How to find commercial cleaning contracts

1. Decide which work you want to win

A list of nearby businesses is only useful if their premises, service needs, and buying arrangements fit your operation. Write down these six things before you start:

• Property type: offices, retail units, industrial premises, or shared areas in commercial buildings
• Service area: the locations your crews can reach without making the route unworkable
• Scope: routine cleaning, periodic deep cleaning, specialist work, or a combination you can actually deliver
• Schedule and capacity: when you can work and how much new work you can take on
• Contract responsibility: the tenant, the building owner, a property manager, or a procurement team
• Exclusions: work outside your area, capacity, equipment, training, or commercial terms

Separate tenant offices from building-wide contracts. The person who arranges cleaning inside one company's office may have no say over the lobby or shared washrooms.

A worked targeting brief

Change every detail that does not fit your business.

“We provide routine office cleaning on weekday evenings. Find office occupiers and commercial property managers with sites within 20 km of central Calgary. Start with offices and shared office-building areas of approximately 5,000–25,000 square feet, where two to five visits per week could fit our service. Research who arranges cleaning and who approves a new provider.

“Exclude residential-only properties, healthcare facilities, food-production sites, hazardous cleaning, post-construction work, and sites outside our service area. Exclude existing customers and anyone who has opted out of contact. Where size, schedule, or contract responsibility is unknown, record the question for follow-up rather than inventing an answer.

“Our first goal is a conversation with someone involved in choosing a cleaning provider who is open to discussing the service. A walkthrough is a useful next step. We do not need a confirmed budget or renewal date before accepting genuine interest.”

Start with a small enough group to review the fit yourself. If most results need exceptions, revise the brief before expanding it.

2. Reach the person connected to the decision

Use the site's operating arrangement to guide your contact choice:

• A small office occupier: an office manager, operations manager, or owner may arrange the service. Check who approves the contract
• A larger occupier: facilities or workplace teams may own the requirement, with procurement involved in supplier approval
• A managed commercial building: a property or facilities manager may coordinate the cleaning contract. Confirm which buildings and areas they control
• A portfolio or centrally purchased contract: the local manager may be able to introduce you to the responsible regional or procurement contact

Treat titles as starting points. Ask who handles cleaning at that site instead of assuming that a senior title means contract authority.

Record the reason each account belongs on the list, the likely contract owner, and anything still unknown. A company website, property listing, or published procurement notice can help you verify fit. None of those alone proves the business wants to change cleaners.

3. Make a specific, modest first ask

Your opening message should say what you do, where you do it, and why you are contacting that person. Use only details you have checked. Avoid guessing that the current cleaner is doing a poor job.

A first message

If you have verified a relevant event, such as an office opening, use it to make the message more specific. Do not insert a supposed expansion or contract renewal because it would make a stronger pitch.

A useful follow-up

If there is no reply, one brief follow-up after about a week is a reasonable starting point to test:

“Hi [name], following up on cleaning for [site]. Would a short conversation be useful, or is there someone else who handles this? Happy to leave it here if it isn't relevant.”

Use permitted contact channels, respect opt-outs, and stop when someone asks you to. If a buyer requires a tender or supplier-registration process, follow that process.

4. Turn interest into a walkthrough and a clear quote

An interested reply from a relevant contact is a reason to start a conversation. Confirm the remaining details on the call or walkthrough before deciding whether the job is a fit.

Before the call or walkthrough, bring together:

• The site and contact, including what you know about their role
• Their actual reply and the next step they agreed to
• The services they mentioned and any timing they shared
• Open questions about access, floor area, schedule, supplies, specialist requirements, and who approves the work

During the walkthrough, confirm the areas, tasks, frequency, access arrangements, and expectations. Build the quote from that agreed scope. State exclusions and assumptions clearly, and confirm the buying process before treating the work as won.

Conversation summary:

“The office manager is open to a cleaning discussion and asked about evening availability. Budget, floor area, and approval responsibility are still unknown. Next step: reply with our actual availability and arrange a walkthrough if the site is a fit.”

5. Track where good prospects get stuck

Track suitable accounts, relevant contacts, interested conversations, completed walkthroughs, quotes, and won contracts separately. For each loss or pause, record the reason: wrong service area, wrong contact, unsuitable scope, timing, price, or no response.

That makes the next improvement clearer. Wrong-contact replies call for better role selection. Walkthroughs that expose unsuitable jobs call for a tighter brief. Quotes that stall may need a clearer scope or next step.

Common questions