For most cleaning businesses, finding commercial work is a grind. You make calls that go unanswered. You send emails into inboxes that never respond. You submit tenders that take three months to evaluate and then come back as "unsuccessful — we will keep your details on file." You ask a facilities manager for a meeting and wait six weeks. Meanwhile, your competitors with better relationships are picking up the contracts you never got a shot at.
The commercial cleaning market is worth around £12 billion in the UK. But the way work is allocated has barely changed in thirty years. Contracts flow through personal networks, long-standing relationships, and procurement processes that are structurally biased toward existing suppliers. Breaking in as a smaller or newer business is genuinely difficult — not because the work isn't there, but because the discovery mechanism is broken.
That is starting to change. A marketplace model — one that matches verified cleaning businesses with FM companies and commercial clients looking for subcontractors — is now emerging in the UK for the first time. This article explains the four routes to commercial cleaning work, why the first three are slow, and what the fourth route looks like in practice.
The traditional routes to commercial cleaning work
Before looking at what is changing, it helps to understand what the existing routes actually involve — and why each one is slow for cleaning businesses trying to grow.
| Route | Typical lead time | Main barrier | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold outreach | 2–8 weeks | Low response rates; relationship-dependent | Local commercial, small offices, single-site businesses |
| Tender portals | 3–6 months | Complex process; weighted toward incumbent suppliers | Public sector, large NHS and council contracts |
| FM subcontractor lists | Months to years | Opaque; long wait before work materialises | Regional subcontracting, cover work, specialist trades |
| Word of mouth | Unpredictable | Cannot be engineered; limited geographic reach | Businesses with established local reputation |
Cold outreach
Cold calling and cold emailing business parks, office managers, and facilities contacts is the most common approach for smaller cleaning businesses entering the commercial market. The conversion rates are low — typically a small percentage of contacts will respond, and only a fraction of those will become clients. It is a numbers game, and it requires persistence. Many cleaning businesses spend months on outreach and end up with one or two small contracts that barely justify the time invested.
Tender portals
Public sector cleaning contracts above certain thresholds must be publicly advertised — on Find a Tender Service for larger contracts, and on Contracts Finder for smaller public work. The theory is that any qualified supplier can compete. In practice, tender processes are lengthy, documentation-heavy, and often won by incumbent suppliers or businesses that have previous relationships with the contracting authority. A cleaning business without a strong track record on comparable public sector sites is at a significant disadvantage, regardless of price or quality.
FM preferred supplier lists
Most facilities management companies maintain a preferred supplier list (PSL) — a vetted roster of subcontractors they call on when they need cover or specialist help on a contract. Getting on a PSL requires demonstrating compliance (insurance, DBS, RAMS), having comparable references, and then waiting. Once you are on the list, work may or may not come — and it typically flows to the best-known names first. For businesses newer to the FM subcontracting market, it can take 12–18 months to receive any meaningful volume of work through this route.
Word of mouth and referrals
For businesses that have been running for years and have built a reputation across multiple sites and sectors, referrals are the most efficient source of new commercial work. The problem is that word of mouth cannot be manufactured on demand. It compounds over time, but it does not solve the growth problem for businesses that are trying to scale now.
What a commercial cleaning marketplace changes
A marketplace model works differently from any of the above routes. Instead of a cleaning business hunting for work, the marketplace matches work to the business based on verified profile information — trade types, regional coverage, compliance status, and availability.
The structure is straightforward. An FM company or commercial client posts available work on the platform — a contract that needs covering, a specialist job in a specific region, an ongoing subcontract opportunity. The platform searches its database of verified cleaning businesses and sends matched job notifications to the ones whose profile fits the requirements. The cleaning business reviews the job, accepts or declines, and begins work. Evidence is submitted through the same platform. Invoicing is linked to completed, evidenced jobs.
What this eliminates is the discovery gap. The cleaning business does not need to know the FM company. The FM company does not need to trawl through unvetted subcontractor approaches. The compliance check has already been done. The match is made on capability, not on who happened to call at the right moment.
What FM companies are looking for
Understanding what FM companies actually want from a subcontractor clarifies why a verified marketplace works so well for them. Facilities management companies are not primarily looking for the cheapest cleaning option — they are looking for certainty. When they outsource cleaning work to a subcontractor, they are accountable to their own client for service quality. A subcontractor who fails to show up, does not have the right insurance, or submits work without evidence is not just a contractor problem — it is a client relationship problem for the FM company.
The three things FM companies check, in order, are: compliance first, track record second, reliability third.
Compliance means public liability insurance at the right level (typically £5–10 million), a current and documented DBS check policy for all staff working on commercial sites, site-specific RAMS documentation, and COSHH data sheets for all chemicals. These are the gating criteria. A subcontractor who cannot demonstrate all four does not get approved, regardless of how good their pitch is.
Track record means evidence of past work quality — photos of completed jobs, references from comparable commercial clients, ratings from previous FM or direct clients. Most small cleaning businesses have the compliance documentation, but they lack organised, accessible evidence of work quality. This is where many fall short at the shortlisting stage.
Reliability means show-up rate, response time when contacted, and communication quality. FM companies have had the experience of subcontractors who simply do not arrive, and it is the primary reason they are cautious about adding new names to their PSL without a strong recommendation from someone they trust.
How to prepare before you join a marketplace
The businesses that move fastest when a marketplace opens are those who already have their compliance documentation in order. The verification process is not about passing a test — it is about uploading what you should already have. Here is what you need before you create a profile.
- Public liability insurance — minimum £5 million. If you work in healthcare, education, or for public sector clients, aim for £10 million. Have your certificate saved as a PDF.
- Employer's liability insurance — legally required if you employ any staff. This is separate from PL insurance.
- DBS check policy — a written policy for your business explaining how DBS checks are obtained, renewed, and recorded for all staff working on commercial sites. Basic DBS for most commercial work; enhanced for schools, care homes, and anywhere involving vulnerable people.
- RAMS template — a site-adaptable Risk Assessment and Method Statement covering your cleaning operations. It should be customisable for individual sites — not a fixed generic document.
- COSHH data sheets — Safety Data Sheets for every cleaning product you use. Downloadable from most product manufacturers' websites.
- Photos of completed work — at least 10–15 photos showing the quality of your cleaning work on commercial sites. These form your evidence portfolio.
- At least one commercial reference site — a client who can confirm you have delivered commercial cleaning work to a professional standard.
If you are missing items from this list, they are achievable in a short time. PL insurance for a small cleaning business typically costs £300–£600 per year. DBS checks take 2–4 weeks for basic checks and 4–8 weeks for enhanced. RAMS templates can be created from standard frameworks. The businesses who delay preparation are not the ones who cannot meet the requirements — they are the ones who have not prioritised getting the documentation in order.
Cadi Connect: what's launching and when
Cadi Connect is the UK's first verified commercial cleaning marketplace. It connects cleaning businesses directly with FM companies and commercial clients posting available contract work — interior cleaning, exterior cleaning, window cleaning, jet washing, gutter clearing, and specialist services. Both ongoing subcontracts and one-off jobs will be available.
The platform is built around the compliance and evidence infrastructure that already exists in Cadi for cleaning businesses running their day-to-day operations. Your insurance, DBS policy, trade types, and job completion photos are all part of your profile — and that profile is what FM companies see when they are matching work.
If you have spare capacity and your compliance documentation is in order, this is the fastest route to new commercial cleaning work in the UK.
Join the waitlist →