Northmark runs every commercial cleaning and maintenance account through the same six-stage model: a walkthrough, a written scope, secure onboarding, checklist-driven visits, supervisor QA walkthroughs and a single accountable contact. The model exists for one reason. Most complaints about cleaning vendors are not about cleaning skill. They are about nobody checking, nobody owning the account and nobody telling the client what happened.
The problem this model solves
Ask a property manager or office administrator what went wrong with their last cleaning company and the answers rarely involve technique. They sound like this:
- "A different crew showed up every month and nobody knew our building."
- "We found out the restrooms were skipped when a tenant complained."
- "I had no idea who had our alarm code."
- "I called three times before anyone responded."
- "The proposal said nightly, but some nights nobody came."
Each of those is a process failure. They are fixed by structure, not by promising to try harder. That structure is what follows.
Stage 1: Walkthrough
We walk your building with you before we quote it. During the walkthrough we record:
- Total and cleanable square footage, by space type
- Floor surfaces (carpet, resilient tile, sealed concrete, ceramic)
- Restroom count and fixture count
- Occupancy, operating hours and peak traffic periods
- Areas with special handling: records rooms, server closets, exam rooms, cash rooms
- Access method, alarm system and lock-up expectations
- Your priorities: the three things that, if they were wrong, would bother you most
A facility walkthrough usually takes 30 to 60 minutes for a typical office or clinic. Larger buildings take longer.
Stage 2: Written scope
After the walkthrough you receive a written scope listing every task, the area it applies to and its frequency: nightly, weekly, monthly or quarterly. The scope becomes the site checklist and the basis for QA scoring, so both sides share the same definition of "done." Our janitorial scope of work template shows the format.
Stage 3: Secure onboarding
Before the first visit we document:
- Who on our team is assigned to your building (background-checked staff only)
- How keys, fobs or codes are issued, stored and logged
- Alarm arming and disarming procedures and who our team calls if an alarm trips
- Lock-up checklist: doors, lights, windows and specific rooms
- Your escalation contacts for after-hours incidents
These steps are described fully in our security and access control standards.
Stage 4: Checklist-driven visits
Every visit is completed against the site checklist. Cleaners record completion and note anything outside scope that you should know about: a running toilet, a burned-out light, a propped fire door, a water stain on a ceiling tile. Those notes come to you so small problems get fixed before they get expensive.
Stage 5: Supervisor QA walkthroughs
A supervisor inspects the building on a recurring schedule, scores each area against the scope, and logs deficiencies with a correction date. Repeated misses in the same area trigger retraining or a checklist change, not just another reminder. Our quality assurance program explains the scoring and close-out process, and our guide to janitorial QA inspection scoring explains how to read the results.
Stage 6: One accountable contact
Every account has a named contact at Northmark. You report an issue once. The contact owns it until it is fixed and confirms with you when it is. That relationship is described on our janitorial account management page.
What changes when you switch to this model
Clients moving from an unstructured vendor typically notice three things in the first 60 days:
- Fewer surprises. Because work is checked by a supervisor rather than by your employees, issues are caught before staff or tenants see them.
- Clearer conversations. Disagreements about whether something is "included" disappear because the scope is written down.
- Less of your time. You stop managing the cleaning company, because somebody at the cleaning company is managing the cleaning.
If you are changing vendors, our guide to switching janitorial companies covers notice periods, key handover and the first two weeks.
How this applies beyond cleaning
The same six stages apply to our commercial property maintenance and aerial inspection work: walk the site, write the scope, agree access, do the work against a checklist, verify it and report it to one contact.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Northmark require a walkthrough before quoting?
Square footage alone does not determine the work. Restroom counts, floor types, occupancy and security requirements change the labor needed. A walkthrough gives you an honest, accurate proposal.
How often do supervisors inspect our building?
Inspection frequency is set in your scope. Most accounts receive recurring supervisor walkthroughs, with weekly walkthroughs on accounts that need them.
What happens if something is missed?
Report it to your Northmark contact. We log it, correct it, confirm the fix with you and look for the cause so it does not repeat.
Can the scope change after we start?
Yes. Buildings change. We update the written scope and checklist whenever occupancy, hours or priorities change.
Published · Northmark Facility Services.