Taking cleaning in-house allows organisations to maintain absolute control over their environment, staffing, and standards. While many institutions outsource to specialised firms, an in-house model fosters a deeper sense of community and provides the flexibility needed for fast-paced environments.
1. Direct Control and Oversight
Managing your own team means you set the exact standards for cleanliness without navigating third-party contracts. This is one of the most significant advantages of bringing cleaning in-house — and it touches every aspect of your operation.
- Quality Assurance: You have immediate oversight of daily tasks and can address issues as they arise, rather than waiting for a contract manager to intervene. Bear in mind that a typical contract manager has around 60 contracts to manage — so it is highly unlikely that your issue will be their top priority.
- Resource Management: You decide which products are used. While this requires performing COSHH assessments to ensure chemical safety, it allows you to choose eco-friendly or specific high-grade supplies that meet your exact needs. Many contractors are tied to one supplier — usually the one that costs the least — so you may well be missing out on the best products available.
2. Operational Flexibility
In-house teams can pivot instantly to meet the changing needs of a busy school or office. This responsiveness is simply not possible when you rely on an external contractor working to a rigid schedule.
- Event Response: If a school has an unscheduled event or a business has a high-profile client meeting, an in-house team can adjust their schedule immediately to ensure the space is ready.
- Rapid Response: Spills, accidents, or urgent sanitisation needs can be handled by staff already on-site, minimising downtime and safety risks.
3. Community and Stability
Cleaning staff become an integral part of the institution's culture rather than anonymous visitors. This is a shift that makes a real difference — both to the people doing the work and to those around them.
- Fostering Belonging: Cleaners are viewed as "their team" and part of the community, which leads to higher job satisfaction and significantly lower staff turnover.
- Safeguarding and Trust: In schools in particular, having a consistent, familiar team enables better safeguarding — staff become known faces to students and teachers alike, rather than a rotating cast of strangers.
4. Integration with Facilities Management
In-house cleaning can be seamlessly blended with other on-site roles, creating genuine efficiencies that an outsourced model simply cannot replicate.
- Caretaking Roles: Cleaning duties are often combined with caretaking and maintenance, ensuring that the person cleaning the floors is also aware of minor repairs or security needs.
- Value-Driven Efficiency: Every penny of your cleaning budget goes directly toward staff and supplies — not toward a contractor's profit margin, management fee, or sales team commission.
Where Do I Fit In?
There are several important things to consider when making this transition, and I have managed such changes on hundreds of occasions. As a specialist consultant with over 30 years of experience in contract cleaning, I can walk through these challenges with you — providing both time and cost benefits at every stage.
What I Can Help You With
TUPE
The existing cleaners may be entitled to transfer from your current contractor to your organisation. This is simpler than most people realise, and I can work with your HR team to ensure full compliance throughout the process.
Specification
This means putting together a comprehensive list of tasks and frequencies to enable consistent delivery of the standards you want to achieve. I will work through this with you and produce a full cleaning specification tailored to your premises.
Timings
I will walk your site and, using my experience, calculate exactly how many hours of cleaning are required. If you currently have more hours than needed, we can look to reduce them and deliver cost savings. If you need more, I can advise precisely how many additional hours will be required — and I will factor in supervision time for your Cleaning Supervisor.
Performance & Quality Management
I can carry out periodic audits or put together audit documentation for your internal staff to follow. These will be tailored to your needs and can be simple or more involved. A more detailed audit will identify whether an issue is with a specific cleaner or task-related — and therefore a training shortfall.
Equipment & Cleaning Materials
I can make specific recommendations on the best equipment for both quality and productivity. The industry has moved on significantly in recent years, with numerous innovations that people outside the industry often aren't aware of. Similarly, there have been major advances in chemical technology — with a big emphasis on green cleaning. I can also put you in touch with tried and tested suppliers, and help ensure your cleaning cupboards are safe, correctly labelled, and COSHH compliant.
Compliance
I can put together your COSHH and MSDS paperwork, Risk Assessments, and Training Records, and help you prepare Toolbox Talks for your staff to deliver. Having a comprehensive paper trail is invaluable — I have sat alongside Risk Assessors, and the comfort that comes from thorough documentation cannot be overstated.
Training
There is a ridiculous amount of staff turnover in the cleaning industry, and poor initial recruitment and training plays a significant part. I can carry out documented training with your teams and provide refresher training materials. This becomes critically important in the event of an accident or incident — a robust paper trail is not just good practice, it is essential protection.
Ready to Make the Switch?
Taking your cleaning in-house is one of the smartest operational decisions a school or business can make — and you don't have to navigate it alone. Contact me to discuss how I can support your transition, from the very first conversation through to a fully operational, compliant, and high-performing in-house team.
Andy Hare
Director & Founder, OAS Services. 30+ years in commercial cleaning, specialist carpet care, and compliance consultancy across the East Midlands.