What a written scope of work contains
A commercial cleaning scope of work lists every task by area, states how often each one is done, and sets a standard that each one can be checked against. Island Commercial Cleaning quotes from a scope rather than a monthly figure, across 3 regional districts on Vancouver Island.
Updated August 2026
A scope of work is the document that states which tasks are performed in which areas, at what frequency, and to what measurable standard.
The four things every line needs
A usable scope gives each line a task, an area, a frequency and a standard. Task and area are obvious and usually present. Frequency is where most contracts get vague, and standard is where nearly all of them stop. "Clean washrooms" is a task. "Clean washrooms nightly, all fixtures, restock consumables to at least half capacity" is a line that can be inspected. The difference costs nothing to write and decides whether a disagreement six months in is a conversation about facts or about impressions.
Frequencies, and which tasks belong at each
Nightly work is the visible layer — washrooms, kitchens, bins, traffic lanes, entry glass. Three times a week suits buildings with lighter occupancy and holds most of the nightly list at reduced cadence. Weekly picks up full vacuuming, interior glass and detail dusting. Monthly and quarterly carry vents, high dusting, upholstery and floor maintenance. Annual holds restorative work — extraction, strip and recoat. Splitting them out is what stops a nightly rate quietly absorbing work that should have been priced on its own cycle.
Consumables and restocking
Consumables are the products a building consumes rather than the ones used to clean it — toilet tissue, paper towels, hand soap and bin liners. The trade press treats them as a distinct bidding category for good reason: whoever buys them, there is real labour in delivering and installing them, and that labour belongs in the scope either way. We write restocking as a measurable level — topped up to at least half capacity at every visit — so it can be checked on a Tuesday morning without a phone call.
Equipment, access and who holds what
The scope should state who provides machines, who provides consumables, and where equipment is stored between visits. Access belongs in the same document: which keys, fobs and codes are held, by whom, what happens when a code changes, and what happens when a crew member leaves. Buildings with a shared entrance or a landlord-held alarm usually have an arrangement that belongs to the building rather than the tenant, and settling that before the first visit avoids the most common cause of a missed clean.
Contract length, and the clause that decides it
Most janitorial agreements in this trade carry a thirty-day termination clause for either party, which means the termination clause matters more than the stated term. Ours says the same thing in plain words, and we will walk you through it before anything is signed. There is no published industry figure for a standard term or notice period, so we set ours to thirty days both ways and leave it there.
Switching cleaners without a gap
Give notice in writing on the terms the current contract sets. Arrange a short overlap so the incoming crew walks the building while the outgoing arrangement is still live. Count consumables at handover so the same stock is not paid for twice. Return keys, fobs and codes against the written access list rather than against memory, and change any code the outgoing crew held. A transition done this way takes about a week of overlap and produces no visible gap in the building.
| Frequency | Typical tasks |
|---|---|
| Nightly | Washrooms, kitchens, bins and liners, traffic lanes, entry glass, consumable restocking |
| Three times weekly | The nightly list at reduced cadence, for lighter-occupancy buildings |
| Weekly | Full vacuuming, interior glass, detail dusting, hard floor damp mop |
| Monthly | Vents and grilles, high dusting, baseboards, interior partition glass |
| Quarterly | Upholstery, hard floor scrub and recoat where finish is present |
| Annual | Restorative work — hot water extraction, strip and recoat |
Frequencies are set from the building at the walkthrough. This table shows where tasks usually land, not what any contract must contain.
We write the scope after we have seen the building. Request a walkthrough and we will send it back by area and frequency.