What a Janitorial Contract Covers in Calgary (MCA Group Blog)

Three cleaning quotes are sitting on a property manager’s desk in the Beltline. One is a single line: “nightly janitorial, all areas, monthly rate.” Another runs four pages, with tasks and frequencies listed room by room. The cheapest one quietly leaves out washroom paper, soap, and liners. On paper they look like three prices for the same service, but they describe three different jobs.

A janitorial contract is the written agreement that defines what gets cleaned in your facility, how often, when, by whom, to what standard, and for what monthly price. In Calgary, a good one also covers the things local buildings actually deal with: gravel tracked in from winter roads, after-hours access rules in downtown towers, and the WCB-Alberta paperwork that protects you if your contractor falls behind on premiums.

This guide walks through each part of a commercial cleaning contract the way we write them for Calgary offices, warehouses, clinics, and retail sites. Use it to read the quotes you already have, or to build the scope you’ll send out.

What Should a Janitorial Contract in Calgary Include?

Every janitorial contract should define nine things in writing: scope, frequency, schedule, staffing, supplies, quality control, price, term, and compliance documents. If a quote is silent on any of them, you’re comparing it on price alone.

Contract section	What it should say	Why it matters
Scope of work	Every area and task, listed by room or zone	“General cleaning” can’t be enforced; a task list can
Frequency	How often each task happens: nightly, weekly, monthly, quarterly	Two quotes with the same price can deliver very different work
Schedule	Service days, start and finish window, holiday handling	Avoids cleaning during client meetings, shifts, or store hours
Staffing	Who cleans, who supervises, how absences are covered	Decides whether the same crew shows up every visit
Supplies and equipment	Who provides chemicals, paper, soap, liners, and machines	Consumables are the most common hidden cost
Quality control	Inspection cadence, how issues are reported and fixed	Gives you a path other than “find a new cleaner”
Price	Monthly rate, what it includes, GST, rates for extra work	Stops surprise line items
Term and renewal	Length, renewal, notice to cancel, how scope changes	Decides how easily you can adjust or leave
Compliance documents	Liability insurance, bonding, WCB-Alberta clearance, safety data sheets	Protects you from liability if something goes wrong

Scope of Work: What Gets Cleaned and How Often

The scope of work is a task-by-task list of what the cleaning crew does in each part of your building. Price, staffing and schedule all follow from it, so it’s the first thing to read in any quote.

Routine Cleaning Tasks by Area

Routine tasks are the ones done on every visit or every week. The frequencies below are common starting points; the right ones for your building get set during the walkthrough, based on headcount, traffic and use.

Area	Typical routine tasks	Common frequency
Washrooms	Clean and disinfect toilets, urinals, sinks and counters; restock paper and soap; empty bins; wash floors	Every visit
Kitchens and lunchrooms	Wipe counters, tables and appliance fronts; clean sinks; empty garbage and recycling; wash floors	Every visit
Entrances and lobbies	Vacuum or shake out mats; dust-mop and damp-mop hard floors; clean entry glass and door handles	Every visit, more often in winter
Open offices and workstations	Empty bins; dust clear surfaces; vacuum carpet; spot-clean glass	Every visit to weekly
High-touch surfaces	Wipe door handles, light switches, elevator buttons, railings, shared equipment	Every visit
Warehouse and shop floors	Sweep or auto-scrub aisles and traffic lanes; clean break areas and washrooms	Weekly to daily, by shift pattern

High-touch surfaces are the spots many hands touch in a day. A disinfectant only works if it stays wet on the surface for its dwell time, the contact time printed on the label. Ask whether the contract specifies disinfectants registered with Health Canada (they carry a DIN) and used as the label directs.

Periodic Cleaning and Deep Cleaning

Periodic work is the deeper cleaning done monthly, quarterly or once a year. It’s where many quotes go quiet, so check whether each item is included in the monthly rate or billed separately.

• Carpet extraction, using hot water or steam to pull out grit and stains (carpet and floor care).
• Stripping and refinishing hard floors. Stripping removes the worn floor finish so new coats can go down; burnishing is a high-speed polish done between strips.
• High dusting of vents, ledges, light fixtures and the tops of partitions.
• Window and glass cleaning on interior partitions and, where included, exterior glass.
• Power washing of entrances, sidewalks, loading docks and parkades.
• Deep cleaning, a top-to-bottom reset (standard vs. deep cleaning).

Cleaning Supplies and Consumables

The contract should say who supplies toilet paper, hand towels, soap, liners and sanitizer, and whether that cost is inside the monthly rate. If the cleaner supplies them, ask how restocking is tracked. If you supply them, ask who orders and who gets notified when stock runs low.

What’s Usually Excluded From a Janitorial Contract

A clear contract also lists what it doesn’t cover, so nothing falls between contractors.

• Exterior snow clearing and ice control are usually a separate contract. Cleaning up the snow and gravel tracked inside the entrance belongs in the janitorial scope.
• Biohazard and trauma cleanup, pest control, and hazardous-waste disposal are specialist services with their own licensing.
• Repairs, like a dripping tap or a broken dispenser, should be reported rather than fixed unless the contract adds handyman work. MCA Group offers handyman services in Calgary as a separate add-on.
• High-access exterior windows are often quoted separately because they need lift or rope access.

How Cleaning Requirements Vary by Facility Type

The same headings apply to every building, but what goes under them doesn’t. A Calgary scope should reflect the facility it’s written for:

• Downtown and Beltline offices: Washrooms, kitchens, and meeting rooms carry most of the load. Work usually happens after hours under building-management access rules (office cleaning).
• Industrial and warehouse sites: Facilities in the NE and SE need floor scrubbing in traffic lanes, dust control, and break-room cleaning timed around shift changes, with WHMIS-trained staff working near site chemicals (warehouse cleaning, SE Calgary industrial).
• Medical and dental clinics: These facilities need documented disinfection of exam rooms and waiting areas, with the products and dwell times written down (medical office cleaning).
• Restaurants: Kitchen floors, drains, and grease need to be handled after closing (restaurant cleaning).
• Retail stores: Entrance glass, the sales floor, and fitting rooms need cleaning before opening or after closing (retail cleaning).

Calgary-Specific Cleaning Requirements to Include in Your Contract

A scope written for any city misses what Calgary weather and building types do to a facility, so write these local factors into the contract.

Winter Gravel and Salt Management

Calgary roads get more than salt. When road surfaces drop below about -5°C, the City spreads “pickle,” a mix of roughly 3% salt and 97% fine gravel, and in deep cold it relies on the gravel for traction because salt stops working well (City of Calgary). The City’s winter report describes its sanding chips as six-millimetre rock particles (City of Calgary, 2025–26 winter report).

That grit rides in on boots and gets ground into lobby tile and carpet. A winter-ready contract should spell out:

• More frequent entrance mat cleaning and lobby floor care from roughly November to April.
• Whether walk-off matting is supplied, rented or yours.
• Neutral cleaning of salt residue on hard floors so finish doesn’t dull.
• A spring reset: carpet extraction and floor refinishing once the gravel season ends.

Chinook Melt-Freeze Cycles

A chinook can take the city from deep cold to a melt in a day, then back again. Each swing brings slush, wet mats and puddled entrances. Ask how the crew handles a sudden melt: is there a day porter, or does the contract allow an extra entrance visit on call?

Dust Control in Calgary’s Dry Climate

Calgary’s dry air means dust settles fast on ledges, vents and electronics, and static carries it to screens. Weekly or monthly high dusting and vent cleaning belong in the periodic schedule rather than “as needed.”

Downtown Office Towers and Plus 15 Access

Offices in downtown towers connected to the Plus 15 walkway network usually work inside building-management rules: approved hours, security sign-in, key or fob control, loading-dock windows, and where carts can travel. The contract should name who arranges access and what happens if a crew is turned away at the door.

Spring and Summer Exterior Cleaning

Once the snow is gone, parkades, entrances and loading docks are coated in a winter’s worth of gravel and grime. Many Calgary facilities schedule power washing and exterior window cleaning in spring. Decide whether those are inside the annual contract or quoted each year.

Janitorial Cleaning Schedules and Service Frequency

Most Calgary janitorial contracts use one of five scheduling models, or a mix of them. The right one depends on your operating hours, traffic, and how visible the cleaning can be.

Scheduling model	How it works	Best fit
Nightly/after-hours	Crew cleans after the building empties, often evenings or overnight	Offices, clinics, retail, restaurants after close
Daytime cleaning	Crew works during business hours, quietly, around occupants	Buildings with tight after-hours access or hybrid occupancy
Day porter	One or more staff on site during the day restocking washrooms, wiping high-touch points, handling spills and entrance slush	Multi-tenant towers, busy lobbies, schools, large clinics
Recurring (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)	Fixed visits on set days, fewer than daily	Small offices, warehouses, low-traffic sites
One-time/periodic	A single deep clean, post-construction clean or seasonal reset	Move-ins, renovations, spring floor restoration

A day porter is a cleaner stationed in your building during business hours instead of arriving after everyone leaves. In Calgary, porters earn their keep on winter days when the entrance can go from dry to slush-covered in an hour.

Janitorial Contract Pricing in Calgary: What Affects the Cost?

Most Calgary janitorial contracts are priced as a fixed monthly rate, set from your square footage, cleaning frequency, and scope after a site walkthrough. Two buildings of the same size can land at very different numbers, because the work inside them is different.

Key Factors That Determine Janitorial Cleaning Costs

Cost driver	How it moves the price
Cleanable square footage	The base of most quotes; larger areas usually cost less per square foot
Visit frequency	Five nights a week costs more than two; frequency is the biggest single lever
Washrooms and fixtures	Each washroom and fixture adds labour every visit
Floor types	Carpet, resilient tile, sealed concrete and stone each need different care and machines
Occupancy and traffic	Headcount and visitors drive washroom, kitchen and entrance workload
Facility type	Clinics, food areas and industrial sites need extra protocols and trained staff
Consumables	Paper, soap and liners can be inside the rate or billed at cost
Access and timing	Tight windows, security escorts or overnight-only access affect crew size
Periodic work	Carpet extraction, floor refinishing and high dusting, if bundled into the monthly rate

Common Commercial Cleaning Pricing Models

• Fixed monthly rate: Gives you one predictable invoice for a defined scope. Most recurring contracts work this way.
• Per-visit pricing: Sets a price for each time the crew attends, which is common for weekly or bi-weekly service.
• Per-square-foot pricing: Applies a rate to the cleanable area and is often used to compare quotes.
• Hourly or time-and-materials pricing: Usually for one-time or emergency work, not recurring cleaning.

Extras should be listed at stated rates in the contract, so a one-off carpet clean doesn’t turn into a negotiation.

MCA Group publishes indicative per-square-foot ranges on its Calgary pricing page. They’re a starting point only; an accurate number needs a walkthrough.

GST and Additional Cleaning Charges

Alberta has no provincial sales tax, so the tax on a Calgary cleaning invoice is the 5% GST. Check whether each quote shows prices before or after GST, so you’re comparing like for like. Also look for fuel or equipment surcharges, supply markups, and annual price-adjustment clauses.

Why the Lowest Cleaning Quote May Cost More

A quote far below the others usually has something missing: fewer visits, consumables left out, no supervision, or a crew too small for the building. The gap shows up later as complaints, re-cleans, and another contractor search. Compare quotes against the same written scope before comparing the totals.

Essential Janitorial Contract Terms and Conditions

Price tells you what you’ll pay. The terms below decide what happens when something goes wrong.

Contract Duration, Renewal, and Cancellation

Some providers ask for a fixed term of a year or more with a notice period to exit. Others run month to month. Read three clauses closely: how long you’re committed, how much notice cancellation needs, and whether the scope and price can change mid-term.

Cleaning Quality Control and Complaint Resolution

A contract should name how cleaning is checked and how problems get fixed. Look for:

• A regular inspection cadence by a supervisor, not only the crew.
• A single named point of contact.
• How you report a missed task, and how fast it’s corrected.
• Whether inspection results are shared with you.

Liability Insurance and Bonding

Ask for a current certificate of commercial general liability (CGL) insurance and check the limits and expiry date. Many property managers also ask to be named as an additional insured. Bonding protects you against theft by cleaning staff, which matters when crews work after hours with keys.

WCB-Alberta Clearance Requirements

In Alberta, ask every cleaning contractor for a WCB-Alberta clearance letter before work starts. WCB-Alberta describes the clearance as confirmation that the contractor’s account is in good standing, which relieves you of liability if that contractor doesn’t pay its premiums (WCB-Alberta).

WCB-Alberta also advises getting a clearance before you hire and again before releasing payment; without one, you may be liable for unpaid premiums (WCB-Alberta).

A certificate from another province’s board doesn’t replace this. A contractor working in Calgary needs WCB-Alberta coverage.

WHMIS Compliance and Chemical Safety

Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Code, Part 29, sets out WHMIS requirements for hazardous products at a work site, including labels and safety data sheets (Alberta OHS Code, Part 29). Ask that the contractor keep safety data sheets for every product used in your building, and confirm that staff are WHMIS-trained.

Subcontracting Policies

Ask whether the cleaners are the contractor’s own employees or subcontractors. If subcontracting is allowed, the contract should require the same insurance, WCB coverage and screening of the subcontractor.

Building Security and Confidentiality

Cleaning crews see offices, files and server rooms after hours. The contract should cover background checks, key and fob control, alarm procedures and what happens if a key is lost.

How MCA Group Structures Janitorial Contracts in Calgary

MCA Group has run commercial cleaning since 1993, and our Calgary office is downtown at Calgary Place, 330 5 Ave SW. Every janitorial contract in Calgary we write follows the same structure.

• We walk your facility and note square footage, floor types, washrooms, traffic, and access rules.
• You get a written task list with frequencies and one fixed monthly rate.
• Service typically starts within a week of the walkthrough, sooner when needed.

You get a written scope agreed before we start and a fixed schedule (nightly, weekly or custom), with service available 24/7/365. The same crew is assigned to your site, so the building isn’t relearned each visit, and you receive one monthly invoice at a fixed rate.

If something is missed, one call to your point of contact gets it fixed on the next visit. The contract renews month to month with no lock-in, and the scope can change as your needs do. Multi-site clients get one scope, a schedule for each site, and one consolidated invoice.

Our crews are trained, insured, and background-checked, and MCA Group is fully bonded and insured. Across the company, we’ve served 5,000+ businesses, with a 96.2% approval rating and a 99.9% retention rate.

Calgary Janitorial Contract Checklist Before Signing

Run each quote through this list. Anything you can’t tick is a question to send back before signing.

• Scope lists tasks by area, not just “general cleaning.”
• Every task has a frequency.
• Periodic work (carpet, floors, high dusting, windows) is marked included or extra.
• Consumables are marked included or client-supplied.
• Winter entrance and matting plan is written in.
• Service days, time window, and holiday handling are stated.
• Absence coverage and crew consistency are described.
• Monthly rate, GST treatment, and rates for extra work are clear.
• Term, renewal, and cancellation notice are stated.
• Inspection cadence and complaint process are named.
• Current CGL insurance certificate and bonding are provided.
• WCB-Alberta clearance letter is provided, addressed to your company.
• Safety data sheets will be kept on site for all products.
• Subcontracting is disclosed, with the same coverage required.
• Key, fob, and alarm procedures are written down.

Frequently Asked Questions About Janitorial Contracts in Calgary

What Does a Janitorial Contract Include in Calgary?

A janitorial contract in Calgary should include a written scope of work listing tasks by area, a frequency for each task, the service schedule, staffing and absence coverage, who supplies consumables, quality-control steps, the monthly price and GST, the term and cancellation notice, and compliance documents such as liability insurance and a WCB-Alberta clearance letter. MCA Group builds each Calgary contract from a site walkthrough before quoting.

How Is Janitorial Contract Pricing Set in Calgary?

Most Calgary janitorial contracts are priced as a fixed monthly rate based on cleanable square footage, visit frequency and scope. Washroom count, floor types, traffic, facility type, consumables and access hours also move the number. MCA Group quotes a fixed monthly rate after walking the facility, and publishes indicative ranges on its Calgary pricing page as a starting point only.

Does MCA Group Require a Long-Term Contract in Calgary?

No. MCA Group’s Calgary janitorial contracts renew month to month, so there is no long-term lock-in. Clients can adjust the scope as their facility changes, for example adding a day porter for winter or periodic floor work in spring. The contract still sets a written scope, a fixed schedule, the same assigned crew and one monthly invoice.

What Is the Difference Between a Janitorial Contract and One-Time Cleaning?

A janitorial contract covers recurring cleaning on a fixed schedule, such as nightly or weekly service, under one written scope and monthly rate. One-time cleaning is a single visit, such as a deep clean, move-in clean or post-construction clean. Many Calgary facilities use both: MCA Group runs the recurring contract and schedules one-time work, like spring floor restoration, alongside it.

Is Snow Removal Part of a Janitorial Contract in Calgary?

Exterior snow clearing and ice control are usually handled under a separate contract, not the janitorial scope. What a Calgary janitorial contract should cover is the inside of the entrance: cleaning mats, removing tracked-in gravel and slush, and protecting hard floors and carpet from salt residue. MCA Group writes winter entrance care into Calgary scopes, with extra attention from roughly November to April.

What WCB Documentation Should I Ask a Calgary Cleaning Contractor For?

MCA Group recommends asking for a WCB-Alberta clearance letter addressed to your company before work starts, and a fresh one before releasing payment. WCB-Alberta says a clearance confirms the contractor’s account is in good standing and relieves you of liability for unpaid premiums. A certificate from another province’s board does not replace WCB-Alberta coverage for work done in Calgary.

Can One Janitorial Contract Cover Several Calgary Locations?

Yes. MCA Group can run one janitorial contract across several Calgary sites, with one scope, a schedule for each location and one consolidated invoice. Multi-site contracts suit retail chains, clinic groups and businesses with an office and a warehouse in different parts of the city, because every site works to the same standard and reports to one point of contact.

How Quickly Can Janitorial Service Start in Calgary?

With MCA Group in Calgary, service typically starts within a week of the site walkthrough, and sooner when a facility needs it. The walkthrough sets the scope, frequencies and monthly rate, so the crew arrives knowing the building. Facility managers replacing a contractor can book a walkthrough by calling (403) 488-3393 or requesting a free estimate online.

Get a Written Janitorial Cleaning Scope for Your Calgary Facility

If you’re holding quotes that don’t line up, or your current cleaner’s contract is vague about what you’re paying for, start with a walkthrough. We’ll look at your building, write out the scope room by room with frequencies, and give you one fixed monthly rate on a month-to-month contract, so you can compare it line for line against what you have now.

Get a Free Estimate or call (403) 488-3393.

MCA Group Calgary 330 5 Ave SW, Calgary Place Suite 1800, Calgary, AB T2P 0L4
Email: calgary@mcagroup.ca
Office hours: 8 am to 11 pm daily
Cleaning service availability: 24/7/365