least as easy as signing up (Va. Code § 59.1-207.45, § 59.1-207.46). A fixed term, a charge for ending early or an automatic renewal is worth a call to your attorney before you send notice.

Should you line up a new cleaner before giving notice?

Yes. Walkthroughs and written proposals take a week or two, so start while your current cleaner is still working, then time your notice so the last night and the first night meet.

1. Walk the space with two or three cleaners. Show every restroom, breakroom, floor type and problem spot, and hand each one your list of misses. The questions to ask are in how to choose a commercial cleaning company.
2. Compare written scopes, not totals. Line the proposals up task by task, area by area and frequency by frequency before you compare anything else.
3. Pick the start date. Then count back by your notice period to find the day notice has to go out.
4. Get the new cleaner's certificate of insurance, with your company as certificate holder. If your lease asks vendors to file one with the landlord, send a copy there too.
5. Then give notice, in writing, the way the agreement says. A letter you can adapt is below.

Keep checking the work while the notice period runs, and keep writing misses down. Service should continue as agreed until the last day.

How do you give your cleaner notice?

In writing, by the method and to the address your agreement names, with a clear last day of service. Keep a copy and proof that you sent it.

• Send it the way the agreement says. If it names an address, a person or a method, use exactly that. If you mail it, certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of delivery.
• Keep a copy and the proof that it was sent, with the date.
• Put three dates in your calendar: the last day of service, the key collection, and the morning you'll change the codes.

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How do you take back keys, fobs and alarm codes?

List every key and code the old crew holds, collect and count the keys on the last day, delete or change every code before the new crew starts, and hand out new access in person.

Never email or text a code, and never type one into a web form. A code in an inbox stays there long after the person who needed it has gone.

What should you hand the new cleaner?

A one-page handover: the scope, what's been missed, how the building works and who to call. It saves the first month of guesswork.

• Your current checklist or scope, if you have one
• The list of what's been missed, with dates
• Floor types, and any care guides from the flooring maker
• Where the supply closet is, and who orders paper and soap
• Where trash and recycling go, and the pickup days
• Off-limits rooms, and anything never to be moved
• Your alarm procedure, and who to call if it goes off
• Building rules: entrances, elevators, after-hours access, the property manager's contact
• Who to tell about a problem, and who on your team they report to
• Staff habits worth knowing: dishes, fridge clear-outs, desks to leave alone

Keep codes off the sheet. Share them in person or by phone.

How should the changeover week go?

Overlap the planning, not the cleaning. The new cleaner prepares while the old one finishes, the first night follows the last, and you walk the space together after the first week.

What if service has been slipping for a while? Built-up restroom grime, grimy floor edges and high dust rarely come off in one regular visit. Tell us at the walkthrough: we’ll note what needs catching up and plan the first few weeks of your recurring scope around it, in writing.