Make them walk the whole building, including the parts you are embarrassed by
The loading dock, the janitor's closet, the stairwell nobody uses, the storage room that became a dumping ground. Those are exactly the places a scope goes vague, and vague is where the disputes live.
A company that skips them is either being polite or is planning to price the building it saw rather than the building you have. Neither helps you.
The questions worth asking out loud
Ask all of these, and write the answers down. A company that answers them well on a walkthrough almost always performs well afterwards, because the answers are operational rather than promotional.
- Who is the crew? Is it the same people every visit, and what happens when one of them is sick?
- Who supervises, how often are they on site, and how do I reach them at 9pm?
- What is nightly, what is weekly, what is monthly, and what is quarterly? Get it in writing per area, not per building.
- Are supplies and consumables included? Which ones?
- What is your insurance, and will you name us as additional insured?
- Are your crews employees or subcontractors, and either way, who carries workers' compensation?
- How do I report a problem, and what is the response time you will commit to?
- What is the notice period, and does the contract auto-renew?
Ask what they would not do
This is the most useful question on a walkthrough and almost nobody asks it. Every honest cleaning company has boundaries — clinical surfaces, machinery, anything requiring a licence they do not hold, biohazards, roof work.
A company that says it will do everything has either not thought about it or is planning to subcontract the awkward parts to someone you never meet. Both are worth knowing before you sign, not after.
Show them the problem, not the floor plan
If the reason you are getting quotes is the restrooms, say so and take them to the restrooms. Scopes get written from what the buyer emphasised, and a walkthrough spent admiring the lobby produces a quote that is excellent at lobbies.
The same goes for timing constraints. A tenant who works late, a server room nobody enters, a Tuesday delivery that blocks the dock — say it on the walkthrough and it becomes part of the plan instead of a surprise in week three.
What you should get afterwards
A written scope, a flat price, and the name of the person accountable for it. Within a couple of days, not a couple of weeks — a company that is slow to quote is telling you what its response times look like.