What happens before the first night of a recurring office cleaning contract?

A walkthrough, a written scope and price, your acceptance, the signed agreement and the first month paid, in that order. A first deep clean is optional: it is quoted on its own when the office needs a reset, and included for our first 10 commercial clients. A proposal stays valid for 30 days.

By Danilo Candido, founder of JCIL Services Inc. · Article · October 18, 2026 · 3 min read

Why the first night is not the first step

Most complaints about a new cleaning company start before the crew ever arrives: nobody agreed which rooms were in, where the trash goes, or how the alarm works. The steps below exist so that by the first night every one of those questions already has a written answer.

Step 1: the walkthrough

Every new client starts with a visit: we see the property with you and agree there what the job covers.

For an office, that means walking every room with you, measuring the space and noting what the crew needs to know: restrooms and kitchens, floor types, rooms that are off-limits, where the trash and recycling go, which door to use and how the building is locked at night. It happens on site, with you.

Step 2: the written scope and the proposal

After the walkthrough you receive the scope and one monthly price. The scope lists the rooms, the tasks per visit, per week and per month, the nights, and what is excluded or quoted separately.

You get the scope in writing before any work starts, and nothing is added or changed without your written approval.

A proposal is valid for 30 days from the day we send it.

You can keep the written scope even if you decide not to hire us. Plenty of offices use it to compare quotes on equal terms.

Step 3: acceptance and signature

You accept the proposal online, from the proposal link. Then the agreement comes to your email for e-signature.

The agreement covers the things that matter once a crew has your keys: access only to the agreed areas and at the agreed time, keys and codes safeguarded and returned when the service ends, before-and-after photos kept private, and how quality issues are fixed.

Your service starts once the agreement is signed and the first month is paid. After that, each month is invoiced.

Step 4: access handed over

Before the first night, the access details are confirmed in writing: keys or cards, door codes, alarm steps, and how the office should be left. The crew locks up and re-arms the alarm where you instruct.

Everyone who works in your office has passed a background check before working on a JCIL site.

Is a first deep clean required?

No. A recurring contract does not have to start with a deep clean, and we won't add one by default. What decides it is the state of the office at the walkthrough:

• The office is in reasonable shape. The routine visit can hold it, so the first night is simply the first routine visit on the written checklist.
• The office is far behind. Build-up on baseboards, grout, kitchens and partition tops won't come off in a nightly visit. Then we say so, and the initial office deep clean is quoted as an add-on before any work starts. You decide.

Founding clients: our first 10 commercial clients get the initial deep clean included. The benefit never depends on a review.

The first night itself

The first visit happens after hours, in our 10pm–2am overnight window. The crew works from the same written checklist that every later visit uses, and the visit is done when the checklist is complete and the photos are in.

Offices are cleaned after hours, in our overnight window, so your team never works around us.

The first morning

Walk the office when you arrive. If anything on the checklist was missed, tell us:

Report an issue with a photo or description by 6:00 p.m. the next business day and we redo that area at no charge on the next visit or the next business evening. A missed visit is made up the next evening and credited on your next invoice.

The first weeks are when a scope gets tuned: a room you want more often, a task that turns out not to matter. Any change to the scope or the price is written and approved by you first.

A checklist for your side

• Decide who in your office is the contact for the cleaning company.
• List rooms that are off-limits and things that should never be moved.
• Confirm who handles paper towels, toilet tissue, soap and trash liners. Unless your scope says otherwise, those consumables are yours.
• Tell the building manager, if you have one, that a new crew will be coming in at night.

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