Protecting The Health & Well-Being of Your Building Tenants

By Jared Sarbit

PPC employees cleaning a building condo atrium

Condo apartment building | Commercial condos and strata cleaning by Picture Perfect Cleaning

In the 21st century, more and more of our time is spent indoors. The digital age of movies, food, and entertainment is at our fingertips, and almost anything we need for survival and comfort can be delivered right to our door.

Advances in technology and the recent pandemic have increased the number of people working from home, making it easier than ever to become homebodies.

Buildings must keep in pristine cleanliness to avoid illness and promote comfort in the spaces we’re spending an increasing amount of time in.

One of the best ways you can promote cleanliness and well-being for your condo tenants and anyone entering your building is to understand how air quality and other building practices affect your tenants.

Through clean condo building practices, you can foster a safe, clean, and enjoyable living environment for your tenants and visitors.

Improving Air Quality

As a building manager, one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is “are my tenants breathing well?” and, “Is the air quality inside my building as clean as it should be?”

Air quality within a building is affected by multiple elements from both inside and outside.

Allergens composed mainly of dust, mold, and pests are found everywhere inside a building. Dead skin cells and dander easily infiltrate nearly any building and land on any surface causing a range of negative and dangerous allergic reactions.

Chemicals, VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), various scents as well as outdoor air pollution can all stick to surfaces and make their way into peoples living spaces.

Mold and other bacteria can easily grow throughout a tenancy or building if not properly ventilated, throwing dangerous mold spores throughout and risking the health and safety of your tenants.

Updating Building Practices

In addition to improving the air quality of a building, there are several other recommendations you can make to improve the health and well-being of your tenants.

Improving access to high-quality and safe water
Encouraging better food habits and culture
Promote better lighting systems
Encourage fitness and exercise as part of daily living
Foster a comfortable and creative environment

Letting The Sunshine In

Sunshine is critically important for optimal health, but as we spend more and more time inside, it can be hard to get all the sunshine our bodies need. Making sure the windows of your building are clean and streak-free ensures that the sun shines bright through the building. Added sunshine has been shown to lower blood pressure, lighten the mood, and promote better sleeping habits.

How Does Air Quality Improvement Affect Health?

Tenants living with poor air quality conditions can experience negative short and long-term health effects. Short-term side effects can include irritated eyes, nose, and throat, to frequent sneezing, coughing, dizziness and headaches.

Prolonged exposure can lead to fatigue and lethargy, increased sensitivity to allergens, and more severe asthma flareups. All of this results in a less comfortable and potentially dangerous environment for your tenants and visitors to be in.

The Role Of Facility Managers

Facility managers play a crucial role in the health and safety of tenants and visitors by enacting and controlling safety measures to sharing important information. With healthy and sustainable building trends on the rise, building managers and facility managers are on the front line to help promote a healthier, safer, and more comfortable place to live, work and enjoy.

Picture Perfect Janitorial Services Are Here For You

Fighting poor indoor air quality is no easy task. But the good news is that Picture Perfect Cleaning is here to help. A clean building environment requires the service of a professional, reputable, and trusted cleaning company that tailors its cleaning services to meet the needs of each individual building and manager.

We focus on the satisfaction of you and your tenants, offering customized cleaning services and using non-toxic and environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Our Services

No matter what your building’s janitorial requirements are, Picture Perfect Cleaning gets the job done. Some of our ongoing building services include:

Vacuuming
Dusting
Taking Out Garbage
Sweeping & Mopping
Sanitizing and cleaning all surfaces and the air
Window washing
Parking lot care

We clean any commercial space including offices & retail, schools & daycares, community centers, auto dealerships, and industrial warehouses and factories. Call Picture Perfect Cleaning to book an appointment and invest in a brighter, safer, and cleaner future for you and your tenants.

Cost Calculator

What Is In-House Cleaning Really Costing You?

Adjust the four numbers below to see your true annual in-house cleaning cost, an estimated cost range with Picture Perfect Cleaning, and what you'd save by making the switch.

Current in-house staff cost

Annual wages plus benefits for your cleaning staff

Supply and equipment costs

Annual spend on products, tools, and machine upkeep

Management oversight time

Hours per week spent scheduling and supervising cleaning

hrs/wk

Sick days or missed shifts

Average per cleaning staff member, per year

days/yr

Your Cost Comparison

True In-House Cost

Est. PPC Cost Range

$0 – $0

Estimated Annual Savings by Outsourcing

Based on the average of your PPC estimated range

Get a Custom Quote and See Your Savings →

Estimates are based on average commercial cleaning rates across Alberta and typical management and coverage costs. Your actual quote depends on square footage, service frequency, facility type, and scope of work. Request a custom quote above for an exact number.

The Hidden Cost of In-House Cleaning

A wage comparison only tells part of the story. Here’s what usually gets left out:

Wages and Benefits

Payroll is usually the first number people look at when they think about cleaning costs, but it rarely tells the whole story. Supplies, equipment, manager oversight, scheduling headaches, and the inevitable sick days all add up over time. By the time you account for everything, the true cost of keeping cleaning in-house can look very different from what’s on the payroll report. That’s exactly what our cost comparison tool is designed to help you see, along with what outsourcing might save.

Supplies and Equipment

Cleaning products, paper goods, vacuums, floor machines, and the replacement parts that keep them running all add up over the course of a year. Businesses that clean in-house often buy retail-grade supplies at retail prices because they don’t have access to the commercial pricing that a cleaning company gets from its suppliers. Equipment also breaks down, and replacing a vacuum or floor buffer every few years is a cost that rarely gets planned for in advance.

Management Time

Somebody has to schedule shifts, check the quality of the work, order more supplies when they run low, and step in when something gets missed. That’s real time pulled from a manager’s actual job, and it rarely gets assigned a dollar value, even though it should. If a facilities manager or office lead spends even a few hours a week on cleaning oversight, that’s time not spent on the parts of their role that actually move the business forward.

Absenteeism and Coverage Gaps

Sick days and missed shifts are part of running any team. When they happen, the work still has to get done, which usually means paying someone else to cover the shift or accepting that some tasks will have to wait. Over the course of a year, those extra costs can become surprisingly significant. There’s another effect that’s harder to measure, too. When cleaning is inconsistent, people notice. Employees notice it, clients notice it, and visitors notice it, even if they couldn’t tell you exactly why the space feels different.

Cost Category	What It Covers
Wages & Benefits	Annual pay for in-house cleaning staff
Supplies & Equipment	Products, tools, and machine upkeep
Management Time	Hours spent scheduling and supervising
Absenteeism	Missed shifts and last-minute coverage

Why Outsourcing Often Comes Out Ahead

Once you’ve seen your own numbers, the reasons behind the gap start to make sense.

Predictable Pricing

A cleaning company quote covers labor, supplies, and equipment on a single line. You know what you’re paying before the work starts, and that number doesn’t shift because someone called in sick or a vacuum broke down. Budgeting gets easier when the cost of cleaning is a single line item rather than four separate ones scattered across payroll, supplies, and management time.

No Coverage Gaps

When a member of an in-house cleaning team calls in sick, someone on your staff has to figure out what happens next. With a professional cleaning service, that responsibility shifts to the provider. If a cleaner is unavailable, arranging a replacement is part of the service, so your team isn’t left scrambling to fill the gap.

Accountability Built In

Picture Perfect Cleaning holds COR certification and provides regular service reporting, so you can see what’s being done and when, without spending your own hours checking on it. That’s the management time most in-house teams never get back. Our team also uses EcoLogo- and Green Seal-certified products, so you’re not trading cost savings for a lower cleaning standard.

Get Your Custom Quote

Wages are only one line in what in-house cleaning actually costs. Once you add in supplies, the hours a manager spends overseeing the crew, and the gaps left by sick days, the real number is usually higher than what shows up on a payroll report and often higher than what a professional service would charge for the same work. That’s the gap the tool above is built to show you, along with what outsourcing could put back in your budget.

Our cost comparison tool gives you a reasonable estimate of what you could save by switching to a professional cleaning service, not a final number. Every building is different, and factors like your cleaning schedule, the size of your facility, and the services you need will affect the actual cost. If you’d like a more accurate quote based on your space, contact Picture Perfect Cleaning, and we’ll walk you through the options.