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Hire your own cleaner or contract a janitorial company?
Should your San Ramon building put a cleaner on payroll or sign a janitorial contract? Here is how the two compare on hiring, insurance, supplies, inspections and floor projects.
Two ways to keep the building clean
Someone has to clean the restrooms tonight. What you are really deciding is whose payroll that person sits on: yours, or a janitorial company’s. A business park tenant with one suite, an owner-occupied office on a corporate campus and a school office all face the same fork, and the right branch shows up once you list everything the job really involves.
Wiping counters and emptying bins is the visible part. Behind it sit recruiting, background checks, insurance, a supply budget, machines for carpet and hard floors, and someone with the time to check the rooms. In-house, all of that lands on your desk. With a contract, most of it moves to the company, and your part shrinks to setting the visit list and saying what needs to change.
This page compares the two arrangements. Weighing daytime help against evening service is a different choice, and our day porter and nightly janitorial guide covers it.
The two arrangements, row by row
Start with the rows your building cares about most and mark them before reading the rest. A suite with no carpet can skip the last row; a property that answers to a board or a landlord will care a great deal about the insurance rows.
| Question | Your own cleaning staff | San Ramon Cleaning |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the right person | Post the job, interview and arrange any checks yourself | Crews pass a background check before they start |
| Insurance and injury cover | Your own policies and workers’ comp must include the role | Bonded and insured, with workers’ compensation in force |
| Proof for your landlord or board | You produce your own paperwork when asked | Every client gets our certificate of insurance |
| Supplies and machines | You buy, store and replace them | We bring supplies, or restock the products you buy |
| Checking the results | A manager walks the rooms when time allows | Supervisor quality inspections, room by room |
| Adding a room or task | Rewrite duties and retrain the person | One change to the visit list carries forward |
| Carpet and hard floor projects | Rent machines or hire a second vendor | Extraction, scrubbing, recoating and refinishing as separate visits |
What an in-house cleaner asks of you
Hiring your own cleaner starts like any other hire: a job posting, interviews, a reference or background check you arrange, and the onboarding that follows. After that, the role needs a written list of duties, a place to store products and equipment, and a budget line for paper goods, soap, liners and chemicals.
Machines are the hidden line. Vacuums and mops are cheap, but carpet extraction and floor scrubbing need equipment most buildings don’t own, so in-house teams usually rent it or bring in an outside company for those jobs anyway. That second vendor needs its own scope, schedule and paperwork.
Then there is oversight. Somebody on your staff has to walk the restrooms, notice what was skipped and talk it through. In a small office that job tends to land on whoever runs the front desk, on top of everything else they handle.
Payroll and benefits come with any hire too, and they stay with you as the employer. So does the question of continuity: when a staff cleaner moves on, the routine, the product choices and the habits of the building leave with that one person, and the hiring starts over.
What a janitorial contract takes off your plate
With San Ramon Cleaning, the work starts with a walkthrough of your property. The written quote that follows lists every room, what gets done in it and on which nights, and that visit list is the yardstick for every visit afterward.
The paperwork is settled before the first night. San Ramon Cleaning holds insurance and a bond and carries workers’ compensation, and you get our certificate of insurance to pass to a landlord or keep on file. Cleaners are background-checked before they set foot in your building.
Day to day, the crew restocks paper towels, toilet paper, soap and liners from supplies we provide or from your own stock. Supervisors walk the building on quality inspections and hold it up against your list, so the checking no longer waits for someone in your office to find a spare hour.
When the building changes, the list changes with it. A new conference room or a closed breakroom goes into the visit list once and stays there. Carpet extraction and hard floor care get their own dates on the calendar, handled by the same company, with no second vendor to manage.
Questions to settle before you choose
Your answers to these questions point to the better fit:
- Does the building need someone present all day, or is the cleaning best done after everyone leaves?
- Who would recruit, screen and supervise a staff cleaner, and what would come off their plate to make room?
- Do your lease or board rules ask for a vendor’s certificate of insurance?
- Where would supplies and machines be stored, and who would reorder them?
- How often do the carpets and hard floors need deeper work, and who would do it?
- How will you know a restroom or breakroom was missed, and who fixes it?
Keeping a staff member and adding a contract
Plenty of buildings end up with both. A property with a facilities person on staff can keep that person on daytime requests, such as a spill, a conference room reset or a delivery, while a janitorial contract handles the evening visits and the periodic floor work.
Another option is to bring in a day porter during business hours and keep the nightly visits on the same visit list. Either way, write down who owns which rooms and tasks so nothing falls between the two.
To see a contract drawn for your own rooms, request a quote. A walkthrough comes first, then a visit list and price in writing.
A few useful answers
Common questions
What costs should we count when pricing an in-house cleaner?
Count more than the wage. Add recruiting and screening, payroll costs, supplies, storage, machines for carpet and floor work, and the hours a manager spends supervising.
Does San Ramon Cleaning carry workers’ compensation?
Yes. We hold workers’ compensation along with insurance and a bond, and you receive our certificate of insurance when service begins.
Who supplies the paper goods and cleaning products under a contract?
Your choice. We bring the supplies, or we restock paper towels, toilet paper, soap and liners from the products your building already buys.
Who checks the cleaning when we outsource it?
Our supervisors do. Their quality inspections hold each room up against the visit list you approved.
Can a staff cleaner work alongside a janitorial contract?
Yes. Your own person takes daytime requests, and our crews cover the evening visits plus periodic carpet and floor work.