The Differences Between Residential and Commercial Cleaning Services
Should you choose a residential or commercial cleaning company for your cleaning needs? You might think a commercial cleaner will be more effective than a residential once, just because of the name. However it’s a bit like comparing apples to pears, although both are fruit, they look and taste differently to each other. Just so with residential and commercial cleaners, they both provide cleaning services but the type of work they undertake is different.
Within this blog we’re going to demystify the two to give you a clearer understanding of what’s involved in both and why they are different.
What is Commercial Cleaning?
Commercial cleaning is carried out by professional cleaners working for businesses or organisations that often have been engaged to conduct cleaning on a number of different work premises. Their remit might include offices and factories, schools, industrial businesses, hospitals and healthcare facilities such as care homes or catering units, restaurants, cinemas etc. The range of premises and requirements are broad.
What is Residential Cleaning?
A residential cleaner essentially specialises in cleaning your home. They can be a member of a professional cleaning company or quite often work for themselves.
They might vacuum your floors and carpets, clean bathrooms and clean and wipe domestic surfaces. It’s highly unlikely they will use the sorts of chemical cleaning products and equipment needed in a commercial environment.
It’s obvious we know, but there is a significant difference in the way you’d clean a factory to how you’d clean a home.
Frequency of Cleaning
Residential cleaners typically are scheduled to visit once a week, or according to the house owner’s budget and/or domestic needs, they might clean every two weeks. A commercial cleaning company would usually clean daily, often at night when the facilities are closed. In a hospital, for example, you’d expect the cleaners to be there throughout the day. They might also clean at the weekend. Essentially they are scheduled to clean according to the needs of a business or organisation.
Team & Expertise
Due to the type of work they undertake, residential and commercial cleaners will have received different training and will have different expertise.
It’s likely that a residential cleaning company will comprise of a smaller local team, or will be an individual working for themselves. Whereas commercial cleaners are often from larger businesses and will be skilled and trained in working in a more complex environments which have more technical needs and diverse skill sets such as working with industrial equipment and chemical cleaning products.
Cleaning Products & Equipment
An obvious difference between the two is that commercial and industrial cleaning is undertaken on a much larger scale and the equipment used would need to be robust enough to deal with this level of use.
A commercial cleaning company will be equipped to clear up and clean hazardous waste, such as industrial solvents and chemicals and will use products and equipment that have been designed and manufactured for that specific use.
High-use areas also require a different level of cleaning, such as the use of floor buffers, carpet cleaners, air filtration systems and HEPA-fitted vacuum cleaners, to name but a few. More complex cleaning requirements need equipment and products that are designed to be used in those circumstances.
Regulations
Commercial cleaning services will need to comply with specific industry regulations and safety standards, particularly because in some industries there will be a number of potential hazards, such as dangerous chemicals. It’s important too that the commercial cleaning company is compliant with all of the relevant health and safety requirements and has the necessary training.
If you need support for your residential and commercial cleaning needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
