The Ultimate Guide to Commercial Cleaning: Why Professional Services Matter for Your Business5/22/2025 A clean workplace is more than just a nice-to-have—it’s an essential part of maintaining a healthy, productive, and professional environment. At Step Above Clean, we understand that first impressions count and that a spotless facility reflects the quality of your business.
What Sets Professional Commercial Cleaning Apart? Professional commercial cleaning goes beyond basic tidying. Our trained team uses state-of-the-art equipment and eco-friendly products to ensure every surface is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. From office buildings to retail spaces, we customize our services to fit your unique needs, including janitorial, floor care, carpet cleaning, and post-construction cleanups. Benefits of Outsourcing Your Cleaning Needs - Healthier Work Environment: Our green cleaning methods remove dust, allergens, and germs, helping to reduce sick days and boost employee well-being. - Enhanced Productivity: Employees thrive in clutter-free, sanitized spaces, leading to greater focus and efficiency. - Professional Image: A spotless facility impresses clients and demonstrates your commitment to quality. - Flexible Solutions: Whether you need daily office cleaning or specialized post-construction services, we adapt to your schedule and requirements. Why Choose Step Above Clean? We pride ourselves on reliability, attention to detail, and responsive customer service. Our team is fully certified, and we use advanced disinfection technology for peace of mind. Plus, we offer free estimates and prompt responses to all inquiries. Ready to Elevate Your Business Environment? Don’t settle for less when it comes to the cleanliness of your workspace. Contact us today to discover how Step Above Clean can help your business shine—inside and out.
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CLEANING THERAPY:Cleaning to combat Seasonal Depression  During winter months some people experience increased levels of depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). According to the Mayo Clinic, Seasonal Affective Disorder can be categorized as depression and mood changes caused by fluctuations in the weather. Those affected may spend more time in bed, feel sluggish and tired, have increased senses of hopelessness or worthlessness, and sometimes even experience suicidal thoughts. However, this phenomenon is not unique to those suffering from mental health issues. In general, it’s very common for weather patterns to determine one’s mood or emotion.
For instance, on a rainy, dreary day, filled with dark clouds, and cold winds its customary to snuggle up in a warm blanket, turn on the tube, and drink a nice glass of warm something. Yet, during warmer, sunnier, days there is a sense of having to go out to “enjoy the day”, spend time with loved ones, and reel in the fresh air. The light, fresh air, and general sense of pleasure increases a feel good chemical in the brain called serotonin, which supports positive mental health. The Mayo Clinic recommends light therapy as an effective method of counteracting the dark characteristics of winter months. For example, painting your room a lighter color, adding sunlight to a dark room, or even cleaning and/or organizing an area can help to decrease depressive emotions. One of the most effective methods of cleaning the home, and feeling a sense of accomplishment and clarity is to purge items that are no longer needed. Go through your closet and remove those old dresses/suits you haven’t worn in years. Look through your old shoes and donate them to goodwill. Take a junk drawer or two, purchase some organizers, and turn a rainy day into a cleaning staycation! The thrilling result of a clean, organized, and fresh area will help to increase serotonin levels that support good mental health. Check out these organizers from Shein.com . Happy Cleaning!!! The Importance of the Post Construction Clean When developers or general contractors complete new construction projects the owner of the buildings expect the projects to be delivered in new condition. However, after the floors are laid, shelving is installed, drywall and other projects are completed, you are often left with a lot of dirt, trash, dust, and leftover equipment that resembles anything but a new building. Furthermore, because buildings are constructed by each vendor as opposed to one group of people, as different stages of the construction process are completed additional dirt and debris continues to accumulate until the job is complete.
Subsequently, most work plans and/or specifications will necessitate the hiring of a professional cleaning company to come in and provide a deep cleaning to present the property to the owner in a clean and tidy manner. The deep cleaning should include the removal of any remaining stickers, labels, or coverings that remain on appliances. Cabinets, drawers, desks, and all other areas should be wiped inside and out. Due to the amount of dust present after new construction, a commercial vacuum or dust mop may be used to remove dust and dirt. Door jams, window sills, tops of doors, walls, baseboards, vents, ceiling fans, and light fixtures should be wiped down. Floors should be vacuumed and/or mopped, cleaning spots and spills. Kitchens and bathrooms should be thoroughly cleaned, including wiping down and behind all appliances, sinks, toilet bowls, and tubs. All remaining bulk trash should be disposed, work equipment and any leftover materials should be removed, and windows should be cleaned inside and out. The building should be offered back to the GC and owner in showroom condition and ready for final inspection.
Personally, I really hate using cloths in the bathroom because once the cloths are used to clean up fecal matter I have a hard time using them anywhere else. Of course when washing our laundry we use enough bleach to sanitize a small island, but I still have a mental block about using something that touched the outside of a toilet on your clean kitchen counters. Subsequently, my answer is to use paper towels, or taking a page from my staff, color coded cleaning cloths.
Specifically, I love using paper towels to clean bathrooms because you can use them on everything. Use paper towels to clean the mirrors, wipe down sinks, clean around toilet bowls, and to wipe down appliances. In addition, using paper towels makes picking up hair, dirt, and debris a breeze. However, if you just have to use cloths to clean your building try using color coded cloths. For example, #Amazon has Microfiber Cleaning Cloth, 4 Colors for less than $13.00. Using red cloths in the bathroom and yellow cloths in the kitchen can eliminate the chances of cross contamination and ensure your facility remains sanitized and germ free.
As a husband and wife commercial cleaning team we often find ourselves divided on the best techniques to utilize when performing various cleaning activities. For example, he likes to use non scent products to clean areas, while, I personally love the smell of a Mr. Clean or Pinesol to leave a lingering, sweet, aroma. Nevertheless, both techniques leave our buildings clean and sanitized. Therefore, since I am writing this blog I can provide my favorite method for cleaning windows with absolutely NO cleaning agents!
My secret weapon, two things; a dry cotton cleaning cloth, and water. Wipe your windows, glass, or mirrors down with a clean, wet, cloth, and wipe clean. Then take a dry, cotton, cloth to wipe down the area. The glass will be left clear, and streak free! Try it and let us know how it worked! What should you expect from a Move-Out Cleaning? Commercial cleaning companies are hired to perform move-out cleanings to ensure the property is left in what is referred to as a “normal wear and tear” condition. Normal wear and tear implies that while the property was not left in the condition it was first received, it was left in a reasonable condition for being lived in for a certain period of time. Therefore, most landlords will expect that walls will have to be repainted, carpet will have to be replaced, and other minor items may be needed to prepare for new tenants.
However, things like spots on floors, holes in walls, and excessive amounts of dust, dirt or debris may cause tenants to lose some or all of their security deposits for non cleaning. However, to reduce the changes of losing your security deposit, a professional cleaning company should be employed to ensure all areas are in good condition. A good move-out cleaning check-list should include: Clean all bathrooms - cleaning around toilets, sinks, bathtubs, shining chrome fixtures, cleaning inside and outside of cabinets and drawers, cleaning mirrors, dusting vents and light fixtures, wipe down walls and baseboards, sweeping and moping the floor. Clean the kitchen – clean sinks, behind all remaining appliances, wipe down stove removing all eye covers and removing stuck on food and debris, clean inside and outside of cabinets and drawers, wipe down walls and baseboards, sweep and mop floor. (Cleaning the interior/exterior of stoves and refrigerators is usually an additional cost) Clean Rooms – Dusting all remaining items, vacuum/sweep in corners, clean light fixtures/ceiling fans/vents, repair holes in walls (for an additional cost), sweep/mop where applicable. Floors – Remove spots in floors (could be an additional charge), sweep/mop, vacuum. Other – Clean windows and windowsills, wipe down and clean behind laundry machines, in closets, basements, and all hallway areas. Have other move-out cleaning suggestions? Add them in the comments section. Keeping Your Office Clean Between Cleanings For offices that don’t have daily janitorial services, maintaining a clean space is of the utmost importance. When trash cans are not changed, kitchen and breakrooms are not fully cleaned, and limited vacuuming/sweeping increases the accumulation of dirt and debris on the floors. However, there are a few tricks that can be employed by all to ensure the office remains neat and tidy between cleanings.
Maintaining a clean office is not just the job of the Janitorial company, but everyone. Employing these simple steps can definitely make a difference in the cleanliness of your office. CLEANING LIKE MOMMABy: Andrea Moore  When I was growing up in the 1980s Saturday mornings were the best. I would get up at 7:30 am, make myself the largest bowl of fruit loops cereal, and sit in front of the television for 3 hours of Fred, Barney and the rest of the cartoons that displayed for youth my age. While this was happening, my mother happily turned on her old Southern spirituals and dusted and swept to her favorite gospel tunes. After having my breakfast I would join her, and would be anxious to do so. Me and mom would mop the floors, she would let me dust the furniture with “the spray” as I called it, and we would wipe down every inch of our home. Soon, the house smelled like pine sol and lemon pledge, a smell that still brings back fond memories. Unfortunately now my Saturday mornings are filled with meetings, charitable events, and appointments. Saturday morning housework has turned into spot cleaning to ensure my house is not completely destroyed. However, there are still dishes in the dishwasher, clothes in the hamper that need to be washed, and I’m sure my daughter’s bathroom trash is about to take itself out. Furthermore, my inability to “clean like my momma”, really begin to weigh on me and I started questioning my mothering skills. Shouldn’t my floors be clean enough to eat on? Shouldn’t everything have a place? Shouldn’t every inch of my house shine and glow like my mommas? These questions haunted me until I looked at my now 70 something year old mother and viewed her new life. She is now retired, gets up at noon, has lunch, goes back to bed or completes charitable or schoolwork, has dinner, cleans her items, and back to bed. Her routine from my youth has completely changed. Not only because of her age, but also because life has changed. For lunch she can call doordash, so there is no cooking or cleaning. Sometimes her community events are online, sometimes she must leave the house. Even her church services can be viewed online now. Subsequently, I had to look at my life and take some of the strain off of myself. Its 2023, where television stays on 24/7, people can contact you for work from anywhere, at anytime of day, and since there is so much to do in life now time is very limited. Therefore, I look at my life and take a sigh of relief. I am a business owner, mother of 2, grandparent of 3, mentor, accountant, cleaner, advocate, speaker, and more. So, the fact that I may not be the best homemaker is something that I can now get over! 5 Crazy Items Found While Cleaning 5. Freezer full of Poo – Cosmo starts us off with what might be the most unappealing item of them all. At the Hilton one cleaner actually found the freezer ice trays had been filled with human feces. Not exactly the fudge pop she was expecting. 4. N.O.T.H.I.N.G…Absolutely Nothing!! – According to Cosmo, a cleaner came into the room to "clean up" only to find that everything had been "cleaned out". No furniture, bed, art, hairdryer ripped out the wall, coffee pot gone, tv lamps, even the bible!! OHHH MY! Apparently the perpetrator background the car up, ripped out the window locks, and tossed everything out the window. Hope they had his real I.D. 3. Bees – So this one comes from ebaumsworld.com... Bees and bee crap literally covering every single spot in the place. The guy was a beekeeper and was delivering a hive. He brought it into the room, where the hive tipped over and broke. It took days of scrubbing with some harsh chemicals to get the poo off. Even had to repaint walls. Ummm Yuck! 2. His “Girlfriend” – Here is another gem from ebaumsworld.com…I no longer work the job, but when I did I thought I found a dead body because I saw a person in bed under the covers after checkout. I called out but got no response. Guy forgot his inflatable girlfriend under the covers. They must have had a fight. LOL ...AND #11. A dead alligator!!! – Now, the Oakwood Resort doesn’t say what, where, when or why... but I am sure it's one heck of a story.
The Other Office Staff When I first started our residential cleaning services company it never occured to me that cleaning the insides of resident's homes may require contact with their househould pets. For, growing up in the Knight household this concept was very new to me. Of course, my grandmother kept dogs around our family home in North Carolina. However, they had their personal homes outside, and they were never allowed inside the house. Subsequently, my conact with most furry, four legged, or scally friends was pretty limited. Furthermore, due to a dramatic event involving a shitzu, and very scared 7 year old, I always had a fear of dogs and cats. Nevertheless, as a residential cleaner I had to swallow my fears and learn to work around household animals. But not only dogs, their feline companions always felt like they smelled my fear and stalked me. Once I went to a friends barbeque and I swear their white, blue eyed cat sashayed next to me, flung his fluffy white tail of my shoulder and dared me to move. From then on I felt the animal world was watching me and could sense my anxiety and was ready to pounce at anytime.
However, one of the first memories that dispelled this myth was working for a client named Mr. Sullivan and his dog Hershey. Hershey was an old, dark brown, golden retriever that was around 10 years old with arthritis. The animal could barely move so I had to frequently clean around him, even lifing his tail to vaccum the floor. When I first encountered the animal I was so afraid I nearly fell backwards. He stood about knee level and sat up straight, right by the door. Well, as I was about to take off for the hills he sniffed me a little and laid down. It then occured to me that maybe these furry friends are not so bad. I learned that like people many animals have different temperaments, but for the most part as you clean homes and the pets learn you and you them, relationships are formed and alliances are built. The one eyed cat in the picture is from one of our office buildings. The staff leaves cat food around the offices so to me he is one of the crew members as well. If he is hungry he will come up to the door, I will feed him, and he will be off. I enjoy Captain Jack as I call him, and our encounters definitely make me much more comfortable around animals. |
AuthorASAC Blog are the thoughts and experiences of the Staff members at ASAC. Review our sometimes zanny, but always informative stores. Share your own stories. Let's have fun cleaning! (Yeah, we said it!!! LOL) Archives
February 2024
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