Price the calendar as carefully as the building
Obtain the operating calendar, service days, holidays, teacher workdays, summer programs, evening activities, weekend events, and intended start. Ask whether occupancy drops during breaks or whether the facility expects deep cleaning, floor work, moving, setup, or other projects during those windows.
Confirm which buildings, modular units, playground or exterior touchpoints, administrative areas, kitchens, gyms, libraries, and shared community spaces are included. A single annual total can hide very different weekly and seasonal obligations.
Walk each room type and support area
Record room counts, surface mix, visible soil, fixture density, storage, waste flow, and requested frequency. Ask who clears desks, handles toys or learning materials, moves furniture, manages lost property, and responds to spills during occupied hours.
- Classrooms, early-learning rooms, offices, libraries, labs, and technology spaces
- Student and staff restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and health-office boundaries
- Cafeterias, kitchens, serving areas, food waste, and appliance responsibilities
- Gyms, stages, auditoriums, multipurpose rooms, bleachers, and event turnover
- Entrances, glass, corridors, stairs, drinking fountains, and shared touchpoints
- Carpet extraction, floor refinishing, high dusting, and break-period projects
Verify access, product, and personnel rules
Ask for written requirements covering badges, background screening, keys, alarms, sign-in, staff interaction, approved products, storage, protective equipment, and incident reporting. Requirements differ by buyer and location; do not advertise a universal school or childcare compliance standard.
Clarify who supplies chemicals, equipment, liners, paper, soap, dispensers, batteries, and specialty products. Confirm whether the contractor handles bodily-fluid cleanup, pest issues, sharps, hazardous materials, medication areas, or other exceptional conditions, and accept only verified work within the company's capability.
Separate recurring service from projects and changes
Build the recurring price from the confirmed school week and approved labor and cost inputs. Show break, summer, floor, carpet, event, emergency, and additional-building work as included scheduled projects or separately authorized services.
The proposal should state calendar assumptions, access windows, room and building boundaries, responsibilities, exclusions, project frequencies, and the process for enrollment, program, calendar, or facility changes. This prevents a nine-month service assumption from silently becoming a twelve-month obligation.