The same thing, done properly, every single visit.
A scheduled contract clean is most of what we do: agreed hours, an agreed specification, the same directly employed team each visit, supervised in person and verified by the hour. Everything else on the commercial side — sectors, specialist services, consumables — sits on top of this. This page is about the contract itself.
A contract is a specification, a team and a way of proving both.
Most commercial cleaning goes wrong in the gap between what was promised and what turns up. A contract with us closes that gap in three ways.
Written at the site visit, audited against
Which areas, which tasks, how often, in which hours, to what standard — written down after walking the building with you, priced with the hours stated, and supplied with the insurance and compliance documents. It is the thing a supervisor audits against and the thing a variation is measured from.
Directly employed, inducted, the same faces
Our own employees rather than agency staff. The team on your contract are our employees, inducted on your site, and they stay. Absence is covered by relief cleaners we employ for that purpose — a cost we carry on the weeks nobody is off.
Hours you can see, standards someone checks
Cleaners check in and out with GPS-verified timestamps, so the hours on the invoice are the hours worked. Full-time mobile supervisors audit against the specification in person, and your named contact stays the same.
The contract, written down.
Every contract has the same bones. The tasks vary by building — offices, surgeries, schools, factories and venues each have their own page — but the structure is this.
What you are buying
- Areas in scope, room by room
- Tasks per area and their frequency — every visit, weekly, periodic
- The hours per visit and the days per week
- The standard each area is worked to
- Consumables and equipment — who supplies what
- Out-of-scope items named, so nothing is assumed
Who delivers it
- A named regular cleaner or team, directly employed
- Site induction, RAMS and COSHH before the first visit
- Relief cover from cleaners employed for that purpose
- A mobile supervisor with the site on their route
- A named office contact, reachable seven days a week
- Keyholding and access under our procedures
How you know it happened
- GPS-verified check-in and check-out every visit
- Supervisor audits against the specification
- Invoices for hours worked, not hours claimed
- Insurance and compliance documents supplied with the proposal
- A written change process when the building changes
- A review date rather than a rolling assumption
The twelve specialist services — deep cleans, high level, washrooms, consumables and the rest — sit inside the contract or alongside it. See every commercial service →
From two evenings a week to a daytime team.
A contract is sized to the building. These are the shapes most settle into.
Part-time, out of hours
A few evenings or mornings a week — the most common contract for a small or medium office, practice or unit.
2–5 visits a weekDaily, out of hours
Every working day, evening or early morning, for buildings that need a full reset each day.
5–7 visits a weekDaytime presence
A cleaner or team on site through the day for larger buildings and anywhere with public footfall.
Part-day or full-dayMulti-site
Several buildings under one contract — one specification per site, one invoice, one contact, one supervisor route.
Any number of sitesThe shape can change. Buildings grow, move and go hybrid, and the specification moves with them under a written change process.
Twelve sectors, one way of working.
The contract is the same; the building is not. Each sector has its own page describing what the work involves there.
Schools and education
Term-time schedules, holiday deep cleans, staff who understand a site with children. School cleaning →
Everything else
Hospitality, leisure, retail, showrooms, public sector, professional services, venues. All twelve sectors →
Contract cleaning is the first of thirteen services. See all thirteen or go back to commercial cleaning as a whole.
Consumables, waste and windows should not be three more suppliers.
Buildings rarely need only cleaning. Two parts of the business exist so that the rest does not become four more contracts, four more invoices and four more people to chase.
Consumables, waste and the outside of the building
Managed on the same schedule as the clean and billed on the same invoice, so usage is tracked against what the building actually gets through rather than a standing order that arrives whether you need it or not.
- Washroom supplies
- Sanitary units
- Waste & recycling
- Confidential waste
- External windows
- Signage cleaning
Staff, when the building needs more than cleaners
The same recruitment, vetting and HR that puts our cleaning teams in place, used to staff the other roles a site runs on — employed by us, covered by us when someone is off.
- Reception & front of house
- Caretaking
- Kitchen & catering
- Security
None of it is compulsory. Plenty of contracts are cleaning and nothing else — but if you are currently managing four suppliers for one building, raise it at the site visit.
Four steps from enquiry to first clean.
This is how a contract starts. Nothing is quoted from a rate card.
Site visit
We walk the building with you — the areas, the hours you need covered, the standard you are working to, and the things the last contractor kept getting wrong.
Written proposal
A specification and a price, with the tasks and frequencies set out plainly. Insurance certificates and compliance documents come with it, not on request later.
Mobilisation
Team assigned and inducted on site, access and alarms arranged, RAMS written for the building, consumables and equipment set up. A start date, not a vague fortnight.
Supervision
Mobile supervisors audit against the specification, your named contact stays the same, and the schedule flexes as the building changes.
Sheffield first, and staffed locally everywhere else.
We are registered and based in Sheffield and most of our contracts are here. Further afield, a contract is staffed with a team recruited near the building and supervised on a regional route — distance is a logistics question, not an obstacle.
Yorkshire
- Sheffield
- Barnsley
- Rotherham
- Doncaster
- Leeds
- Huddersfield
- Wakefield
- Bradford
- York
Derbyshire
- Chesterfield
- Derby
- Dronfield
- Buxton
Greater Manchester
- Manchester
- Stockport
- Oldham
- Salford
- Bolton
- Bury
- Wigan
Nottinghamshire
- Nottingham
- Mansfield
- Worksop
Lincolnshire
- Lincoln
- Scunthorpe
Somewhere between those towns? Ask — the honest answer depends on whether we can recruit a reliable team within sensible travel of your site. See every location we work in →
The questions buyers ask about contracts.
Q.01How long is a contract?
That is agreed at the proposal stage rather than imposed, and it is written down with a review date and a notice period on both sides. We would rather keep a contract by doing the work than by the small print.
Q.02What if our building changes — more floors, fewer days, a move?
The specification changes under a written change process: a revised specification, a revised price with the hours stated, and a start date for the change. Offices grow, shrink and go hybrid; a contract that cannot move with them is a bad contract.
Q.03How do I know I am paying for hours actually worked?
Cleaners check in and out on site with GPS-verified timestamps. Invoices are for hours worked against the specification, and if there is ever a question about a visit, there is a record rather than an argument.
Q.04What happens when a cleaner is off?
Relief staff cover it. We employ cleaners who hold no round of their own precisely so absence does not become your problem, and mobile supervisors pick up anything the relief team cannot reach. It is the most expensive decision in how we are structured, and the reason most first conversations with a new client start with the words "the cleaners did not turn up".
Q.05Who supplies equipment and consumables?
Cleaning equipment and products are ours, with COSHH data sheets supplied. Washroom consumables, bin liners and janitorial supplies can be supplied by us on the same invoice or by you — it is set out in the specification either way.
Q.06We have a contractor. What does switching involve?
A site visit, a written proposal, and a mobilisation plan with a firm start date so there is no gap between the last clean under the old contract and the first under ours. Check your notice period first. Where existing staff transfer under TUPE, that is handled as part of mobilisation.
Q.07How is a contract priced?
From a site visit, against the written specification, with the hours stated. Anyone who quotes a commercial contract without seeing the building is estimating your hours, and the correction arrives later as a variation.
Q.08Which areas do you cover?
Sheffield first, then Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire — 25 towns and cities. See the full list →
Something not covered? Email hello@nowthencleaners.co.uk or call 0114 212 7030 — the office is reachable seven days a week.
A contract starts with a site visit, not a form.
Half an hour on site, a written specification, a price with the hours stated — and a start date rather than a vague fortnight.