What Supplies You Need to Start a Commercial Cleaning Company

Starting a commercial cleaning company does not require a van packed with gear you will never use. You need the right supplies for the work you are taking. Get the core kit right from the start and you will spend less money over time, move faster on every job, and look like a professional when you walk in the door. Here is exactly what that kit looks like.

Floor supplies

Floors are where you spend most of your time on a commercial job. Hard floors take longer than carpet because you sweep and mop, and the wrong tool adds time you are not getting paid for.

• Microfiber flat mop with a bucket. A commercial frame mop, not the string mop from the grocery store. Microfiber lifts more and leaves less residue behind. Get a bucket with a wringer you can operate without touching the pad.
• Broom and dustpan. A commercial lobby broom, the wide kind. For detail work along baseboards and corners, a counter brush does what a wide broom cannot reach.
• Wet floor signs. Bring at least two per crew on every job. These are not optional and clients expect to see them.
• Commercial vacuum. For carpeted offices, a commercial upright with a HEPA filter. Proteam and Sanitaire are common workhorses in this business. If you are covering buildings over 10,000 square feet or dealing with a lot of stairs, a 6 quart or 10 quart backpack vacuum gives your crew more mobility and cuts the time down considerably.

Surface and glass supplies

Lobbies and conference rooms have glass partitions and smudged doors that show everything. Glass takes its own product and its own cloths.

• Microfiber cloths in quantity. Color code them by area. Blue for general surfaces, a separate color for restrooms. This is a basic cross contamination control that clients notice and that keeps you out of trouble.
• All purpose cleaner concentrate. Commercial grade. You dilute it yourself. A gallon of concentrate from a janitorial supply house goes much further than 12 retail spray bottles and costs a fraction of the price per diluted ounce.
• Glass cleaner. A dedicated product for mirrors, windows, and glass partitions. Streak free, commercial grade. Do not use all purpose cleaner on glass.
• Disinfectant. Check that it is EPA registered. Many clients, especially medical offices and schools, ask about this specifically before they sign a contract.

Restroom supplies

Restrooms are where clients decide whether you are doing your job. Keep a dedicated set of supplies that never cross over to the rest of the building.

• Bowl cleaner. Specific to toilet bowls, not all purpose. A commercial grade acid bowl cleaner handles mineral buildup and stains that a general cleaner will not touch.
• Dedicated restroom cloths. The color code system from the surface kit handles this. Never bring the same cloth from the lobby into a restroom.
• Toilet brush and scrubber. Each client location should have its own, left on site, or you bring a dedicated one per job and keep it separated from your other gear.

Consumables the client may want stocked

Some contracts include stocking restroom consumables. Some are labor only. Find out during the walkthrough and get the answer in writing before you start. When walking a building before the bid, check whether dispensers are client owned, whether they use proprietary refills, and who currently orders the product. That one detail changes your cost and your price.

• Paper towels
• Toilet paper
• Can liners (trash bags in the right sizes for each bin)
• Hand soap for dispensers

If you are supplying consumables, price them into the bid as a separate line. Do not absorb that cost into labor. It is a real expense and it grows as the building size grows.

Safety and carry gear

Your crew needs to move efficiently through the building and protect themselves while they work.

• Nitrile gloves. Not latex. Nitrile holds up better to the chemical contact your crew is dealing with on every job. Buy a box at a time and restock before you run out.
• A caddy or cleaning cart. A simple plastic caddy works for small offices. For anything over 10,000 square feet, a janitor cart with a bag keeps your crew from walking back and forth to the vehicle every 20 minutes. A decent commercial cart runs 80 to 150 dollars and it pays for itself in the first month.

Buy commercial grade, not retail

Retail product from a grocery store is watered down and burns through fast. One gallon of commercial concentrate diluted at the proper ratio is far cheaper per ounce than buying premixed spray bottles one at a time. It is also consistent: the same dilution every time, which matters when you are training a new person and need them to use product the same way you do.

Janitorial supply houses sell commercially in most cities. GS Janitorial, Sysco, and regional distributors carry what you need. Once you have an EIN and a couple months of business history, many will set you up with a net 30 account, which helps your cash flow considerably when you are growing.

What you do not need on day one

You do not need a commercial floor machine, a carpet extractor, or an auto scrubber to start. Those are for one time jobs and specialized contracts. Get them when a specific job calls for them, not before. Equipment sitting in your garage or vehicle waiting for the right job ties up capital you need for payroll and supplies.

When you are ready to start pricing work, the method for pricing a commercial cleaning contract shows you how to work supply cost and labor into a number that protects your margin on every job. Know what you are spending before you ever send a price. You can also see how CleanOS handles bid building and job tracking at janity.ai/#pricing.