What to put in your request
A supplier can only price what they can see. Answer these and the quotes come back for the same job, which is the only way they can be compared.
- The premises: what they are used for, the floor area, and the floor types (carpet, tiles, vinyl, sealed concrete). Count the toilets, kitchens and boardrooms.
- A cleaning schedule: what is done daily, weekly and monthly. "Clean the offices" gets a different price from everyone; bins and bathrooms daily, glass weekly and high-level dusting monthly can be priced like for like.
- When the cleaning happens: before opening, during the day or after hours, and on which days.
- Whether you want cleaners on site full-time, and how many, or would rather the company proposes the staffing for your schedule.
- Consumables: who supplies the toilet paper, hand soap and refuse bags, and the cleaning chemicals and equipment.
- Specialised work to be quoted separately: carpet shampooing, stripping and sealing floors, windows above ground level, a deep clean, or a clean after building work.
- Anything particular to the site: food preparation, clinical areas, security clearance, or sign-in rules for staff.
- The start date and the length of the contract.
What to compare when the quotes come back
The lowest total is where comparing starts, not where it ends.
- The hours behind the price: how many cleaners, for how many hours a day. A lower price for fewer hours is a different service, not a cheaper one.
- Whether the rate can carry the wages. Contract cleaners have a minimum wage of their own, set by area and updated every year, and a price that cannot pay it is not a bargain.
- Consumables and equipment: included in the monthly price, charged at cost, or extra.
- Supervision: who checks the work, how often, and how a complaint is dealt with.
- Cover when a cleaner is absent, and how quickly a replacement arrives.
- How the price changes when the minimum wage goes up each year, and the notice period to end the contract.
On SupScope every quote arrives with the same three figures: the total, the lead time and the deposit. The first comparison is done before you open anything. The rest of this list is what to read in each supplier's notes and documents.
Paperwork worth asking for
- Written confirmation of the wages they pay
- Minimum hourly rates for contract cleaners are set under Sectoral Determination 1, by area: one rate for Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay and some councils around them, another for the rest of the country, and in KwaZulu-Natal the rates agreed in the cleaning industry's bargaining council. The government notice that sets them warns that whoever contracts a cleaning company at a price that makes paying them impossible can be held liable.
- A COIDA letter of good standing
- If a contractor is not registered with the Compensation Fund, or has not paid its assessments, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act can treat its workers on your job as your employees, and you pay the assessments. The Fund's letter of good standing shows they are covered, and its certificate number can be checked.
- Safety data sheets for the chemicals
- Under the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, the safety data sheet for a hazardous chemical has to be given to the people at the workplace who use it, or who need the information to assess the risk. Ask for those of every product used on your premises, so you know what is being used and what to do after an accident.
- A written health and safety agreement
- Contract cleaners work on your premises every day. Under section 37(2) of the OHS Act, an employer can be presumed responsible for a contractor's breaches of the Act unless the two have agreed in writing how the contractor will comply. Sign one with the contract.
And from any supplier
- A SARS Tax Compliance Status PIN
- It replaced the old tax clearance certificate. Checking it on eFiling shows the supplier's status on the day you check, not the day it was issued.
- A B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit
- Only if your own scorecard counts it. Small suppliers (turnover up to R10 million) may use an affidavit instead of a verified certificate.
- Company registration and a bank confirmation letter
- Worth having before the first payment, so the account you pay is the company you chose.
General guidance, not legal advice. Regulations change, and some depend on your municipality or the job, so confirm anything you rely on with the authority concerned.
How this works on SupScope
- Step 1
Post it once
Describe the job and choose Cleaning Services and your province.
- Step 2
It reaches the right suppliers
Only suppliers who work in this trade and cover your province see it.
- Step 3
Compare and award
Quotes arrive side by side. Accept one and the others are told.