Introduction 

In-house vs outsourced janitorial services: What each model includes

In-house janitorial services

In-house janitorial services involve internal management of cleaning and maintaining a facility. This means that the business, organization or facility owns the entire cleaning and management function.

Often, businesses and organizations recruit and hire staff, complete onboarding and training, and manage scheduling to ensure coverage across shifts, evenings, weekends, vacations, and sick days.

They also carry the responsibility for supervision and performance management, setting cleaning standards, creating checklists, inspecting work, and addressing deficiencies.

On top of labour, in-house cleaning usually requires you to purchase and manage supplies and consumables (paper products, soap, trash liners, chemicals) as well as equipment (vacuums, auto scrubbers, mops, dispensing systems), including maintenance, storage, and replacement.

In short, you control the process, but you also carry the workload and risk that come with staffing and operational consistency.

Outsourced janitorial services

Outsourced janitorial services shift most of those operational responsibilities to a professional cleaning provider, like Reliable Cleaning Services.

In this model, the vendor typically supplies the cleaning labour, schedules staff, and manages day-to-day supervision. A reputable provider like Reliable Cleaning Services also has a quality assurance (QA) process, such as routine inspections, documented standards, and issue-resolution procedures, to maintain consistency over time.



Outsourcing also reduces the disruption associated with absenteeism or turnover because coverage becomes the provider’s responsibility, not yours. Reliable

Depending on the agreement, the provider may also supply equipment and/or cleaning products and consumables, or they may work with facility-provided supplies. Reliable Cleaning Services has the advantage of being a sister company to Reliable Maintenance Products, a well-known distributor, supplier and manufacturer of cleaning products.

​

It is also worth noting that many facilities land on a hybrid model, which combines the strengths of both approaches. For example, an in-house team may handle daytime touchpoints, such as washroom checks, spill response, or high-visibility areas, while an outsourced provider handles after-hours full cleaning, periodic deep cleaning, and specialty services like floor care. Hybrid structures are often effective for facilities that need high responsiveness during operating hours but want the consistency, coverage, and expertise that come with a professional janitorial partner.

When to handle cleaning in-house

In-house cleaning can be a better option when your facility’s needs are straightforward, and your organization has the capacity to manage the cleaning function with consistency.

One of the clearest situations where in-house cleaning makes sense is when the facility footprint is relatively small and the cleaning demand is predictable. If traffic patterns are stable, operating hours are consistent, and the space does not experience frequent spikes in use, it is generally easier to plan schedules, maintain routine, and control costs internally. In these environments, a small internal team can often meet expectations without requiring complex staffing coverage or frequent operational adjustments.

In-house is also more effective when cleaning requirements are light to moderate and do not involve a high volume of specialty tasks. If most of the work is limited to basic daily upkeep, such as maintaining washrooms, emptying waste, and routine floor care, an internal team can often manage this efficiently, provided expectations are clearly documented and consistently enforced.

Another key factor is whether you have the internal management structure to supervise cleaning properly. In-house cleaning performs best when there is clear oversight and accountability, i.e someone who owns the cleaning standard, inspects work, resolves issues quickly, and ensures staff are trained to follow consistent procedures.



Staffing stability is also central to whether in-house cleaning is viable. If you have reliable hiring channels, low turnover, and the ability to maintain coverage through absences, an internal program can remain cost-effective and consistent.

In some cases, in-house cleaning is chosen for operational or security reasons. Facilities with strict access controls, sensitive areas, or requirements that limit third-party access may prefer internal staff who are already integrated into site protocols.

When to outsource janitorial services

Outsourced janitorial services become the best option when the cleaning process needed is no longer a simple and predictable task. In cases where cleaning becomes an ongoing operational function, it requires reliable staffing, consistent quality control, and documented processes that are enabled by outsourced janitorial services.

Many facilities start with an in-house approach, but as demands increase, the true cost of managing cleaning internally often shows up in the form of gaps, inconsistencies, and management time that is pulled away from higher-value priorities.

One of the most common triggers for outsourcing is frequent coverage gaps. When cleaning depends on a small internal team, absences quickly create operational risk. Sick days, vacations, turnover, and last-minute call-ins can leave critical areas unattended or force supervisors to scramble for coverage. Over time, the organization either accepts reduced standards or spends more on overtime and ad hoc solutions. With Reliable Cleaning Services, coverage planning is built into the service model; staffing continuity is a core responsibility of the vendor, not a recurring internal problem.

For Reliable Cleaning Services, staffing continuity is one of our core strengths in all the areas we serve. As a result of our strong local presence in our service regions, we maintain a robust workforce that keeps consistent schedules for all our clients.

Outsourcing also becomes more compelling as facility complexity increases. Multi-floor buildings, mixed flooring types, high-traffic public areas, and high-touch environments require more structured planning and more specialized training.

The cleaning approach that works in a small, simple space often breaks down when the site expands or when surface types and usage patterns vary across the building. Professional janitorial teams are better positioned to manage these complexities because they operate with established systems, specialized tools, and role-specific training.

For many organizations, the tipping point is compliance and risk management. Facilities in healthcare, food-related environments, and other regulated settings often require documented procedures, safety training, proper chemical handling, and consistent standards that reduce exposure to health and safety incidents. When cleaning becomes tied to compliance expectations, rather than simply appearance, outsourcing can reduce risk by bringing a higher level of process control, documentation, and accountability.



A related trigger is the need for specialty services. As facilities require more than routine cleaning, such as periodic deep cleaning, floor care programs, disinfection initiatives, window cleaning, or carpet extraction, the demands on training, equipment, and scheduling increase significantly. Outsourcing often becomes more efficient because specialty work can be integrated into a broader program without requiring the facility to purchase equipment, build internal expertise, or manage irregular service intervals.

​

Outsourcing is also frequently the right move during expansion or seasonal traffic spikes. When an organization adds locations, increases operating hours, or experiences seasonal changes in facility use, cleaning needs become less predictable. Scaling an in-house team across sites is not only difficult, it can also lead to uneven standards and inconsistent staffing. A janitorial provider can typically scale staffing, schedules, and service frequency more quickly and with less disruption.

​

Finally, a major, but often underestimated reason to outsource is when management time is being consumed by cleaning coordination. When supervisors or facility managers spend significant time dealing with hiring, coverage, supply ordering, performance issues, and repeated follow-ups, cleaning becomes a distraction from core responsibilities. Outsourcing can create clarity by shifting that coordination burden to a provider, allowing the facility team to focus on higher-priority operational needs while still maintaining clear performance expectations through reporting and inspections.

The true cost comparison: What most teams forget to calculate

When organizations compare in-house cleaning to outsourced janitorial services, the discussion often starts and ends with hourly rates. That is a mistake. The most accurate comparison is not wage versus contract price, it is the total cost of delivering consistent cleaning outcomes, including the hidden expenses that tend to accumulate quietly over time. Once those costs are accounted for, the “cheaper” option on paper is not always the most cost-effective in practice.

The most obvious direct cost in an in-house model is wages, but wages are only the beginning. The real number is the total labour burden: vacation pay, statutory holiday pay, payroll taxes, and workplace insurance (such as WSIB/WCB), plus any benefits and overtime required to maintain coverage. Even when wages appear lower than an outsourced service rate, the fully loaded cost per hour can be significantly higher once these obligations are included.

Beyond payroll, in-house cleaning carries ongoing costs related to recruiting, onboarding, and training. Hiring cleaners is often high-churn by nature, and turnover creates repeated cycles of job posting, interviewing, background checks (when required), orientation, and training. Even when this work is handled internally, the time invested has a real cost, especially when supervisors and facility leaders are pulled into recruitment activities that do not directly improve building performance.

​

Another frequently overlooked expense is supervision and administrative overhead. In-house teams require active management: scheduling, performance monitoring, task prioritization, inspections, issue resolution, and documentation. If cleaning standards slip, the organization bears the full responsibility for correcting the work, retraining staff, and maintaining accountability. Outsourcing can reduce this burden because supervision and quality control are built into the provider’s operating model, provided the vendor has a credible inspection and reporting process.

The cost comparison also needs to include the physical inputs required to clean a building properly: consumables and equipment. This includes cleaning chemicals, paper products, hand soap, trash liners, dispensers, tools, and PPE, as well as capital equipment such as vacuums and floor machines. Over time, equipment requires maintenance, replacement parts, and downtime planning, along with storage space and inventory control.

Perhaps the most costly category, and the one most teams underestimate, is the cost of quality failures. When cleaning is inconsistent, facilities pay in multiple ways: re-cleaning time, escalations and complaints, reduced occupant satisfaction, and, in some environments, operational disruption.

A poorly maintained washroom, dirty high-traffic floor, or neglected touchpoint area does not just look bad; it can create avoidable downtime, increase tenant or employee dissatisfaction, and damage the organization’s brand impression. These impacts are real costs, even if they do not appear as a line item on an invoice.



Finally, there is the issue of safety incidents and liability exposure. Improper chemical handling, slip-and-fall risks, inadequate signage, and insufficient training can lead to incidents that create financial and reputational risk.

Whether cleaning is internal or outsourced, safety must be managed; however, outsourcing can reduce internal exposure when the vendor has robust training, safety protocols, and insurance coverage, while in-house teams require the organization to own and administer those controls directly.

​

To make the cost comparison practical, it helps to use a simple checklist that captures the full picture.

In-house vs outsourced: Cost checklist 

Use this checklist to estimate your true monthly or annual cleaning cost:

Labour (fully loaded)

• Hourly wages
• Vacation/holiday pay
• Payroll taxes
• WSIB/WCB
• Benefits (if applicable)
• Overtime / coverage premiums

People and time

• Recruiting and hiring time
• Onboarding and training time
• Turnover replacement cost
• Supervisor time spent scheduling/inspecting

Operations

• Consumables (chemicals, liners, paper, soap, PPE)
• Equipment purchase or leasing
• Equipment maintenance/repairs
• Storage space and inventory management

Performance and risk

• Re-cleaning and corrective work
• Complaints and escalation time
• Downtime or disruption due to deficiencies
• Safety incidents, claims, and liability exposure

When you evaluate both models using the same checklist, the decision becomes clearer: the right approach is the one that delivers consistent results with the lowest total cost of ownership, not simply the lowest visible hourly rate.

Quality and accountability 

While cost and staffing are often the first factors considered, the most meaningful day-to-day difference between in-house cleaning and outsourced janitorial services is usually quality control and accountability. A facility can spend the same amount on cleaning under either model, but the results will vary significantly depending on how standards are defined, monitored, and enforced.

With an in-house team, quality is largely determined by the strength of your internal management structure. If supervision is consistent, checklists are clear, and inspections happen routinely, in-house programs can perform well.

However, when facility teams are stretched thin, cleaning oversight can become informal or reactive. Over time, that can lead to uneven standards across shifts, “good enough” habits, and recurring gaps that only get addressed when complaints escalate. In-house success depends on having the time, tools, and discipline to train effectively, inspect regularly, and correct issues quickly.

With outsourced janitorial services, quality should be supported by a formal system rather than dependent on one internal supervisor’s bandwidth. Reliable Cleaning Services for example maintains standards across staff and sites through structured supervision, documented training, and routine inspections.

Accountability is typically reinforced through reporting and service-level expectations, often captured in SLAs (service level agreements) that define what “good” looks like and how deficiencies are handled. When evaluating an outsourced partner, you should look for clear inspection programs, transparent reporting, defined issue-resolution timelines, and evidence of standardized onboarding and ongoing training.

​

To keep quality measurable in either model, many facility managers track a small set of core KPIs. Common indicators include:

Inspection scores: Routine inspection results tied to a checklist or facility standard.

Complaint resolution time: How quickly issues are acknowledged, corrected, and closed out.

Supply restocking accuracy: Consistency in maintaining paper products, soap, and other consumables without outages or overuse.



Frequency adherence: Whether cleaning tasks are completed at the agreed frequency (daily, weekly, monthly) without missed areas or skipped rotations.

What to ask a janitorial provider before signing

The true value of a janitorial provider lies in its structure to deliver reliable outcomes. Before signing an agreement, it is important to confirm how the company operates behind the scenes, what is included in the scope, and how performance is managed over time.

Start with staffing fundamentals. Ask how they recruit, train, and supervise their teams. A credible provider should be able to explain their hiring standards, onboarding process, and whether training is standardized across all sites. Equally important is supervision: who is accountable for performance, how often supervisors check work, and what happens when standards are not met.

Next, clarify operational continuity. One of the primary reasons organizations outsource is to avoid coverage issues, so you should ask how the provider ensures coverage when someone calls in sick. Look for a clear plan for same-day replacement, backup staffing, and how service is maintained during vacations, peak seasons, and periods of high absenteeism.

​

Scope clarity is also critical. Confirm what is included versus what costs extra, because many misunderstandings come from assumptions about supplies and specialty work. Ask whether pricing includes equipment, chemicals, and consumables such as paper products, soap, and liners—or whether those remain facility-provided. Also, clarify whether floor care, periodic deep cleans, disinfecting programs, and other specialty services are included, priced separately, or scheduled as add-ons.

Quality assurance should be explicit, not implied. Ask what their inspection process is and how often they report results. A strong provider will have a formal inspection program tied to checklists or measurable standards, along with a consistent reporting cadence so you can track performance and address trends early.

You should also evaluate how issues are handled in real time. Ask how problems are logged, escalated, and resolved, and within what timeframe. The best providers like Reliable Cleaning Services use a structured communication process (ticketing, logbooks, digital reporting, or a designated account contact) and can define response expectations for routine issues versus urgent concerns.

Finally, consider scalability. Many facilities change over time due to staffing fluctuations, expansions, or seasonal traffic. Ask whether they can scale service up or down seasonally, or support multiple sites under one consistent standard. A provider with the right operational depth should be able to adjust frequencies, add shifts, or expand coverage without compromising quality.

These questions should be asked during the bid and tender process to enable you to make the best choice, especially when choosing between providers. 

Reliable Cleaning Services

Being true to our name, Reliable Cleaning Services has been a reliable janitorial partner to facilities across northern Ontario.

With our robust staff strength, Reliable Cleaning Services ensures consistency in our delivery. Across our service areas in northern Ontario, we boast of local staff strength that ensures that our partners are always covered.

It’s just about the quantity of our cleaning staff; quality is also covered. Our well-trained staff are equipped and certified for other specialty cleaning that facilities need in northern Ontario. From window cleaning to carpet & floor care, mould inspection, green cleaning etc; Reliable Cleaning Services has stayed dedicated to delivering honest and dependable service.

When in search of a partner to outsource your janitorial services, think Reliable.

FAQs