B&K Services starts each new commercial cleaning contract with a site walkthrough. One question a floor plan can’t answer is whether a cleaner with a loaded trolley can still reach the bin room after the service lift switches to restricted access. For architects and facility managers, the best time to test that route is before the building opens.
Based in Wollongong, the company says it directly employs more than 100 people and services more than 200 sites across Sydney, the Illawarra and the Shoalhaven. For a facility manager preparing to accept the keys, the useful part of that walkthrough is seeing where the drawings leave a decision open. A bin room may be clearly labelled on the plan while responsibility for cleaning it after collection is still undecided.
Walk the building at the hour it will be cleaned
A daytime tour can hide the most consequential detail in a cleaning brief. At 2 pm, reception is staffed, internal doors are open and someone is usually available to call the lift. At 8 pm, the same building can operate under a different set of access rules.
Start the walkthrough at the entrance the cleaning team will use. Collect the key or pass, take the trolley out of storage and follow the route to the furthest room on the schedule. Then make the return trip. A pass that admits a cleaner to a tenant floor is only useful if it also allows them to return to the service level with their equipment.
This is where an architect can still influence the outcome. During a fit-out, a door swing or the position of shelving in a cleaners’ store may still be adjustable. After occupation, the facility manager may have to allow extra time for the same awkward turn on every shift. Trying it once with the trolley gives both people a better basis for the decision.
Write the cleaning scope at the point of use
Consider a glazed entrance with a recessed mat inside the doors. A specification might describe the whole space as “ground-floor lobby.” The person pricing the clean needs to know where that responsibility starts. Does it include the paving outside the doors? Who lifts the mat and clears the grit beneath it? Can one side of the entrance stay open while the other is cleaned?
In a mixed-use strata building, walk from the footpath through the lobby and into the first tenancy. Mark on the plan where strata cleaning ends and the tenant’s contractor takes over. Pay particular attention to the entrance glass. Two teams can each clean their assigned area and still leave one face of the same door untouched. Record who cleans each side and how the supervisor will gain access to check it.
| Area | What to check during handover | What belongs in the cleaning scope |
| Shared washrooms | Who notices if supplies run out between evening cleans? | Refill times, stock location and the person responsible during the day |
| Meeting rooms | What happens when a booking runs into the cleaning shift? | An alternative access window and how to report a missed room |
| Tenant kitchens | Where does the cleaner’s responsibility end and the tenant’s begin? | The surfaces, appliances and waste tasks included in the service |
| Loading dock and bin room | Can the team reach the collection point after the dock closes? | The approved route, access hours and responsibility after collection |
| Feature floors and joinery | Can the team identify the installed finish and find its care instructions? | The finish reference, approved cleaning method and location of the care record |
Keep the finishes schedule close during this part of the walkthrough. “Clean stone floor” gives a relief cleaner little to work with. Identifying the installed product and pointing to its care instructions gives the next person a reliable way to decide how to treat a mark.
What to look for in a cleaning contractor before handover
Even a careful handover contains assumptions. A meeting room may appear empty at 7 pm during the walkthrough and then host a recurring evening booking once the tenant moves in. If each cleaner simply records “room occupied,” the facility manager can receive the same complaint for weeks.
B&K describes four levels of responsibility across its business. Cleaning staff carry out the work, site supervisors oversee delivery at individual facilities, regional operations coordinate teams and schedules, and operations leadership oversees the service. Clients also have a dedicated account manager. The practical value of that structure is easiest to see when a routine needs changing.
In the meeting-room example, the cleaner is the first to discover the conflict. The site supervisor can establish whether it recurs. The account manager can agree a workable access time with the client, and the revised instruction can go on the roster used by both regular and relief staff. At the next inspection, there is a precise question to answer: did the team reach the room at the newly agreed time?
Use the first inspection to test the handover
B&K says it schedules site inspections weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending on the facility, and checks completed work against the agreed scope. For a newly occupied building, that first inspection is also a chance to discover what the original brief missed.
Bring the marked-up floor plan and speak to someone who has worked the shift. Ask which door they have to wait at, which room is regularly occupied and where they leave the trolley when the intended route is blocked. Then look at the places where responsibilities meet. The strip of paving beyond the entrance mat or the bin room after collection can reveal more about a gap in the scope than another inspection of the middle of the lobby.
A final test is to hand the revised instructions to the person covering the next shift. Can they get into the building, find the right equipment, identify the finish, reach every room and lock up again? Watch where they stop to ask a question. A missing after-hours contact or an unlabelled key is easy to fix while the project team is still on site. Add the answer to the handover pack before the next shift.
B&K Services provides commercial cleaning services in Wollongong, Sydney and Nowra, with teams working across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
