Commercial Cleaning Questions, Answered

Tell us about the building through our Peterborough contact form or by phone. We book a free on-site walkthrough, build a program from what we see, and agree a start date with you.

We walk the building with you and look at the floors, washrooms, kitchens, entrances, and anything that has been neglected. We also ask how the space is used and when we are allowed to work in it, because both change the program.

It is free, and there is no obligation attached to it. You get a program built for the building and a price for it, and you decide from there.

Yes. We build the program, agree a start date, and pick up from there. If the building has fallen behind, we say so at the walkthrough and treat the catch-up work separately from the ongoing program.

Most of our work runs after hours, so vacuums and floor machines are not going while your staff or clients are in the space. Where a site needs a presence through the day, those hours are added alongside the nightly program.

Yes. We work across Peterborough and the Kawarthas, including Lindsay, Havelock, Bobcaygeon, Selwyn, Omemee, Norwood, and Hastings. See the areas we serve across the Kawarthas.

Service agreements are typically one year or longer, and each one is tailored to the site it covers. A steady term is what lets us staff your building properly and plan the work in it.

The cleaning is tailored to your building: what gets cleaned, how often, and on what schedule. The quote sets that out before you decide.

We invoice monthly on net 30 terms. Work outside the regular program, such as a one-time floor restoration, is quoted separately.

Yes. Departments move, you take another floor, a tenant opens a kitchen. Tell us and we adjust the program to match.

Our office, at 705-745-5777. Management is local, so billing and scheduling questions are handled by the people who quoted your building.

Call us and tell us what was missed. Our service guarantee is straightforward: if it is not right, we make it right.

There is no flat rate worth quoting, because two buildings the same size can need very different programs. Price follows cleanable square footage, current condition, how many people use the space, the number of washrooms and kitchens, and how often you want us there. Our page on how commercial cleaning pricing works lists every factor.

Frequency and condition. Going from weekly to nightly changes the labour in the building, and a site that has been under-cleaned for a long time needs to be brought back before a routine can hold it.

Professional equipment and disinfectants come with the program, so there is nothing for you to buy or store. Consumables such as paper towel, tissue, and hand soap are available from us at added cost.

No. A one-time clean is priced on the job in front of us, because all of the work happens at once. A regular program spreads the same building over scheduled visits, which is usually the better value for an occupied site.

Yes. Floor restoration, carpet extraction, window cleaning, and post-construction work are quoted on their own scope, whether or not you also hold a janitorial program with us.

Our own employees, never subcontractors. Every clean is done by our trained, vetted, in-house teams.

Yes. Staff pass police background checks, and our teams are vetted.

Our staff wear ServiceMaster Clean uniforms and ID badges on site. Anyone in the building can see at a glance who we are.

We carry full general liability insurance and WSIB coverage, and our staff are bonded.

Yes. Our emergency line answers around the clock, 365 days a year, at 705-745-5777. A mess that has to be gone before an early meeting does not wait for Monday.

Our teams are trained and vetted, and the routine they run is the program built for your building rather than a generic checklist.

Inspections and quality tracking are part of the program, and the results go into your customized client portal along with completed visits. You can see the record from your desk or your phone rather than waiting for a report.

Washrooms cleaned, sanitized, and restocked, high-touch points disinfected, floors vacuumed or mopped, kitchens and staff rooms wiped down, and waste and recycling taken to your collection point. The full list is on the janitorial and office cleaning page.

It depends on traffic and on what the space is used for. A busy clinic or a public building usually needs someone in every night, while a quiet office can hold up on a couple of visits a week.

Yes. We keep dispensers filled on our regular visits. You can buy the consumables yourself and we restock what you have, or we can supply them at added cost.

Yes. Handles, push plates, switches, railings, and keypads are disinfected as part of the routine. Larger scopes are handled through our commercial disinfection services.

We empty bins, replace liners, and take waste to your collection point. Recycling is sorted the way your building sorts it, so we follow your streams rather than inventing our own.

Yes. Timing matters as much as frequency, so the program is set against your hours. Sites that never fully empty are usually best served by a mix of day hours and an after hours visit.

Yes, including counters, sinks, tables, and appliance exteriors. Anything behind or inside appliances is agreed at the walkthrough so nobody is surprised either way.

Hot water extraction for the main clean, with spot treatment for the marks that need it. Details are on our commercial carpet cleaning page.

Entrances, corridors, and meeting rooms need it far more often than private offices, because that is where the grit arrives and gets ground in. We set a rotation with you rather than cleaning the whole floor plate every time.

We work in sections and schedule around your hours, so most sites keep working around us. Carpet is damp after extraction, and we tell you before we start when each area will be ready to use.

Many retail products leave a residue that attracts soil, so the spot comes back darker than before. Blot a fresh spill with a clean white cloth and plain water, and leave the rest for us.

What needs moving is agreed when we quote the job. We can work around desks, cabinets, and equipment that stay put, and plan the areas underneath for a visit when the space is clear.

Extraction removes the soil that most odours come from, which handles the majority of complaints. Where a spill has gone through to the backing or the underpad, tell us so we can look at it specifically.

Yes. Grit in a carpet acts like sandpaper underfoot and cuts the fibre, so soil that is removed on a schedule does less permanent damage than soil left to be walked in.

The old finish is removed, the floor is cleaned down to the tile, and fresh coats of finish are applied and allowed to cure. It is a reset for a floor that has gone grey and cannot be brought back by scrubbing. See our commercial floor care page.

Burnishing polishes the finish that is already on the floor to bring back the gloss. Scrubbing removes soil and the worn top layer so a new coat can bond. Most programs use both on a rotation.

It follows traffic. A busy entrance or corridor needs attention on a set cycle, while a back office can go much longer. The point of the rotation is to avoid a full strip and wax sooner than necessary.

No. Luxury vinyl tile has a factory wear layer that is maintained rather than coated, and treating it like vinyl composition tile can ruin the surface. We identify the floor type before anyone puts a machine on it.

Dulling, streaking, a cloudy film that will not come off, and in the worst cases damage to the finish or the floor itself. Urethane, acrylic, rubber, and sealed concrete all want different chemistry.

Yes. Grout is porous and holds soil that a mop pushes into it rather than out of it, which is why tile can look clean and still read dirty along the lines.

Yes, and sealing makes a warehouse or shop floor much easier to maintain, because soil and spills stay on the surface instead of soaking in. We look at the slab first, since not every floor is a candidate.

Salt and grit are cleared from entrances through the winter, matting is kept clean so it can do its job, and the finish is maintained so the damage does not get locked in. It is the simplest floor work we do, and the most often skipped.

Yes. Task chairs, reception and waiting room seating, and fabric partition panels are all cleanable. See our upholstery and furniture cleaning page.

Usually, yes. Fabric that is soiled but structurally sound can be brought back for a fraction of the disruption of replacing a floor of seating, and it keeps serviceable furniture out of the landfill.

Yes. Wood furniture cleaning and care is part of what we do, including boardroom tables and reception millwork that get wiped with the wrong product day after day.

It follows use. Waiting room and lunchroom seating collects body oils and food soil quickly, while a boardroom chair can go much longer between cleans.

It is the clean that turns a finished build into a space someone can occupy: construction dust off every surface, debris and packaging removed, glass and fixtures detailed, and floors brought to their finished state. See our post-construction cleaning page.

It is fine, abrasive, and it keeps settling out of the air for days after the trades leave. That is why it takes repeat passes and filtration vacuuming rather than one wipe down.

Book it in phases around the trades: a rough clean to clear debris as the work progresses, then a final detail clean once the last trade is out. Trying to do it all in one pass at the end is how handover dates slip.

Yes. Tell us the date and the sequence of the trades at the quote, and the clean is scheduled backwards from it.

Cleaning removes soil from a surface. Sanitizing reduces germs on a surface to a safer level. Disinfecting uses a product registered to kill specific organisms, and it only works properly on a surface that has been cleaned first.

It is the ServiceMaster Clean disinfection program we run, which pairs cleaning and disinfection with ATP testing so the result is measured rather than assumed. There is more on our commercial disinfection services page.

It measures organic residue left on a surface, which is a practical indicator of whether that surface was actually cleaned. It turns a visual judgement into a reading you can record.

The disinfectant is given an electrical charge as it leaves the sprayer, so the droplets are drawn to the surface and wrap around awkward shapes. It is useful for large areas, banks of seating, and equipment that would take a long time to wipe by hand.

Yes, and this is the most common mistake we see. Disinfectant applied over soil is largely wasted, so the cleaning is what makes the disinfection worth doing.

High-touch surfaces are treated on every regular visit, and heavier disinfection is scheduled around your risk: the kind of building, the season, and who uses the space.

No. Any building with shared touch points has the same problem, which is why we run it for offices, schools, plants, and retail as well as for healthcare and medical clinics.

Yes, both, along with entrance glass, partitions, and interior windows. See our window and glass cleaning page.

Entrance glass shows fingerprints within hours and is usually handled on the regular program. Full exterior glass is scheduled a few times a year for most buildings, more where there is traffic, trees, or road spray.

Access is planned before the job. We look at what the building allows, what can be reached safely from the ground or from inside, and what needs different equipment, and we tell you if a section is not something we should take on.

Sometimes. Mineral deposits and sprinkler overspray can often be corrected, but glass that has been left long enough to etch is permanently marked. We look at it before promising anything.

Yes. Pressure washing and exterior building cleaning are part of our specialty and one-time cleaning services.

Walkways, entrances, loading docks, dumpster pads, parking areas, and many building exteriors. The surface decides the pressure and the method, so it is always looked at first.

Spring, once the weather is reliably above freezing, is when most buildings want the winter washed off. Late season work is scheduled around the forecast.

Yes, inside and out. Salt residue on concrete and on entrance flooring is one of the most common spring jobs we get called for.

Yes. Exam and procedure rooms, waiting areas, washrooms, and staff space, cleaned in an order that keeps them separate. See our healthcare and medical clinic cleaning page.

Yes. Most clinic work runs after the last appointment, and day hours can be added where a site needs washrooms and waiting areas kept up while it is open.

Clean first, then disinfect, treat high-touch surfaces on every visit, and use ATP testing where a client wants the result measured. Products and equipment are supplied with the program.

Yes, including resident areas, dining rooms, and common spaces, where the cleaning has to be done around people who live there rather than around a working day.

Yes: classrooms, washrooms, gyms, offices, and cafeterias. See our school and education cleaning page.

Yes. The heavy work runs after the last bell, and washrooms and high-touch surfaces can be covered during the day where a school wants that.

An empty building is the only chance to do the work that cannot happen around students: floors stripped and refinished, carpets extracted, and high dusting caught up. We plan those weeks well in advance with you.

Desks, tables, door handles, light switches, taps, and shared equipment. In a school those surfaces are the whole reason the disinfection step exists.