The Best Janitorial Software

By Jared Sarbit

What is the Best Janitorial Software to scale my cleaning business?

There has never been a better time in history (Coronavirus aside, perhaps) to run a successful, well oiled, commercial cleaning company. With the technology available, we can now scale and grow our cleaning company from our desk at home (or even the beach), in ways that we have never been able to do before. The technology has allowed our business, Picture Perfect Cleaning to scale to around 120 custodians, with fantastic systems and the ability to continue growing exponentially. And as janitorial owners, we must keep up with the industry and adapt to new technology.

When we first started our business, 10 years ago, I read a very important and pivotal book for us, called E-Myth Revisited, by Michael E. Gerber. To summarize, Gerber’s main point was to build systems, so that you are working on the business and not in the business. Technology can play a significant role in achieving this. (On a side note, I was fortunate enough to have had a 45-minute private conversation with the small business guru himself, Michael E. Gerber. See below).

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My aim here is to help you, the reader, find ways to work smarter; However, let me be clear, I am not advocating for working less hours, but, so that you can build a bigger cleaning business, faster. Let me be even clearer, while my understanding of technology is extremely basic – in fact, I am not a tech person at all – I am a big fan of finding ways to simplify processes and systems.

The great janitorial software we do not use, but still recommend looking at

Before I go into the ones we use, I want to mention a few that we do not use, but that certainly look to be very well designed, and about which I have heard positive reviews.

Route is a relatively new software, impressively launching into the janitorial world. They provide a walk-through and bidding software built by a successful janitorial company in Chicago. Because they are janitorial owners themselves, they have a particularly keen insight into what the needs are for a good bidding software. Their interface is modern and has one of the best interfaces I have seen. Again, we don’t use them, as we are quite happy with the current software we use for bidding (you’ll see below), but keep a close eye on Route, as they continue to update and improve their backend functionality.

Another software we don’t use, but that certainly has a name in the industry, is CleanTelligent. They have built a platform to do inspections, work orders, scheduling and more, and have been in business since the 90’s. According to their website, they have grown to 35,000 users.

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The great software we do use for our commercial cleaning services company

CleanGuru

When we first started our business 10 years ago, we had little understanding of what a quote should look like. We completely made it up by using Excel and squeezed everything onto a one-page contract. You pretty much had to use a magnifying glass to see it. Furthermore, it did not have any of the legal terminology necessary for a solid janitorial contract.

The other aspect we really struggled with when we first started was how to calculate a price. At the beginning, my partner and I would essentially walk through every single step of the cleaning tasks in our heads, write each step down, and estimate how long each step would take. Although, our calculations would be quite accurate, quotes would take us multiple hours to calculate, for the bigger sites, sometimes a full day. In time, we moved to an extremely complicated Excel spread sheet that would have a significant amount of “if this” and “if that” scenarios. If you made one small mistake in the spreadsheet, the entire calculation would be completely skewed. Certainly, the process was a headache to use.

Enter CleanGuru. Clean Guru has essentially allowed us to hire a sales manager who, with no janitorial experience, simply learns to ask the right questions and takes proper measurements. They can, then, produce a solid, accurate 10 page (or so) quote, professionally presented, and with proper legal jargon.

Once you plug in the name and contact info of the client the different physical spaces and rooms, and what the jobs are in each of those rooms, CleanGuru generates a brilliant contract, with pricing.

Once we implemented CleanGuru, our client closing ratio went up. I believe this is for two main reasons: One, we presented so much more professionally. Two, our quotes were extremely accurate.

I should also note that CleanGuru has fantastic customer service. Often, when I have some technical questions, the owners will respond directly to me with excellent speed. They also listen to, and sometimes implement, our recommendations for improving their program. They are truly great people!

Swept

To truly grow your commercial cleaning services company, you need Operation Managers. Although, Swept would certainly still be beneficial even if you don’t have managers, it is incredibly beneficial when you have one or more. We use Swept for multiple purposes. Inspections, ordering supplies and time tracking are the main functions for which we use it. They have become an extremely successful software company over the last few years, and we are proud to say we were their 8^th customer.

Inspecting our client’s sites, after the work has been completed, allows us to catch anything missed, before the client does. It allows us to ensure that the services we promise are being delivered. Depending on the size and type of client, the frequency we do inspections can fluctuate; However, the frequency always goes up when we are just starting a site, training new custodians, or receiving feedback from the client.

Swept Janitorial Services | Picture Perfect Cleaning

Each of our Operation Managers are assigned a portfolio of sites that they are responsible for, and we give them a weekly target on how many inspections they should be doing. We encourage them to always find at least one piece of feedback for the custodian when doing an inspection, and to take as many pictures as possible, even when the cleaning is particularly well done. The more pictures taken, the more data you have.

Swept’s inspections are easy to use, and customizable for each site we do our inspections on.

Next, is the ordering of supplies. Before using Swept, our systems for ordering supplies was quite confusing. Some of our custodians would text us, some would email, some would verbally tell us when we saw them, and some would phone us with their supply orders. They all used different words for different supplies, so not only was the source of information inconsistent, but the terminology was too.

Implementing Swept allowed us to streamline all the communication for ordering, and to keep the terminology the same for everyone. All the supply orders go through Swept, to one specific Operations Manager, who, then, orders, once a week, from our supplier. The system has worked extremely well.

An older testimonial video from Picture Perfect Cleaning

HubSpot

This one is very new to us, as we are only are in the middle of its integration. HubSpot is essentially a CRM (Customer Relationship Management software) that organizes our potential prospects, quoted leads, and our existing customers. It is too early for me to fully recommend it, and we have not fully integrated the operational side of things yet. However, our sales manager has already found HubSpot is helping him stay much more organized. I hope to update this article once we have used HubSpot for a longer period.

Conclusion

I cannot stress enough how important it is to choose and to implement the best technology for your business, as you continue to grow. As janitorial owners, we must keep our pulse on how the industry is moving and adapting. Because our commercial cleaning services industry is full of “old school” ways of doing the work, we are presented with wonderful opportunities to integrate newer technologies that will help our janitorial companies become well-respected and high-executing.

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The Best Janitorial Software | Picture Perfect Cleaning, Inc. — Calgary, Alberta

Cost Calculator

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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.

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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.

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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.