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Your own janitor or a contract cleaning crew: weighing the choice
Putting a janitor on your own payroll or contracting a cleaning company, weighed on hiring and screening, supplies, supervision, insurance, scope changes and your time.
Two ways to keep a building clean.
Every building gets cleaned by someone. What you are really choosing is whose employee does it, and whose desk the management work lands on. Hire your own janitor and that person is on your payroll, with the whole cleaning program running through your office. With a cleaning company, the crew works for the contractor, and you manage the relationship rather than the people.
Neither answer is wrong. Well-run buildings exist on both sides of the line, and some mix the two. Below, the two are laid out together, showing which side ends up holding each responsibility. It leaves the dollar side to our guide on what drives commercial cleaning cost and the cleaning cost calculator, which are the better tools for putting figures on a contract.
The comparison at a glance.
Go down the rows and, for each one, decide honestly whether your own team has room to take it on. A row where your team has the time and skills is a point for keeping the work in-house. A row that would land on an already busy desk is a point for handing it off.
| Factor | Your own janitor | A janitorial company |
|---|---|---|
| Recruiting and screening | Your team posts, interviews and screens | Fieldstone crews come background-checked |
| Supplies and machines | Bought, stored and replaced by you | Equipment arrives with the crew; supplies optional |
| Checking the work | Falls to whoever the janitor reports to | Supervisor quality inspections from Fieldstone |
| Insurance and workers’ comp | Covered under your own arrangements | Insured, bonded, workers’ comp in place |
| Changing what gets cleaned | More hours, retraining or a new hire | A revised written plan |
| Time from your managers | Hiring, schedules, orders and reviews | A single vendor relationship and periodic walks |
Hiring and screening the people who clean.
An in-house janitor starts with a job posting. Someone in your organization writes it, screens applicants, interviews them, checks backgrounds and handles onboarding, and then does it again when the person moves on. Each of those steps lands on a manager whose main job is something else, and the cycle starts over whenever the role turns over.
Screening is part of that load. Background checks, references and onboarding all sit with your own staff when the janitor is your hire. Fieldstone crews are background-checked, so the people working in your building have already been screened before they arrive.
Supplies, machines and periodic work.
An in-house program needs its own closet: vacuums, mops, buckets, chemicals and, for any building with hard floors, a floor machine. You buy them, store them, repair them and replace them. Consumables such as toilet paper, towels, soap and liners need someone to track stock and reorder.
With a company, the equipment travels with the crew. Fieldstone can also bring in and restock consumables through our janitorial supplies service. Periodic work is the other difference. Stripping and refinishing vinyl tile or extracting carpet calls for equipment and practice that a single in-house janitor may not have, so those jobs often go out to a contractor anyway. Our floor care crews handle that work on a set calendar.
Supervision, insurance and the paperwork behind it.
An in-house janitor reports to someone on your staff, and that person is the quality check. If they don’t walk the building, nobody does. A cleaning company brings its own layer of oversight: at Fieldstone, supervisors carry out quality inspections, and you raise anything they miss directly with us.
Insurance follows the employer. Your own janitor sits under your organization’s insurance and workers’ compensation arrangements, so talk to your own advisor about what that means for you. On the contract side, Fieldstone is bonded and insured, covers its crews under workers’ compensation, and backs that up by sending a certificate of insurance to each client before the first visit. You see the coverage in black and white rather than taking it on trust.
Questions to settle before you decide.
Before choosing, answer a few plain questions about your building and your team. The answers usually point one way faster than any spreadsheet.
- Is cleaning needed during the day, after hours, or both?
- Does anyone on staff have time to hire, schedule and check a janitor?
- Where would a floor machine and a supply closet live?
- What happens to the cleaning in the week your janitor is on vacation?
- Will hard floors and carpet need periodic projects?
- Does your lease or property manager ask for proof of a contractor’s coverage?
If most answers point to time your managers don’t have, a company is the easier road. If you need one steady person on site all day for mixed duties, in-house can suit you, with a company taking on the projects.
When each one fits.
In-house tends to fit a building that wants one familiar person on site through the working day, handling cleaning alongside other jobs like room setups or signing for deliveries. A company tends to fit buildings that want cleaning done after hours, need floor and carpet projects handled, or would rather not manage a cleaning staff at all.
Many buildings blend the two. An in-house person can cover daytime needs while a company handles the nightly clean and periodic projects. If you want daytime coverage without hiring, a Fieldstone day porter works on site during your open hours. To see what a contracted plan would look like for your building, request a quote and we will start with a walkthrough.
A few useful answers
Common questions.
Does hiring our own janitor cost less?
Not always. A wage looks lower than a monthly quote, but an in-house janitor also brings payroll costs, equipment, supplies, cover for absences and the hours your managers put into hiring and supervising. Our cost guide and calculator help you price the company side.
Who supervises the cleaners when you use a company?
The company does. Fieldstone supervisors carry out quality inspections, and you bring anything you notice straight to us so it can be followed up with the crew.
Can we keep our own janitor and add a cleaning company?
Yes. A common split leaves daytime tasks with your own person and hands the nightly clean or floor and carpet projects to a company. A Fieldstone day porter is another way to add daytime help without hiring.
Are a cleaning company's crews insured?
Fieldstone’s are. Fieldstone is bonded and insured with workers’ compensation for its crews, screens every crew member with a background check, and gives each client a certificate of insurance. Ask any company you consider for the same paperwork.
What happens when our cleaning needs change?
With a company, you change the written plan and the work follows it. With an in-house janitor, a bigger scope usually means more hours, retraining or another hire.
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