Resources
In-House Staff vs Outsourced Janitorial
A cleaner on your payroll or a janitorial company under contract: either way the building gets cleaned. The difference is who carries the hiring, screening, supplies, inspections and insurance behind the work.
More than a payroll question
The question usually comes up at a turning point. A custodian who has been with the company for years is retiring. A growing office has outgrown the habit of staff taking turns with the vacuum. A second building opens and nobody is sure whether the person cleaning the first one can stretch to cover it.
At that point most people reach for a cost comparison, and the numbers matter. Our janitorial cost calculator gives a starting figure for outsourced service. But cost is only part of it. Somebody has to find the cleaners, check their backgrounds, keep the closets stocked, look at the work and hold the insurance. The real choice is which of those jobs stay with you. None of them shows up on a timesheet, yet together they decide how the building looks on a Monday morning.
The two options, row by row
The table below sets the day-to-day load of each arrangement side by side. Read the middle column as the work that lands on your team, and the right column as what moves to Loom when you hand cleaning to us.
| What it takes | Your own in-house crew | Loom Janitorial |
|---|---|---|
| Finding people | You recruit, interview and onboard each hire | Loom recruits and staffs the crew |
| Screening | Your HR team decides on and runs any checks | Every crew member is background-checked |
| Paper, soap and liners | Someone on staff counts stock and reorders | Your stock or ours, with dispensers installed |
| Quality checks | Someone in your office walks and inspects | Loom supervisors run regular quality inspections |
| Insurance cover | Sits on your company’s insurance and workers’ comp | Insured, bonded, workers’ comp, and a certificate of insurance for you |
| Changing tasks | Retrain or reassign your own people | Send us the new task or interval |
| Carpet and floor projects | Rent machines or bring in another vendor | Extraction and floor care quoted as separate lines |
No row in the table is a verdict on its own. A company with an HR department and a facilities lead already in place carries the left column more easily than a small office where the operations manager also handles IT and the front desk.
A quick way to use it: tick each left-column row that someone on your team already handles well, and put a question mark beside the rest. The question marks are the work you would be handing over.
Where an in-house crew earns its keep
A staff custodian is part of the building all day. That person knows which conference room hosts the Monday meeting, where the extra paper is kept and which door sticks in wet weather. For buildings with a steady stream of small daytime needs, from a spill in the lobby to a room reset between sessions, that presence is valuable.
Direct control is the other draw. Your own employee follows your priorities without a middle step, and changes to the routine happen with a quick word in the hallway. In exchange, recruiting, scheduling and ordering mop heads all remain on your side of the ledger.
What handing it to Loom takes off your desk
When Loom provides your janitorial services, recruiting and staffing sit with us, and our crews are background-checked. Workers’ compensation, bonding and insurance all sit on Loom’s side. Each client’s vendor file gets a certificate of insurance from us.
Supplies stop being a weekly errand. Our crews refill paper and soap on every visit from your stock or ours, and the janitorial supplies service mounts dispensers matched to the refills. Our supervisors walk the building on regular quality inspections, so the checking does not depend on someone from your office finding time for a tour.
Periodic work comes along too. Carpet extraction, scrubbing and recoating, and stripping and waxing are quoted as their own lines, so a worn corridor floor no longer means renting a machine or tracking down a second vendor.
Changes travel as a short message rather than a retraining session. When a room changes use or a new team moves onto the floor, note the new task or interval on the list and send it over, and the next visits follow it.
A mixed setup is often the answer
Nothing forces an all-or-nothing pick. A building with a long-serving custodian can keep that person on daytime needs and bring in Loom for the nightly clean, or only for the carpet and hard floor projects that need equipment and a crew. Offices that want people on hand during business hours can also add a day porter on top of evening service.
It works in the other direction as well. Businesses that keep their own cleaning team can still have Loom deliver paper goods, soap and liners on a standing order, so restocking leaves the team’s to-do list while the cleaning stays in house.
Questions to settle before you decide
Answer these with whoever handles facilities today. The answers usually point clearly to one column or a mix of both.
- How many hours a week does someone on staff spend on cleaning, ordering or checking the work?
- Who covers the floors and carpet when they need more than a mop and vacuum?
- Does your lease or landlord ask vendors for a certificate of insurance?
- Which rooms need attention during the day, and which can wait for the evening?
- Do you need people on hand while staff are in, or does an empty-building clean cover it?
- Would anyone on your team notice if restroom stock ran low on a Friday afternoon?
When you are ready to compare companies, our company selection guide covers the interview questions and references to check.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Can we keep our custodian and still use Loom?
Yes. Your custodian can stay on daytime needs while Loom handles the nightly clean, or only the periodic carpet and floor projects. A day porter is another option for daytime hours.
What insurance does Loom carry?
Loom holds insurance, is bonded and keeps workers’ compensation coverage in place. Every client receives a certificate of insurance for its vendor records.
How are Loom’s cleaners screened?
Our crews are background-checked, and Loom supervisors follow up in your building with regular quality inspections.
Who provides the paper goods and soap with outsourced service?
You choose. Our crews refill from the stock you buy or bring Loom’s supplies, and we can install dispensers matched to the refills.
Can Loom deliver supplies to an in-house cleaning team?
Yes. Loom delivers paper goods, soap and liners on their own to businesses that keep their own cleaners, on a standing order at the frequency you choose.