TivloYou've been cleaning residential properties for two years. You've got reliable staff, good equipment, and a reputation worth having. You know commercial is where the real money is: offices, schools, retail units, healthcare facilities. Recurring contracts worth £2,000 to £20,000 a year each.
You're ready to make the move. The question is how.
Understand What Commercial Clients Actually Want
Before you contact a single facilities manager or procurement officer, you need to understand what they're evaluating. It's not just price, though price matters. They're looking for:
Reliability, documented. They need to know that if their cleaning contractor has a problem (illness, staff turnover, equipment failure) it gets handled without them having to manage it. If you can show systems (cover schedules, incident protocols, backup operatives), you're ahead of most small contractors.
Compliance, ready to evidence. Public liability insurance (minimum £5M for most commercial contracts), employer's liability, COSHH assessments, method statements, risk assessments. Some clients will ask for these before you even get a meeting. Have a digital pack ready to send.
References from similar environments. A school wants to know you've cleaned schools. An office block wants to know you've managed multi-floor operations before. If you haven't, start with smaller commercial sites such as community halls, small offices and retail units, to build that track record.
A professional impression. How you present yourself at the initial contact tells them everything. A clean, branded email with a clear introduction will outperform five rushed cold calls every time.
Get Your Documentation in Order Before You Approach Anyone
This is where most small cleaning companies fall short on their first commercial approach. They secure a meeting, get asked for documentation, then spend two weeks scrambling. By which point the client has moved on.
Build a tender-ready pack before you start. It should contain:
- •Company overview (one page: who you are, services offered, geographic coverage)
- •Insurance certificates (public liability, employer's liability, equipment)
- •COSHH assessments for your standard product range
- •Method statements for your core services (commercial cleaning, deep clean, sanitisation)
- •Risk assessment template (you'll need to customise per site)
- •References from existing clients (ideally with contact details)
- •Staff training records (BICSc qualifications, manual handling, fire safety awareness)
If you don't have all of this, prioritise the insurance and COSHH documents first; those are non-negotiable for any serious commercial client.
Do the Site Survey Properly
When you get to the survey stage, this is where you differentiate yourself. Most small contractors show up, walk round, and give a verbal quote. That's not good enough.
Take notes. Measure. Ask questions.
Ask the facilities manager what the previous contractor got wrong. Ask what they specifically need from inspection reports. Ask what times work for site access, whether there are sensitive areas (server rooms, archive storage, specialist flooring), and whether any areas require enhanced cleaning frequencies.
Then write up a specification document before you quote. Even a simple one-page site specification shows the client you've listened and thought about their needs. It also protects you once work starts; if the scope changes, you have a reference point.
Price to Win Without Underpricing Yourself
The temptation on a first commercial contract is to price low to get the business. That's a trap.
Work out your true costs: staff time (including travel and setup), consumables, equipment amortisation, supervision time, and your own admin overhead. Add your target margin. Then see where that price sits against what the market is paying.
If your costs mean you can't compete on price with established regional operators, don't try to. Compete on service level and responsiveness. Position yourself as the contractor who turns up, answers the phone, and sends inspection reports, because many of your competitors don't.
Be transparent about what's included. "Weekly clean of 1,800 sq ft office, Mon-Fri, 6am-8am, includes consumables" is a better quote than "office cleaning £X per month." Transparency builds trust and reduces disputes later.
Follow Up: Most People Don't
Send your quote, then follow up seven days later if you've heard nothing. A brief, professional email: "I wanted to check you received our proposal and whether you have any questions." That's it.
Many commercial contracts are awarded by facilities managers who have shortlisted two or three contractors they consider capable. At that stage, responsiveness becomes a deciding factor. The contractor who follows up professionally and answers queries quickly gets the job over the contractor who quoted and disappeared.
Your First Commercial Contract Is a Reference, Not Just Revenue
Win it, deliver it well, and ask for a written reference after 90 days. One good testimonial from a commercial client, particularly one from a named facility type like a school or healthcare site, is worth more than any marketing you can buy.
Keep records of the work: inspection reports, site visit logs, any issues raised and resolved. These become evidence for your next tender.
The commercial market rewards contractors who can demonstrate they do what they say. Build that evidence from your very first contract and it compounds over time.
If you're building a cleaning business and want to understand how your operations compare to companies winning and retaining commercial contracts, take the Tivlo Cleaning Business Scorecard: a 10-minute assessment covering operations, team management, client relationships and compliance readiness.