The Best Materials for a Clean Workspace

By Jared Sarbit

If you’re starting to plan out an upcoming renovation or new build, may we suggest a few things that will help your newly-refreshed space stay clean and fresh.
In our quest to make Alberta a cleaner place we are constantly researching cleaning techniques, materials, solutions, and other things that will help us achieve our goal. In this post we’re going to talk about some great materials that are antimicrobial, perfect for your upcoming reno!

Flooring

The dirtiest places in office spaces are always the floors. Carpets are among the dirtiest, as they will capture airborne pathogens and grime in their fibres, but other materials aren’t too far behind.
However, more important than whether or not a given material is antimicrobial, is how easy said material is to clean. It goes without saying that regular cleaning is far more effective at controlling bacteria than simply leaving the floors to their own devices… regardless of the antimicrobial properties of the materials they’re made with.

Great Flooring Materials for Keeping the Workplace Clean

Epoxy – Unlike many materials, epoxy is extremely versatile in both its applications and composition. Not all epoxy will be antimicrobial, but epoxy flooring using certain additives – such as FloroSeptic – are the best option for applications where cleanliness is important. Easy to clean and care for, epoxy floors make it difficult for microbes to survive and thrive.
Vinyl – While not all vinyl flooring will fit the bill, you can get many types of vinyl floors (in the form of tiles or planks) that are a boon for the neat freaks in all of us. Many manufacturers will blend antimicrobial compounds into into their formulation, helping the mitigate bacterial growth on their surfaces.

The Worst Material for Keeping Floors Clean

Carpets. While attractive to look at and comfortable to walk on, carpets are quite literally magnets that suck in dirt, bacterial, mold, and more. The fibres and spaces between them become littered with debris, dust mites, and a bunch of other things that you wouldn’t want to be spending any amount of time with.
Keeping carpets clean takes more work than hard surfaces. A daily vacuum for well-travelled areas is a must!

Countertops

Speaking to kitchens and bathrooms specifically, a hard non-porous surface is ideal. We recommend vinyl laminate countertops as, like vinyl flooring, this material offers many advantages.
First, compared to stone countertops, vinyl is affordable. This is always a win.
Second, vinyl countertops are easy to maintain and clean. They can be cleaned with nearly any compound without risk of damage or discoloration (though you should check the label for the specific cleaner that you’re considering prior to application).
Third, laminate countertops can often be repaired easily and inexpensively. A small dent in the countertop? No problem! It’s fairly straightforward to fill in the dent and recover the area. The same cannot be said of stone, which can be quite expensive to fix.

There’s No Replacement for Displacement…

… with a solid cleaning, that is. Don’t forget: we’re Alberta’s cleaner cleaners. If you have a business in Calgary or Edmonton and want a reliable partner to take on your cleaning, give us a call! We’re always looking great great clients like you.

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

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Estimated Annual Savings by Outsourcing

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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.