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Comparing cleaning proposals with a worksheet for every bid
Put every janitorial proposal through the same questions. This San Ramon checklist gives each bid its own sheet, so the answers line up before you look at the totals.
Printable checklist
One sheet for every proposal
Cleaning proposals come in all shapes: a one-page letter, a binder with a room list, a spreadsheet of frequencies. Reading them against each other is harder than it looks, because each one is quiet about different things. The cure is to put the same questions to every proposal, in the same order, and write the answers on paper.
Print a fresh sheet for every bid you receive, then mark it up line by line while reading. Where a proposal says nothing about a line, leave the box blank and circle it. Those circles become your follow-up list for that company. None of this needs a spreadsheet; a pen, a clipboard and a quiet half hour per bid are enough. The walkthrough and the in-person questions sit in our hiring guide; this page picks up once the bids arrive.
Scope and frequencies
Begin with what the proposal says will be cleaned and how often. A total means little until you know what sits behind it.
- Rooms and areas named, checked against your own room list
- Tasks listed for each area, beyond a broad phrase such as nightly service
- Number of visits each week, and which nights
- Carpet extraction, floor scrubbing and recoating, strip-and-refinish and window cleaning each shown on a separate line with its own frequency
- Daytime porter hours, if you asked for coverage while staff are in
Hold each list up to the scope of work you have in mind. Mark any room that is missing, since it changes what that proposal actually covers.
Watch the wording as well. “Restrooms cleaned” and a line that reads “toilets, urinals, sinks and mirrors cleaned and disinfected, floors mopped, dispensers refilled” may describe the same visit, or they may not. The longer version is the one you can check on a morning walk.
Hours, access and supplies
The next two groups decide how the service fits your building day to day. Timing matters most in shared buildings, where the lobby locks at a set hour and the alarm arms on a schedule. A visit window that runs past that point needs a plan in writing.
- Start and finish time for a typical visit
- Fit with the building’s after-hours entry and alarm schedule
- How keys, cards and alarm codes are held, and by whom
- Plan for holidays and days the office is closed
- Who buys toilet tissue, towels, hand soap, sanitizer and liners
- Whether dispensers come with the service or your current units stay
- Who brings the cleaning products and equipment
- Where the crew keeps its cart and products on site
Note which side buys each item. A proposal that leaves paper and soap to you is pricing a narrower job than one that keeps the holders stocked. San Ramon Cleaning can stock them from our janitorial supplies line or refill from what your closet already holds. Ask too whether restocking happens on every visit or on a set day, since that decides how full the holders look by Friday afternoon.
Supervision and inspections
Follow-through is where cleaning plans succeed or slip. These lines show who looks at the finished work and what happens when something is missed.
- Who inspects finished work, and on what rhythm
- How inspection findings are recorded and passed to you
- Route for reporting a missed task, and when the fix happens
- Who your day-to-day contact is
Ask to see a blank copy of whatever form the inspector uses. It shows what gets checked and how findings are written up. For our part, supervisors run regular quality inspections against the visit list, and you have a clear route for reporting anything missed.
Insurance and screening
Collect the same paperwork from every company, and ask for it in writing before you decide. Keep the documents with the sheet for that bid so the file is complete when you choose.
- Bonding confirmed
- Certificate of insurance on file
- Workers’ compensation coverage shown
- Screening of cleaners explained before anyone works in the building
For our part, San Ramon Cleaning holds a bond, insurance and workers’ compensation coverage. Every cleaner passes a background check ahead of a first visit, and each client receives our certificate of insurance.
Staying in touch and starting up
These final lines cover day-to-day contact once service begins, and how the opening weeks run. A single named route for problems is easier to use at nine at night than three possible ones.
- How to raise an issue: phone, email, a form or a named person
- How long a reply usually takes
- How the plan changes when the office grows, shrinks or rearranges
- The start-up steps: date, walkthrough, key and alarm handoff, supply setup
- When the first check-in on quality takes place
The start-up plan is a good preview of the whole relationship. Changing from a current provider? The handover steps are set out in order in our changeover guide.
Laying the sheets side by side
With all the sheets complete, set them on one table. Circled lines tell you what to ask each company. A section with more blanks than the others tells you which proposal is thinner. Put the totals next to each other only after the sheets match, and our San Ramon cleaning cost guide shows which factors push a monthly total up or down. Keep the finished sheets afterward: the one you choose is your written baseline for what the company agreed to deliver, and its start-up section doubles as an agenda for the first month.
If you would like our proposal in the pile, request a quote and use the Facility needs field to list your rooms, nights and supply preference. We walk the building first and answer every line on this sheet in writing.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Can one worksheet cover several bids at once?
No. Use one copy per bid. A separate sheet for each proposal keeps the answers from blurring together, and the blank lines show exactly what to ask that company.
What should every cleaning proposal answer in writing?
The rooms and tasks, visit days and hours, who supplies paper and soap, who inspects the work, insurance and screening, how issues are reported, and the plan for the first weeks.
What makes bids for one building land at different totals?
Totals follow the work described: rooms covered, visits per week, whether supplies are included and how periodic floor and carpet work is handled. A filled sheet for each bid shows those differences before you compare totals.
Will San Ramon Cleaning send a certificate of insurance?
Yes. Every client receives our certificate of insurance. Our crews are background-checked before any building assignment, and we carry bonding and workers’ compensation coverage.
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