You've won the contract. The client's signed. Now what?
For most cleaning company owners, onboarding a new client means a scramble. Digging out insurance certificates. Chasing site access details over WhatsApp. Printing off COSHH sheets for staff who start on Monday. And somewhere in the middle of it all, hoping nothing falls through the cracks that makes you look unprofessional before you've even started.
It doesn't have to be this way.
The Real Cost of a Messy Onboarding
First impressions stick. A facilities manager who has to chase you for documents in the first week will always have that doubt in the back of their mind — even if your cleaning is faultless.
A disorganised onboarding creates real problems:
- •Delayed starts because site access or key codes weren't confirmed
- •Compliance gaps when insurance certs, risk assessments, or COSHH data sheets don't reach the right people
- •Confused operatives who turn up without knowing the site layout or cleaning schedule
- •Duplicated effort — answering the same questions by email, text, and phone, often more than once
The worst part? You go through this every single time you win a new client.
A Simple Onboarding Checklist That Actually Works
1. Confirm the Contract Details
Before anything else, make sure the basics are nailed down in writing:
- •Services agreed (regular clean, deep clean, ad-hoc)
- •Frequency and schedule (days, times, duration)
- •Number of sites and addresses
- •Contract start date
- •Payment terms and invoicing schedule
- •Notice period
Don't rely on a verbal agreement or a chain of WhatsApp messages. Get it documented.
2. Collect Site Information
Every site is different, and your operatives need to know what they're walking into:
- •Site address and access instructions (key codes, fob collection, security sign-in)
- •Alarm codes and procedures
- •Restricted areas or special requirements
- •Parking arrangements
- •Emergency contact at the site
Create a standard site information form and send it to every new client. Most of this only needs to be captured once.
3. Exchange Compliance Documents
You send them:
- •Public liability insurance certificate
- •Employer's liability insurance certificate
- •Risk assessments for the site
- •COSHH data sheets for products you'll use
- •DBS certificates (if required — schools, healthcare)
- •Health & safety policy
They send you:
- •Site-specific health & safety information
- •Fire evacuation procedures
- •Asbestos register (if applicable)
Chasing these documents back and forth by email is the number one reason onboarding drags on for weeks instead of days.
4. Brief Your Operatives
Before their first shift, your staff need:
- •Site address and how to get in
- •The cleaning specification — what gets cleaned, how often, and to what standard
- •Who the client contact is on site
- •Where supplies are stored
- •Any site-specific rules
A quick briefing or printed site pack makes a huge difference. Sending someone to a new site with nothing more than an address is a recipe for complaints.
5. Set Expectations with the Client
In the first week, a short check-in goes a long way:
- •Confirm who their main point of contact is at your company
- •Explain how to raise issues or requests
- •Let them know when they'll receive their first inspection report
- •Agree on a review point — a check-in at 2 or 4 weeks
Clients who know what to expect cause fewer problems. The ones who don't hear from you after signing are the ones who start looking for alternatives three months in.
Why This Keeps Falling Apart
You probably already know most of this. The problem isn't knowledge — it's time.
When you're running 15 sites, managing a team of operatives, handling quotes for new work, and dealing with day-to-day issues, onboarding a new client properly drops to the bottom of the list.
The real solution is a system that handles the repetitive parts for you. Somewhere your client can view your documents, and access everything they need — without you being the middleman for every single exchange. That's exactly what a client portal does. Instead of emailing insurance certificates one by one, you upload them once and every client can see them.
It turns onboarding from a two-week scramble into a two-day process.
Tivlo is building a client portal that makes cleaning company onboarding systematic — documents shared in one place, clients set up in minutes. Join the waitlist.