A practical sequence for facility managers making a contractor change.
Switching commercial cleaning companies is one of the more logistically straightforward contractor changes a facility manager makes — the service is typically month-to-month after the initial term, access credentials are held at the building level, and the new contractor can usually be operational within two weeks of a signed scope. The risk is not the switch itself; it is the gap between the old contract ending and the new one starting, and the failure to document the current state of the building before the change.
Most commercial cleaning contracts require 30 days written notice to cancel. Some require 60. Confirm the notice period and put it in your calendar. The clock starts when the written notice is delivered, not when you send the email — confirm delivery.
Also note whether the contract auto-renews. A contract that auto-renewed a week ago may require you to serve notice and then wait out the term before switching. Check this before you send your first quote request to a new provider.
Before the old contractor's last visit, walk your facility and note the baseline condition. Take photos of floors, restrooms, break rooms, and any areas that have been a recurring concern. This documentation serves two purposes: it gives the incoming contractor a baseline, and it protects you if the outgoing contractor attempts to claim they left the building in worse condition than they found it.
Do not switch contractors based on a phone quote. Require a walkthrough and a written scope of work before signing anything. The scope should name every room, every task, and the agreed frequency. It should also specify what supplies are included, how access will be managed, and what the response time commitment is for service issues.
If the incoming contractor will not provide a scope document before you sign, that tells you something about how they operate once you are under contract.
Where possible, arrange for the new contract to start one week before the old contract officially ends. This is not always possible — sometimes the budget does not allow for a week of double coverage — but where it is, it eliminates the risk of a gap if the outgoing contractor stops service before the notice period expires. One week of overlap on a commercial cleaning contract is a small cost relative to the cost of a building that goes un-serviced during a busy week.
On the day the old contractor's last visit is complete, change keypad codes, reprogram key cards, and update the building contact list. This is the most commonly skipped step in a contractor switch and the one with the highest downside risk. Outgoing contractors rarely misuse retained access — but the possibility exists, and removing it costs nothing.
Schedule a formal check-in thirty days into the new contract. Confirm the scope is delivering what was agreed, address anything that was missed in the initial walkthrough, and make any adjustments in writing. A new cleaning contract that is not reviewed at 30 days is a contract that quietly drifts from its scope.
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