Two words get used interchangeably in this industry, and buying the wrong one costs real money. Janitorial service is the recurring upkeep of a building people use every day: restrooms, trash, floors, break rooms, and the points everybody touches, handled on a standing schedule whether anyone notices or not. Commercial cleaning is the wider category — all professional cleaning of nonresidential space — and in practice the phrase gets used for the work that does not sit on that schedule: the deeper periodic pass, the specialty job, the post-construction handoff, the reset before a lease inspection.
The difference matters because you buy them differently. Janitorial is a recurring budget line with a cadence attached. Project work is an event with a scope and an end. Most businesses need both — and if you are picking a vendor right now, the useful question is not which word they use on their website. It is which of the two you are actually short on.
The two, side by side
Often the same crews and the same company. Still two different products. Here is the split as the person running the space experiences it:
- Cadence
Janitorial: A standing rhythm — nightly, weekly, biweekly, monthly. Nobody has to decide anything for it to happen.
Commercial project: Scheduled as an event, because something changed — a build-out finished, a tenant left, an inspection is coming. - What you are buying
Janitorial: A task list with a frequency written next to every single task.
Commercial project: A defined outcome for a defined area, with a start and a finish. - What it protects
Janitorial: The baseline. Nobody notices janitorial working; everybody notices it stopping.
Commercial project: It resets a baseline that slipped, or builds one that never existed. - Who buys it
Janitorial: A facilities or office manager, or an HOA board — a recurring line on a budget.
Commercial project: Whoever owns the event — a GC handing over a build-out, a landlord between tenants. - How it is priced
Janitorial: Per visit at a cadence. Commercial work with JAS starts at $225 per weekly visit up to 1,000 sq ft.
Commercial project: By the job. Post-construction, for example, starts at $650 for the first 1,000 sq ft. - What proof looks like
Janitorial: Something per visit, because the risk is month six, not month one.
Commercial project: Before and after on a result you can see the moment you walk in.
Which one are you short on?
You need janitorial
The space is occupied and running: people in it every day, shared restrooms, trash that has to leave the building on a rhythm. The tell is any sentence that starts with “somebody has to”. Somebody has to restock the paper. Somebody has to get the break-room trash out before Monday. When that somebody is your receptionist or your office manager, you are already paying for janitorial work — just at the wrong salary.
You need a project scope
The contractors just handed the space back, a tenant just moved out, or you inherited a suite from a vendor who stopped showing up. Fine construction dust is not a heavier version of a nightly visit — it settles into vents, tracks, fixtures, and cabinet interiors and has to come out before the walkthrough, the photos, or the tenant. That is post-construction work, quoted as its own job, starting at $650 for the first 1,000 sq ft. Recurring maintenance picks up after the handoff.
You need both — which is normal
Standing janitorial, plus two or three deeper passes a year on the calendar, plus a project scope whenever the space changes. The most common failure in this category is trying to make one absorb the other: someone adds tasks to a visit whose hours and price never moved, and six months later the vendor is cutting work that was never funded.
And a third thing: the day porter
If you need someone on site during the business day — restrooms checked at noon, the lobby presentable at 3pm — that is neither of the two. It is day porter coverage, staffed by the hour. We do not staff day porters today and will not pretend otherwise; we can scope it and tell you plainly whether we can staff it for your building.
“A janitorial contract almost never fails in month one over price. It fails in month six over scope — because nobody wrote down how often.”
What to ask a vendor before you sign
Six questions, in order. The JAS answer sits next to each one, with the page where you can check it.
- A COI in your building’s name — and how fast. Ask for a certificate of insurance naming the building as certificate holder, and ask how long it takes; the answer tells you whether they have done this before. JAS carries $2M general liability, most certificates go out within 2 business hours, and a W-9 is available on request. How to verify each of those claims is on our transparency page.
- Who actually badges in. Background checks only mean something if they cover the people standing on your floor, not just the office staff — ask whether crews are employees or subcontracted, and who gets checked. At JAS every cleaner passes a background check, and crews are bilingual EN/ES.
- A walkthrough before a number. A vendor who prices a building over the phone is guessing, and the guess gets corrected later by quietly cutting work. Insist that someone walks the space: footage, layout, restroom count, floor types, access rules, and hours.
- A written scope with a frequency per task. “Keep it clean” is not a scope of work. You want the list, and next to every line, how often: every visit, weekly, monthly. That document is what both sides point at when there is a disagreement.
- Proof that arrives without you chasing it. Ask what shows up after a visit. On eligible completed visits, JAS sends a CleanCheck report: that visit’s checklist status, customer-safe photos, and the team’s notes. So “were the restrooms done Tuesday?” gets answered with a file instead of an argument.
- What happens in month six. Ask what you are locked into and when you pay. JAS invoices after each completed visit rather than for a prepaid term, so there is no long-term lock-in — we earn the contract every visit.
What South Florida changes
The categories are national. The pressure on them is local, and here it pushes in three directions.
Humidity works on restrooms and break rooms
Miami runs humid year-round, with the A/C running year-round to fight it, and the two rooms that show it first in a commercial space are the restroom and the break room: grout lines, drains, the underside of sinks, the fridge gasket, the drip tray under the coffee setup. That is a cadence argument, not a product argument — a busy restroom serviced once a week and one serviced nightly are not the same restroom by Thursday. One line we do not cross: active mold, infestation, or biohazard is not a cleaning contract. We reserve the right to refuse service in unsafe conditions, and we say so up front rather than quote around it.
Hurricane season is a scope conversation
June through November, what changes for a facilities manager is not the weekly visit — it is everything around it. Getting things off floors and away from glass before a storm, then reopening a space that was boarded up, are jobs with their own scope and their own price, whoever ends up doing them. Put them in writing instead of assuming the recurring visit absorbs them: the vendor who says yes to absorbing them is the vendor who cuts something else that week.
The build-outs never stop here
Miami-Dade turns over commercial space constantly, and every build-out ends the same way: broom-swept, which is not the same as clean. That is the seam where these two categories get confused most often — the recurring contract inherits a handoff nobody quoted, and the standard starts underwater. The whole commercial picture, with the right page for each kind of work, is on commercial cleaning in Miami-Dade.
How JAS handles commercial work
Same crews, same commercial rate card, whether the work is a recurring janitorial scope or a one-time project. What changes is the paperwork, not the standard. It starts with a free walkthrough — WhatsApp, call, or text — where we confirm footage, layout, restrooms, floors, access rules, and hours. It comes back as a scope of work and a price in writing, usually within one business day: the task list, the frequency of each task, and what it costs. Nothing starts until you approve it, and the price you approve is the price you pay.
After that, most commercial work runs on the evening shift, 6pm–10pm, so nobody works around a vacuum. On eligible completed visits a CleanCheck report lands in your inbox with that visit’s checklist status, customer-safe photos, and the team’s notes — the only way to know how month six is going without walking the floor — and the invoice comes after each completed visit. Want the numbers before you talk to anyone? The full range by size is published on our office cleaning in Miami page, starting at $225 per weekly visit up to 1,000 sq ft, and that same table is where a janitorial contract starts.
Quick answers
What is the difference between commercial cleaning and janitorial services?
Janitorial service is the recurring upkeep of a building people use every day — restrooms, trash, floors, break rooms, and high-touch points on a standing schedule. Commercial cleaning is the wider category that covers all professional cleaning of nonresidential space, and in practice the phrase is used for work that does not sit on that schedule: deeper periodic passes, specialty jobs, and post-construction handoffs. Janitorial is a cadence; project work is an event. Most businesses buy both.
Do I need both, or can one contract cover everything?
One vendor can do both, but they should be two documents. A recurring scope priced for a fixed number of hours cannot silently absorb a quarterly deep pass or a post-construction dust removal — something else gets cut that week to pay for it, and you find out later. Keep the recurring contract for the cadence, and scope the periodic and one-time work separately with its own price. That is the arrangement that survives contact with a real building.
Are janitorial and commercial cleaning services taxable in Florida?
As general information: cleaning services for nonresidential property are generally subject to Florida sales tax, while cleaning a private residence generally is not — which is why a commercial invoice and a residential one can look different for identical-looking work. How a specific contract is treated depends on the property and the services in it, so confirm your situation with your accountant. We are cleaners, not tax advisers; what we can tell you about our own invoices is that the price you approve is the price you pay.
How often does a Miami office actually need janitorial service?
It comes down to headcount, foot traffic, and shared restrooms. Busy offices with restrooms several tenants use generally need weekly service or better; smaller, low-traffic suites do fine biweekly or monthly. The more often we come, the lighter each visit is: nightly service keeps each visit light, while monthly visits carry more accumulated work, so the per-visit price rises even where the monthly total falls. We recommend a cadence on the walkthrough and you can change it later.
What should a janitorial scope of work actually contain?
Every task, and next to it how often it happens — every visit, weekly, monthly. It should name the areas by room or floor, say who supplies what, and state the hours and the access arrangement. That document is what both sides point at when there is a disagreement, and it is the only thing that turns "is it being done?" into a question with an answer. If a vendor will not put a frequency next to a task, that task is not really in the contract.
Can the same company handle our recurring service and our one-time projects?
With JAS, yes — the same crews and the same commercial rate card cover both, and the size ladder published on the office page is where either conversation starts. What changes is the paperwork: recurring work runs on a written scope with frequencies, and project work is quoted as its own job. One exception we state plainly: we do not staff day porters today. Tell us the hours and tasks you need covered during the business day and we will scope it and tell you honestly whether we can staff it.
The short version
Janitorial is the schedule. Commercial project work is the event. Nearly every business needs both, and the contract that survives month six is the one with a frequency written next to every task and a report that arrives without anyone asking for it. Looking for the figures rather than the categories? They are published: the prose version is our guide to what office cleaning costs in Miami.
This guide is part of the JAS operating playbook — written for the person who has to pick a vendor and then defend the pick.