What should I do in the first month after buying a cleaning company?

After closing, your job is to make sure nothing slips while people get used to you. The earlier pre-purchase pages cover what to check. This page covers the weeks right after the keys change hands.

Meet every contract client yourself

Ask the seller to introduce you, in person if possible, to each client contact before or just after closing. Listen first. Ask what they like, what has annoyed them and who on the crew they trust. Write down each client’s service expectations, contract renewal dates and who approves invoices. A client who hears from you early is far less likely to wonder whether the company has changed hands without telling them.

Keep crews on the same sites and schedules

Cleaners often build quiet relationships with the people in the buildings they clean. Moving a cleaner to a different site, or changing a start time, can lose a client and a cleaner at once. Keep teams and routes as they were for now. Talk to each cleaner one on one about their hours, their concerns and what the clients say to them. Our page on what to avoid changing in your first 90 days applies directly here.

Collect keys, codes and site instructions

Make a full list of every key, fob, alarm code and access card, who holds each one and which site it opens. Ask the clients’ property managers whether they want codes reset after the ownership change, and let them decide. Collect any written site instructions, special requests and supply locations. If these live only in a manager’s head, write them down now.

Check supplies and quality, then wait to change

Visit sites unannounced but politely, and look at the work the way the client would. Check that equipment works and supplies are on hand. Learn which products the crews trust before you swap suppliers. Then plan any change to pricing, routes or products for later, one at a time, and tell clients before it affects them.

• Client list with contacts, renewal dates and special requests
• Key, fob and alarm code register
• One-on-one notes from each cleaner
• Supplier and equipment list with service history