How to Switch Office Cleaning Companies and Confirm Both Visits
Start by confirming your notice requirements and putting the last and first cleaning visits on the same calendar. Read your current agreement for the notice period, how to give notice, who receives it and when service ends. Check the proposed dates against those terms and keep the written acknowledgement.
Ask the outgoing supervisor to confirm the last visit’s date, time window and tasks due that night. Ask the incoming supervisor to confirm the first visit’s date, arrival window, crew lead and on-call contact. For recurring office cleaning, agree on the regular days after that first visit and record any holiday or weekend exceptions. Review the office cleaning frequency guide if staffing or building hours changed since the current schedule was set.
Put both visits beside your building’s usual schedule. Look for early openings, weekend events and separately scheduled tasks such as floor care. Before signing the new agreement, ask who can send an approved replacement crew, how quickly they can confirm a recovery visit and who can approve any extra charge.
Hand Over Keys and Alarm Access Before the First Visit
Have building security or the authorized access administrator issue and test incoming access before the first shift. Confirm your building’s own rules for registering contractors, issuing keys and fobs, using the alarm and checking in after hours.
Walk the route with the incoming lead. Start at the actual after-hours entrance and check the lift, tenant suites, janitor’s closet, waste room and any restricted areas in scope. Confirm where to sign out and who answers if a door, fob or alarm fails during the shift.
Keep alarm credentials in the building’s approved system. Use the office cleaning handover checklist to record who issued access, what was tested and who signed for each key or fob. After the final clean, collect the outgoing crew’s keys and have the access administrator deactivate its access at the agreed time.
Check Supplies and Assign Responsibility for Missed Tasks
Count what will be on site for the first shift and name someone to handle each outstanding task. Walk the storage area with the incoming lead. Identify which equipment and products leave with the former provider and what the new crew plans to bring.
Check paper towels, toilet tissue, soap and liners against the actual dispensers and bins. Record who buys stock, who refills dispensers and who can approve a top-up. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety’s cleaning product guidance, revised in 2024, recommends checking labels and safety data sheets for product hazards and precautions.
Use one issue log with the room, task, original due date, owner and correction deadline. For work due on the last shift, ask the outgoing supervisor to review it under the current agreement. If it needs attention before their access ends, agree on a correction window. If their access has ended, have the manager arrange and authorize recovery with a provider that can enter the site.
For a task missed after the changeover, send the issue to the incoming account contact and agree on a time to recheck it. Review any overdue periodic work before signing and record who will do it, when and on what terms. A vague note to “catch up next week” leaves the manager with no date to verify.
A Friday-to-Monday Handover for a Toronto Office
A Friday-to-Monday handover covers every scheduled visit when the outgoing crew cleans Friday, the incoming crew cleans Monday and the building has no cleaning booked in between. This example uses a 6,000 sq ft office with two washrooms, one kitchen and five evening visits a week. Monday staff arrive at 8 a.m., so the manager checks Friday’s work before the office opens.
Use this office cleaning handover checklist to match each deadline to one owner. All times are illustrative and local.
| Task | Deadline | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm both visits and backup coverage | Thursday, noon | Office manager |
| Count stock and confirm deliveries | Friday, 3 p.m. | Incoming supervisor |
| Test incoming keys, fobs and alarm access | Friday, 4 p.m. | Building security |
| Confirm final clean and report missed work | Friday, 9 p.m. | Outgoing supervisor |
| Recover keys and retire outgoing access | Friday, after sign-out | Building security |
| Inspect Friday’s work before opening | Monday, 7:30 a.m. | Office manager |
| Confirm first visit and report exceptions | Monday, 9 p.m. | Incoming supervisor |
| Inspect Monday’s work before opening | Tuesday, 7:30 a.m. | Office manager |
The manager marks Friday complete after matching the supervisor’s sign-off with the Monday opening inspection. They mark Monday complete after receiving the incoming crew’s close-out and checking the work Tuesday morning. The calendar then shows who attended, when the work was checked and whether any corrections are still open.
Agree on a backup trigger before Friday. In this example, security expects a Monday check-in by 6:30 p.m. If it’s missing, security contacts the crew lead and alerts the manager, who can approve a recovery visit before Tuesday’s opening. A Saturday booking would need its own crew, access window and sign-off.
Inspect the Work During the First Week
Inspect the first visit before staff arrive, then check the same rooms again later that week. Bring the written scope and look at the two or three areas people notice first, such as washrooms, the kitchen and the main entrance. Confirm the visit evidence separately from the quality of the work.
For each issue, write down the location, the task and what needs to happen next. “Second-floor washroom, soap empty, refill before noon” gives the account contact a specific action. Check the correction and mark it closed yourself or assign someone to confirm it.
At the end of the week, walk the site with the account contact and compare the visit log with the regular schedule. Review access delays, supply shortages and any periodic work due soon. If a task or frequency needs to change, record the agreed change and its start date in the written scope.
How to Switch Office Cleaning Companies With a Confirmed Schedule
Knowing how to switch office cleaning companies comes down to putting both visits on one schedule, checking access and supplies early, and assigning each outstanding task to a person and deadline. Keep the office cleaning handover checklist open until the first-week checks and any corrections are complete.
Evergreen offers a free on-site walkthrough and provides a written scope of what we clean, how often and when. We assign the same crew and one account executive. For a Toronto or GTA property, call +1 (416) 803-4880 or request a quote and free walkthrough. An account executive replies within two hours during office hours, Mon–Fri, 7 a.m.–6 p.m.
Frequently Asked Questions About Switching Office Cleaners
How much notice should I give my current cleaning company?
Use the notice period and delivery method in your own agreement. Check who must receive the notice, whether renewal dates affect timing and when the last scheduled visit falls. Ask the outgoing provider to acknowledge receipt and confirm the final service date in writing so everyone can plan around the same window.
Should the outgoing and incoming cleaning crews overlap?
Schedule a short overlap if the incoming lead needs an orientation or someone must cover an event during the switch. Assign each crew its own tasks and confirm both access permissions with building security. When the new crew can test access separately and every visit is already covered, a joint cleaning shift may be unnecessary.
Who gives the new cleaners keys or alarm access?
Your building’s authorized access administrator should arrange keys, fobs and alarm permissions under its own rules. Give the new supervisor a time to test the approved entry and lock-up route. Confirm who will collect the former crew’s keys and deactivate its access after the agreed final sign-out.
What happens to leftover supplies from the old cleaning company?
Check who owns the supplies before anything is removed or used. Ask the outgoing provider what it will collect and list the stock your building will keep. The incoming supervisor can check what fits your dispensers and confirm which items must arrive before the first visit.
What if the new cleaning crew misses its first visit?
Call the incoming supervisor as soon as the agreed check-in time passes and ask for a confirmed recovery time. If the crew cannot make the access window, use the backup contact agreed before the switch. Record who is attending, how they will get in and which rooms must be ready before opening.
When should I check the new cleaning crew’s work?
Check the first clean before staff return and repeat the inspection near the end of the first week. Use the written task list, starting with the areas due for cleaning on the previous shift. Send any missed work to the account contact with a deadline, then verify the correction on site.