01 / Cleaning
Janitorial services
Recurring cleaning for offices, common areas and restrooms, run to a consistent standard across every property.
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Switching facility vendors without a gap.
Changing vendors doesn’t have to mean a rough first month. Here’s how to plan the handover.
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Plan the timing first.
Check the notice period in your current vendor contracts and work back from there. Set a start date for the new partner that overlaps with, or follows directly from, the last day of the old service.
Walk the property with the new team.
A walkthrough before the start date lets the new partner see every area, learn your tenants’ hours and note any problem spots. That’s also when the plan gets finalized.
Get the plan in writing.
Don’t rely on ‘the same as before’. Write down every area, task and frequency. It protects you and gives the new crew a clear standard from the first night.
Handle access and communication.
Keys, access cards, alarm codes and supply closets should be sorted before day one. Let tenants know who to contact with requests, and introduce the service manager to your property team.
Watch the first few weeks closely.
Walk the building together after the first week and again after the first month. Small adjustments early on set the standard for the rest of the relationship.
Decide what moves, and when.
Not every service has to switch on the same day. Janitorial and porter work can move first, because tenants notice those services most, with floor care, exteriors and maintenance coming across once the new crew is settled. Or everything can switch at once to close out a contract cleanly.
Either approach works if the order is written down. List each service, the outgoing vendor, its notice date and the new start date on one schedule, and share it with your property team. Ask the incoming partner for its certificate of insurance at the same time; Continental issues one to every client during onboarding. Our guide to building a facility services scope helps you write the new plan alongside it.
Capture what the old vendor knew.
Outgoing vendors carry knowledge nobody wrote down: which tenant stays late, which door sticks, where the spare supplies live, which restroom needs extra attention at the end of the week. Collect it before they leave. Ask your property team and the tenants’ office managers what the old crew did that was never in the contract.
Give that list to your new partner at the walkthrough. Anything worth keeping goes into the plan, so it stops living in one person’s memory.
Tell tenants the right amount.
Tenants need to know three things: that service is changing, the date it changes and who to call. A short notice a week or two before the start date covers it. Too much detail invites worry, and too little leaves tenants calling the old vendor.
After the switch, invite tenants to report anything missed during the first weeks. That feedback goes to one service manager, who adjusts the plan quickly. Continental’s janitorial and porter teams start on the schedule you set, with supervisors reviewing the work from the first week.
A few useful answers
Quick answers.
How much notice should we give our current vendor?
Follow the notice period in your current contract, then set the new start date for the day after the old service ends.
Will tenants notice a drop in quality during the switch?
Not if the plan is written down and the new crew walks the property beforehand. The first week is the time to catch small gaps.
Can we switch one property at a time?
Yes. Moving one building first lets you see the new partner’s work before bringing the rest of the portfolio over.
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Services this guide covers
Bundle any combination under one program, one schedule and one point of contact.
02 / Porter
Day and night porter
Staffed coverage that keeps lobbies, restrooms and common areas presentable all day and reset every night.
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