How I Tackled Our Dirty Office Situation

Alright, so our office in the city was looking pretty grim. Management finally said, "This ain't working, find us a new cleaning crew." Budget was tight, boss breathing down my neck, so I knew I couldn't just pick the first company popping up online.

Started simple: I just searched online, you know, for Melbourne office cleaners. Boom. A million options. Total overwhelm. How do you even start picking?

Here’s what I did, step by step:

Step 1: Made Myself a Cheat Sheet

Opened a spreadsheet. Sounds basic, but saved my sanity. Columns for:

• Company Name (duh)
• Quick Price Quote (either off their site or first call)
• What they ACTUALLY included? (vacuuming? toilets? kitchens? windows? Details matter!)
• How often? (Daily? Weekly? Flexible?)
• Contract nonsense (was it a giant lock-in?)
• Any green cleaning options? (Boss kinda wanted this)

Step 2: The Phone Game - Shortlist Time

Called around, maybe 8 or 10 places. Honestly, trial and error. Some were super pushy right away. Immediate red flag for me. Others sounded vague – "Yeah, we clean offices." Okay... what do you clean? Had to drag the specifics out of them. Crossed a few off the list right there.

Key question I asked everyone: "What's the one thing customers sometimes complain about?" You learn a LOT from this. One actually admitted their teams sometimes run late. Noted.

Step 3: Digging Deeper & The Sneaky Visit

For the maybe 5 left, I got serious.

• Reviews: Not just the stars! Read the bad ones. Found one company with glowing reviews... except all praising the sales guy. Sketchy.
• Insurance: Non-negotiable. Asked for proof. Public liability, workers comp – gotta have it. One company got super awkward about this. Nope.
• The Secret Squirrel Move: For the top 2 contenders, I actually visited one of THEIR current clients' offices – early morning, before they opened. Just hung around the lobby like I belonged. Saw the cleaners actually working at one place – seemed thorough, organized. The other office? Trash bins overflowing, sticky fingerprints everywhere on the main door. Big no.

Step 4: Playing the Price Game (Carefully!)

So down to two decent companies. Price difference? Nearly 30% monthly. Called the slightly pricier one back. Plain and simple: "Look, I love what you offer, but your competitor is significantly cheaper for similar. Can you sharpen your pencil?" Didn't demand, just laid it out. Boom. They offered to match the lower price to get our business. Done. Didn't even have to ask the cheaper one for extras.

Also, pushed back HARD on contract length. Got them down from a painful 2-year lock-in to a flexible month-to-month with 30 days notice. Way less risk for us.

My Key Takeaways:

• Don't trust websites blindly. Get specifics, demand proof.
• The salesperson isn't the cleaner. Talk to them, but dig deeper into actual performance.
• Reviews lie... sometimes. Read between the lines, especially the negatives.
• Insurance isn't optional. Seriously. Don't skip this.
• NEVER be shy to negotiate. Worst they say is no. Saved us a bundle just by asking nicely.
• Visit if you can! Seeing is believing. My early morning stakeout was the best intel.

Took a few weeks, bit of legwork, but ended up saving the company money and getting a genuinely better service. Boss happy. Office clean. Mission accomplished. Don't rush it!