The document that converts a verbal agreement into an enforceable contract.
A scope of work is the document that determines whether a commercial cleaning contract delivers what was agreed or produces a year of disputes. Most cleaning contracts in the south Twin Cities metro are signed without one. The facility manager gets a monthly price and a handshake; the contractor gets discretion over what they actually do. That discretion is the source of nearly every cleaning contract complaint.
| Element | What It Should Say |
|---|---|
| Room inventory | Every room or zone in the facility listed by name or number, with square footage if available |
| Task list per zone | Specific tasks for each room — not "clean restrooms" but "sanitize toilets and urinals, clean mirrors, mop floors, restock paper towels and soap" |
| Frequency per task | Which tasks happen on every visit, which happen weekly, which happen monthly |
| Supplies | Whether paper products, trash liners, and cleaning chemicals are included in the rate or billed separately |
| Access arrangements | Keypad codes, key card procedures, alarm protocols, and after-hours building contact information |
| Crew size and visit duration | How many people, how long each visit takes — this affects your scheduling and building security posture |
| Response-time commitment | How quickly the contractor responds to service issues and what the remedy is if a task is not completed |
| Change process | How scope changes are documented and how the price adjusts when the scope changes |
The most common dispute in commercial cleaning contracts is over tasks that the client assumed were included and the contractor assumed were not. The following items are frequently disputed — they should be explicitly included or excluded in the scope:
None of these items is inherently included or excluded. They are included when the scope says they are included, and excluded when it does not.
Periodic floor care — machine scrubbing, strip and refinish, carpet extraction — should be documented as a separate addendum to the nightly scope. Floor care happens on a different schedule than nightly cleaning, uses different equipment, and should be priced separately. Bundling it into the nightly scope without a line-item breakdown makes it impossible to verify that it was completed on the agreed schedule.
We provide a written scope of work within three business days of the site walkthrough, before you sign anything. The scope is the contract; if it is not in the scope, it is not in the price. Request a quote to start the process.
Request a Scope of Work for Your FacilityMendota Commercial Cleaning — 22 years in business — Insured & Bonded — (866) 958-8773