7 Questions to Ask Your Commercial Cleaning Vendor

Before you trust a vendor to provide a service to your commercial facility, you must do your homework to ensure they are up to the task. If you already have a service provider in place, it would be wise to vet them and ensure they are qualified to continue servicing your facility. At Guardian Services, our certified technicians provide commercial kitchen exhaust system cleaning, HVAC duct and systems cleaning, and other services to businesses and organizations across the Dallas area. In this article, we’ll explore seven questions that you should consider about your vendor and the services they provide.

Question #1: What Is Their Availability?

What days and hours does your current kitchen exhaust system vendor work? Guardian Services is available Monday through Saturday, all day and all night. We also have emergency service available on Sundays.

Question #2: Do They Offer Repairs?

Does your current kitchen exhaust system cleaning vendor offer repair services for your system? Can they fix a hood or fan? Can they replace a fan or fan belts? Many kitchen exhaust system cleaning vendors only clean vent hoods. They do not offer repair services. Guardian Services is Gaylord certified, can repair any part of your system and replace motors, fan belts, fans, etc.

Question #3: What All Do They Clean?

What does your current vendor clean when they service your facility? Being in this business since 1945, we’ve seen it all. We mostly observe that other companies only clean what we can see. They don’t follow guidelines with access panels and complete duct cleaning. We see horizontal ducts being neglected and little to no cleaning of the rooftop fan. Also, we rarely see competitors replacing fan belts (if needed) during the service. Guardian Services has fan belts on every van. During every cleaning, we inspect the fan belt and replace it immediately if it needs to be done.

Question #4: Do You Get before and after Photos?

Does your current vendor provide you with good before-and-after pictures? It is important to have and review these to ensure that all ducts, fans, and hoods are being cleaned appropriately and thoroughly.

Question #5: Do They Have a Customer Portal?

Does your current vendor have a customer portal? Guardian Services has a customer portal you can access 24/7. You can view service dates and times, details on the service provided, before-and-after pictures, manifests (if applicable), invoices, etc.

Question #6: Do They Have Proper Insurance?

Is your current kitchen exhaust system vendor operating with appropriate commercial and auto insurance levels? A simple way to investigate this is to ask your vendor for a copy of their COI (Certificate of Insurance).

Question #7: Are They a Member of IKECA?

Is your current kitchen exhaust system vendor a member of IKECA (International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association)? IKECA is a non-profit organization committed to fire prevention and life safety by advancing the quality of worldwide cleaning, inspection, and maintenance of commercial kitchen exhaust systems. In addition to the organization being a member, are any of their technicians or operational staff certified with IKECA?

More about IKECA Certifications 

IKECA certifications give kitchen exhaust professionals an edge in this business. The certifications set the industry standard of knowledge and increase worker professionalism in the field. Guardian Services is a founding member of IKECA. Our entire operation management team is certified with either a CECS (Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist) or a CESI (Certified Exhaust System Inspector). Some team members have both. In addition to our operation management team, all technicians earn their PECT (Professional Exhaust Cleaning Technician) or CECT (Certified Exhaust Cleaning Technician). To learn more, visit the IKECA website.

Request a Quote

Guardian Services has provided our professional kitchen exhaust cleaning services to thousands of hotels, restaurants, clubs, schools, hospitals, and franchises. Contact us at (214) 637-1520 if you would like to request a quote for any of our services. We serve customers in Dallas, Fort Worth, and nearby areas, including Addison, Arlington, Highland Park, Irving, Plano, University Park, Southlake, McKinney, Grapevine, Richardson, Rockwall, and Denton.