The Moneyball for Janitorial Blog

The Entry-Level Software Trap: When Growing Janitorial Companies Hit the Ceiling

Most janitorial service providers start with the same playbook: land contracts, deliver quality, grow. When you're managing 20 or 30 sites, basic scheduling software gets the job done. You know your cleaners, your clients know you, and you're generally aware of problems before they escalate.

Then something changes. You hit 50 sites. Then 100. Then 200. The tools that worked when you were smaller start creating blind spots. Shifts get skipped without anyone noticing until the client calls. Quality control becomes inconsistent across regions. Your supervisors spend more time hunting down information than preventing problems.

This is the entry-level software trap, and it catches more growing operators than you'd think.

The warning signs are predictable: you're managing complexity with tools built for simplicity. Your team works around the software instead of through it. Clients start asking questions you can't answer quickly. And the growth you worked so hard to achieve now feels like it's straining against your operational infrastructure.

CNS, a national janitorial provider based in Bristol, PA, found themselves in exactly this position in 2024. With over 200 sites spanning offices, medical centers, banks, universities, and logistics hubs, they'd outgrown Swept, the entry-level platform that had served them well in their earlier days. The question wasn't whether to change, but when and to what.

Their shift to BrightGo's janitorial workforce management software resulted in 55% year-over-year revenue growth supported by scalable operations, improved client retention, and real-time visibility across their national footprint. But the bigger lesson is what they learned about scaling operations in a fragmented, accountability-driven industry.

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The Invisible Ceiling: Why Basic Tools Break at Scale

Entry-level janitorial software isn't poorly designed. It's designed for a different stage of growth, optimized for the needs of smaller operations getting organized with basic scheduling, basic time tracking, and mobile access for cleaners.

But as companies scale beyond 100 sites, common patterns emerge that create operational friction:

Accountability gaps: Without robust verification systems, proving that coverage happened as promised becomes difficult. When disputes arise about shift completion, the documentation often isn't sufficient to resolve them quickly. Companies find themselves trusting that work was done without reliable ways to verify it.

Inconsistent quality processes: When inspection capabilities are limited, quality control becomes dependent on individual supervisor habits rather than systematic processes. Documentation gets scattered across text chains and photos buried in phones, with no reliable record beyond what people remember.

Reactive management: Problems surface after they've already impacted clients. There's no early warning system, no centralized view of what's working and what's not. Leadership spends time firefighting instead of preventing fires.

Limited partnership: As needs evolve and operations grow more complex, the ability to customize features or get strategic guidance becomes critical. When platforms can't adapt to specific requirements, operators are left figuring out workarounds on their own.

For CNS, these limitations weren't theoretical. They were daily friction points that threatened relationships with national clients who expected enterprise-level accountability.

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"Swept got us started, but we needed something built for where we're going. BrightGo doesn't just help us run better, it helps us scale."
--- Jeff Upmalis, Vice President

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Breaking Points: When CNS Knew Change Was Necessary

The decision to switch platforms wasn't made lightly. CNS had built their operation around their existing system, and any migration would require effort. But four core issues made it clear that staying put was riskier than switching:

Coverage gaps creating client exposure: Shifts were being reduced or skipped without real-time visibility. By the time CNS leadership learned about it, the damage was already done. In an industry where one missed shift can cost a contract, this wasn't sustainable.

Quality control running on individual initiative: Some supervisors conducted thorough inspections with detailed records. Others didn't. The inconsistency created risk in both service delivery and in CNS's ability to prove performance when questions arose.

Documentation scattered and unreliable: When clients asked for proof of service, CNS had to hunt through text messages and photos, relying on memory to fill in the gaps. There was no centralized system showing exactly what happened, when it happened, and who was responsible.

Growth straining infrastructure: CNS was winning larger contracts and expanding into new markets. But their operational systems couldn't keep pace with the complexity. What worked at 50 sites was breaking at 200.
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"We've seen a wide range of platforms, including the ones used by some of the biggest companies in the industry, and none measure up to BrightGo. It's easy to use and gives us the clarity we need to keep clients happy."
--- Bill Dunn, President & Co-Owner

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The Shift: From Basic Tools to Enterprise Operations

CNS's migration to BrightGo wasn't just a software switch. It was an operational philosophy shift. Instead of working around their tools, they built their operations through them.

GPS-verified time tracking eliminates ambiguity about shift coverage. Every clock-in is location-verified, creating reliable documentation that protects both CNS and their clients. Missed shifts trigger automatic alerts, allowing supervisors to intervene before clients notice. (Learn more about preventing time theft in janitorial operations.)

Structured inspection software standardizes quality control across all sites. Inspections become detailed, time-stamped, photo-documented records that can be shared with clients. Follow-up tasks get assigned and tracked within the platform, closing the loop on accountability.

Centralized issue tracking gives leadership real-time visibility into what's happening across their entire portfolio. Instead of reacting to problems after they escalate, CNS can identify trends, address weak spots, and prevent issues before they impact clients.

A development partner, not just a vendor: BrightGo's team works with CNS to customize features, prioritize their needs, and act as a strategic partner in their growth. When CNS has feedback or suggestions, they directly influence the product roadmap. Not generic support tickets, but real collaboration.

The results: 200+ sites managed with confidence, scalable operational infrastructure, and improved client retention through proactive quality management. (See how Cleantech achieved similar results with structured field operations.)

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Lessons from CNS: What Multi-Site Operators Should Know

CNS's experience offers transferable insights for any janitorial company managing complexity at scale:

1. Visibility Compounds as You Scale

At 20 sites, you can manage through personal relationships and instinct. At 200, you need systems that surface the right information at the right time. If you're finding out about problems after your clients do, your visibility infrastructure isn't keeping pace with your growth.

2. Documentation Isn't Bureaucracy. It's Protection.

In an industry built on trust but verified through proof, reliable documentation is your competitive advantage. GPS-verified shift records, time-stamped inspections, and centralized issue tracking aren't administrative overhead. They allow you to keep clients when questions arise.

3. Quality Can't Scale on Individual Initiative Alone

Great supervisors will always go the extra mile. But if your quality control depends entirely on individual habits, you're building operational risk into your growth. Structured systems ensure consistency regardless of who's managing the site.

4. Your Software Partner Matters as Much as Your Software

Entry-level platforms are often transactional: you pay, they provide access, support is reactive. Enterprise platforms should be partnerships: they understand your business, adapt to your needs, and invest in your success. When you're growing fast, that difference matters.

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"As we grew, we needed more structure, visibility, and support. With BrightGo, I have a team I can talk to. If I need something adjusted, they work with us to figure it out. That makes a huge difference when you're growing this fast."
--- Jeff Upmalis, Vice President

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5. The Switching Cost Is Lower Than the Staying Cost

Every operator weighs the disruption of changing platforms against the pain of staying put. But here's what CNS learned: the cost of operating with inadequate tools (missed issues, client friction, operational inefficiency) compounds daily. The migration pain is temporary. The operational drag is permanent.

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Building for Scale, Not Just Growth

The janitorial industry rewards operators who can deliver consistent quality at scale. The companies that thrive aren't necessarily the ones that grow fastest. They're the ones that build operational systems capable of sustaining that growth.

Entry-level software serves an important purpose. It helps companies get organized, establish basic processes, and prove out their model. But there comes a point where those tools become limitations rather than enablers.

CNS recognized that moment and acted on it. The result wasn't just better software. It was a fundamental improvement in how they operate, compete, and grow around your tools instead of through them, it might be time to ask whether your infrastructure is ready for where you're going.

Read the full CNS case study →

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Built for Companies Ready to Scale Beyond Basic Tools

BrightGo is janitorial software designed for cleaning companies that have outgrown entry-level platforms. The platform delivers GPS-verified time tracking, structured inspections, and real-time visibility across multi-site operations. All backed by a customer success team that acts as a strategic partner in your growth.

If you're managing complexity with tools built for simplicity, let's talk.

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Get a demo or email us at hello@brightgo.com.

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Part 6 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series – turning individual metrics into an actionable system that protects profitability and drives sustainable growth.

Over the past five articles, we've covered the metrics that matter most in janitorial: margins, time theft, overtime, budget discipline, and retention. But tracking metrics in isolation won't move the needle. The operators who win are the ones who connect these data points into a coherent system—one that catches problems early, assigns clear ownership, and makes course correction fast.

This final installment shows how to put it all together: from G&A discipline to real-time oversight, and how to use the consolidated playbook table as your roadmap.

The Missing Piece: G&A Discipline

Most margin discussions focus on labor, and for good reason. But there's another cost category that quietly erodes profitability as companies grow: General & Administrative overhead.

G&A includes office staff salaries, software subscriptions, facilities, insurance, and other indirect costs. Early on, these expenses are relatively small. As you scale however, they tend to balloon, often without a corresponding increase in efficiency.

The Paradox of Scale

Here's the irony: larger companies should have more control over G&A, not less. Economies of scale should kick in. Technology should automate manual tasks. Systems should streamline operations.

Yet many operators find the opposite happens. Headcount grows. Software stacks become redundant. Administrative layers multiply. Before long, G&A has climbed from 12% to 20% of revenue, erasing gains made elsewhere.

Measuring Administrative Efficiency

G&A as a percentage of revenue varies significantly by operational maturity and represents one of the key janitorial profitability benchmarks:

That 5-7 point spread can represent hundreds of thousands in annual profit for a mid-sized contractor.

Strategic Questions to Ask

Before adding another tool, hire, or process, ask:

• How many office staff do you have per $1M in revenue? Benchmark against peers to see if you're overstaffed.
• Are salaried staff regularly working paid overtime? If supervisors or managers are burning out, it's often a sign of poor systems, not insufficient headcount.
• Is your tech stack streamlining or complicating operations? Multiple disconnected tools create duplicate work and increase training costs.

Leveraging Technology to Reduce Costs

For years, janitorial was overlooked by tech companies, leaving operators stuck with clunky, legacy tools that required extensive training, or relying on products retrofitted from other categories. Today, there's a much wider range of modern, easy-to-use cleaning company software and janitorial workforce management software built specifically for the industry. Here's how top operators leverage these tools to keep overhead lean while improving visibility:

Consolidate systems. Janitorial software platforms with built-in, real-time reporting eliminate the need for manual data pulls and reduce dependency on administrative staff. The right janitorial workforce management software can replace multiple point solutions while improving visibility.

‍Streamline workflows. Look for opportunities to reduce manual tasks without sacrificing oversight. Janitorial time tracking software that works with your payroll system can cut processing time by hours each week.

Support supervisors with better tools. If supervisors are stretched thin, the answer isn't always more hires. Often, better tools or clearer processes can restore capacity and reduce burnout.

Use mobile clock-ins with geofencing to verify attendance and reduce time theft in janitorial industry operations.

Monitor real-time dashboards that highlight edited punches, overtime risks, and budget variances for immediate account margin analysis janitorial teams need.

Set up automated alerts when staff approach thresholds or jobs drift off budget, helping managers reduce janitorial overtime proactively.

Integrate payroll systems to streamline processing—whether through a platform that includes payroll, a direct integration with your provider, or seamless data exports.

Audit subscriptions and services. Many companies accumulate software they no longer use. An annual review can uncover thousands in wasted spend.

Technology doesn't replace good management, it amplifies it. The operators who win are the ones using janitorial time tracking software to make accountability seamless and decision-making faster.

Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Rhythms

Metrics can feel overwhelming, but you don't need to track everything constantly. Top operators focus on key metrics at different points throughout the week or month, building margin discipline into their regular routines:

Daily: Quick scan of scheduled vs. actual hours by site. Are accounts drifting off budget? Catch variances early before they snowball.

Midweek: Run a 30-hour report to flag employees approaching overtime thresholds, then reassign shifts to under-utilized staff. This simple practice is essential to reduce janitorial overtime before it impacts your bottom line.

Weekly: Review labor hours and wage costs against job budgets, factoring in staffing mix, minimum wage changes, and unexpected overtime. Effective account margin analysis helps identify which clients are profitable and which are draining resources.

Monthly: Measure net margin and compare against janitorial profitability benchmarks by company size and market. Break down labor into separate line items: cleaner wages, supervisors, overtime, and PTO.

This cadence turns margin management from a reactive scramble into proactive oversight.

The Consolidated Margin Playbook

Here's your quick-reference guide—a summary of the metrics, benchmarks, and actions covered throughout this series. Use it to identify where your company stands and where to focus next. 

You don't need to fix everything at once. But you do need a system that helps you spot problems early and course-correct fast.

The Takeaway

Margins in janitorial are thin, but they don't have to be fragile. The companies that win aren't  chasing every RFP or cutting corners for short-term gains. They're using data and janitorial profitability benchmarks to make informed tradeoffs, protect profitability, and build sustainable growth.

This series provides a roadmap: understand your margin, track the metrics that move it, and build systems that prevent leaks before they become losses. Whether you're implementing better janitorial time tracking, conducting regular account margin analysis, or working to reduce overtime, each improvement compounds to strengthen your bottom line.

Now it's time to act.

Revisit the Full Series:

• Part 1: Margins – The Most Important Metric. Why margins are the foundation of profitability and how to benchmark your performance.
• Part 2: Time Theft – The Hidden Drain on Profitability. How edited punches and missing accountability silently drain payroll and margins.
• Part 3: Overtime – Controlling the Cost Spiral. Why chronic overtime is one of the fastest ways profitability slips, and how proactive checks keep labor in line.
• Part 4: Budget vs Actual – The Hidden Margin Leaks. How over-budget jobs and low-margin accounts quietly erode profitability.
• Part 5: Why Client Retention Becomes Critical at Scale. How portfolio discipline protects long-term margins and why keeping the right accounts matters more than just adding new ones.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook to see where your company stands and how to start closing margin gaps today.

Part 5 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series — Why client retention becomes critical at scale, how portfolio discipline protects long-term margins, and why keeping the right accounts matters more than just adding new ones. A guest post from Jordan Tong of Elite BSC, co-author of the Janitorial Margin Playbook.

When a janitorial company is small, growth often comes from saying “yes” to nearly every opportunity. A new account means more hours, more revenue, more visibility. But once you’ve scaled to dozens—or even hundreds—of accounts, the game changes.

At scale, retention becomes the engine that keeps your business stable and profitable.

Landing new contracts matters, but losing accounts at the same rate you’re adding them drains resources, creates turnover headaches, and erodes margin. That’s why high-performing companies shift their focus from simply adding accounts to managing their customer base with discipline.

Why Retention Matters More at Scale

1. Acquisition Costs Multiply
   Winning a new contract requires marketing spend, sales time, walkthroughs, proposals, and onboarding. Replacing lost revenue with a new account often costs 5–10x more than keeping an existing client happy.
2. Stability Drives EfficiencyA retained client means stable labor hours, predictable supply usage, and consistent supervision. Churn creates inefficiency—your managers spend time chasing replacements instead of tightening operations. 
3. Trusted Partnerships Lead to Upsells
   Clients who stay long-term are more likely to expand services (floor care, day porter, special projects). And according to the Janitorial Margin Playbook benchmarks, tag work can drive margins of 50% vs. 30% on recurring contracts.

Retention keeps you in position to capture that higher-margin work.

Practicing Portfolio Discipline

Protecting long-term margin requires portfolio discipline: knowing which clients add value to your business and which ones drain resources.

Retention doesn’t mean keeping every account at all costs.

1. Drop Low-Margin Clients

Not every account is worth keeping. The Janitorial Margin Playbook stresses that low-margin accounts not only consume management attention but also pull down overall company margin. Walking away from underpriced or chronically over-serviced accounts is often the smartest move.

2. Double Down on Profitable Accounts

Your best clients—those with fair pricing, stable expectations, and partnership mindsets—are worth investing in. Strengthen those relationships with proactive communication, consistent quality, and occasional “above and beyond” touches. Protecting profitable accounts protects your foundation.

Balancing Growth and Discipline

Once you’ve reached scale, topline growth isn’t enough.

Growth without discipline leads to bloated overhead, creeping overtime, and account-level losses.

Instead, sustainable success comes from:

• Retaining 90%+ of core clients annually
• Actively pruning accounts that are time-suckers combined with low margins
• Building deeper partnerships with profitable clients
• Using account-level margin reporting and janitorial profitability benchmarks as a decision filter

Jordan Tong is an owner and BSC consultant. Shortly after graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering, Jordan joined the family cleaning business in 2007. At the time, Frantz Building Services was doing $1.5M in revenue. He has since led the company to nearly $20M in revenue with operations in four states. Jordan currently serves as CEO of Frantz Building Services. He founded Elite BSC in 2017 to help other janitorial business owners find success.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook, co-developed by BrightGo and Elite BSC, to see where your company stands and how to start closing margin gaps today.

Continue the Series

Read Part 1: Margins — The Most Important Metric
Why margins are the foundation of profitability and how to benchmark your performance.

Read Part 2: Time Theft — The Hidden Drain on Profitability
How edited punches and missing accountability silently drain payroll and margins.

Read Part 3: Overtime — Controlling the Cost Spiral
Why chronic overtime is one of the fastest ways profitability slips, and how proactive checks keep labor in line.

Read Part 4: Budget vs Actual —  The Hidden Margin Leaks in Janitorial
How over-budget jobs and low-margin accounts quietly erode profitability and what operators can do to prevent it.

Part 4 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series — how budget vs actual discipline protects profitability and why fixing overages early keeps margins intact. A guest post from Jeff Carmon of Elite BSC, co-author of the Janitorial Margin Playbook.

In the janitorial industry, protecting margin is not just about getting pricing right or negotiating good supply costs. Often, the biggest leaks come from much more basic areas: jobs running over budget and accounts that never generate enough return to justify the work. Both issues are common, both are preventable, and both have a much larger impact on your profitability than most owners realize.

Budget vs. Actual: Hours and Dollars

When we talk about budget vs. actual, we are really talking about discipline. Every proposal you submit is built on assumptions about how many labor hours a job should take and what those hours will cost in dollars. If your actual results drift from those assumptions, even by a little, your margin starts to erode.

Take a simple example: you bid a job at 20 hours per week. In reality, the account takes 23 hours to meet the client’s expectations. On paper, three hours does not sound like a big deal. But three hours every week adds up to 12–13 extra hours a month, 150 hours a year, and thousands of dollars in unexpected cost. If you multiply that by ten or twenty accounts, the numbers get serious fast.

Looking only at dollars can mask the problem. That is why it is best practice to track both labor hours and labor dollars. Hours tell you how much time it is really taking to service the account. Dollars reflect the impact of wages, overtime, staffing mix, and even minimum wage changes in your market. Together, they give you a complete picture of where the account is performing against budget and where it is slipping.

Why Daily Monitoring Matters

Many companies review their budgets only at the end of the month. By then, it is too late. The overage is baked into payroll, the invoice has already gone out, and the margin is gone for good.

The best operators do not wait. They monitor hours in real time. If your system provides daily data, use it. A quick daily check of scheduled vs. actual hours can flag problems before they spiral. Maybe one cleaner is regularly clocking in 10 minutes early. Maybe supervisors are adding hours to “make sure the building looks good” without realizing the impact. Small variances caught early are much easier to correct.

At a minimum, review both hours and wage cost weekly. If you see a job running more than 2 percent over budget, take action right away. That could mean adjusting staffing levels, moving shifts around, or tightening clock-in discipline. By the end of the pay period, your goal should be to land as close to the budgeted target as possible.

The Financial Impact of Variance

The math is clear. A company with 10 million dollars in annual revenue that consistently runs 4 percent over budget on labor will lose 400,000 dollars in profit over the course of a year. That is not because of bad contracts or customer issues. It is because of small variances that no one stepped in to correct.

On the flip side, best-in-class operators consistently come in 1–3 percent under budget. That discipline creates a margin advantage worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Those funds can then be reinvested into technology, training, or better wages for frontline staff, which creates a positive cycle of stronger performance and improved retention.

Account-Specific Margin: Winning the Right Work

Budget discipline is only half the battle. The other margin leak happens much earlier, before the account even starts. Many contractors underbid to stay competitive, only to realize later that the job barely breaks even.

Low-margin accounts are dangerous for two reasons. First, they tie up supervisors and managers who spend outsized time trying to keep the customer happy. Second, they distract your team from higher-margin accounts that could actually move the business forward.

In other words, low-margin accounts do not just hurt the P&L. They also hurt your overall operational focus.

The best way to avoid this trap is to set clear margin expectations before you ever submit a proposal. Build your pricing model with benchmarks for labor costs, supply costs, supervision, and overhead. Decide in advance what margin threshold you are willing to accept. If the numbers do not work, walk away. It is better to lose the bid than to win an account that will drag your business down.

Using Gross Margin per Job

One of the most effective tools here is gross margin per job. This measures how much revenue is left after direct labor and supply costs are covered. Top operators aim for 30 percent or more on every job.

If an account consistently produces less than 30 percent, it is a signal to take a hard look. Can you staff differently by assigning lower-cost labor? Can you renegotiate scope with the client? If not, the smartest move may be to exit the account. While it is never easy to walk away from revenue, holding onto unprofitable accounts is often more damaging in the long run.

Gross margin per job also helps you evaluate bidding success. Look at your win rate vs. the average margin on won bids. If you are winning a lot of work but margins are weak, you may be pricing too aggressively. If you are losing most bids but the ones you win are strong, you may be more selective but healthier for it.

Connecting Both Sides

Budget vs. actual and account-specific margin are not isolated issues. They are two sides of the same coin. Strong bidding discipline prevents you from taking on jobs that are doomed to underperform. Strong budget discipline ensures the jobs you do take actually deliver the margin you planned. Together, they create a system of accountability that protects profitability at both the front end and the day-to-day execution.

The Bottom Line

Margin does not slip away in one dramatic event. It leaks out slowly through unchecked hours, unnoticed dollar overages, and accounts that never had the potential to perform.

By focusing on daily and weekly budget checks, and by enforcing a clear margin threshold for new accounts, you give your company the discipline it needs to stay profitable.

Strong margins give you options. They let you reinvest in your team, provide better service to customers, and scale your business with confidence. Without them, even growth can become a burden rather than a benefit.

Action Items

• Check labor hours daily if possible – Use real-time data to catch overages before they become losses.
• Review labor dollars weekly – Factor in wage rates, staffing mix, and overtime.
• Flag jobs 2 percent or more over budget – Step in immediately to correct.
• Aim for 30 percent or higher gross margin per job – Drop or renegotiate accounts that consistently underperform.
• Balance win rate with margin discipline – Winning the wrong jobs can hurt more than losing bids.

Jeff Carmon brings over 40 years of experience across multiple industries. He spent a decade in business development and operations with Frantz Building Services before moving into his current role as Manager of Member Services at Elite BSC, where he provides training, coaching, and support to help building service contractors strengthen operations and better serve their customers.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook, co-developed by BrightGo and Elite BSC, to see where your company stands and how to start closing margin gaps today.

Continue the Series

Read Part 1: Margins — The Most Important Metric
Why margins are the foundation of profitability and how to benchmark your performance.

Read Part 2: Time Theft — The Hidden Drain on Profitability
How edited punches and missing accountability silently drain payroll and margins.

Read Part 3: Overtime — Controlling the Cost Spiral
Why chronic overtime is one of the fastest ways profitability slips, and how proactive checks keep labor in line.

Part 3 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series — how overtime erodes profitability and what operators can do to prevent it.

Margins in janitorial are already under pressure, and overtime is one of the fastest ways for profitability to slip. While some overtime is unavoidable, chronic overages are often the result of weak scheduling, poor oversight, or underpriced contracts. Left unchecked, they can quickly snowball into hundreds of thousands in lost profit.

For many operators, this is where janitorial workforce management software or commercial cleaning software makes the difference, providing the real-time visibility needed to keep cleaning company labor costs under control and help reduce janitorial overtime before it becomes a systemic issue. If you missed the foundation in Part 1: Margins — The Most Important Metric, it explains why protecting margin is the starting point for all other KPIs, including overtime.

Overtime’s Compounding Cost

Every extra hour paid above budget adds directly to labor cost, which already represents the largest share of expenses in janitorial operations.

Even small increases in overtime hours can push labor as a percentage of revenue past healthy benchmarks, eroding janitorial business margins and making it harder to compete on price.

Overtime is defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act as time-and-a-half for any employees earning under $43,888 annually, once they exceed 40 hours in a workweek. Some occupations and pay structures have exemptions, but this standard applies for most frontline janitorial staff. That premium makes accurate janitorial time tracking software and payroll oversight critical for reducing janitorial overtime. 

Benchmarks: Overtime by Company Size

Overtime may seem inevitable, but it can be kept in check.

The Snowball Effect: A Cost Example

Here’s how quickly savings add up when overtime is brought under control:

Some overtime is unavoidable. Chronic overtime isn’t. Here are simple but effective steps to take:

• Review scheduled vs. actual hours daily: Do a quick scan by site as a pulse check, making sure accounts aren’t drifting too far off budget.
• Run a 30-hour report midweek: Establish a cadence of checking employees approaching overtime so supervisors can reassign shifts to under-utilized staff before payroll closes.
• Cross-train staff: Reduce reliance on single employees by training multiple staff to cover key sites.

Overtime often compounds other margin leaks like time theft. Part 2: Time Theft — The Hidden Drain on Profitability explains how high edited punch rates and weak attendance controls open the door to time theft, which further erodes profit.

‍Beyond Payroll: Overtime’s Operational Impact

Beyond payroll savings, reducing overtime strengthens operations across the board:

• Better scheduling discipline creates more predictable workloads.
• Balanced hours give supervisors more scheduling flexibility and reduce the fire drills that lead to burnout.
• Margin protection builds confidence in bidding, since you know actual results will match planned budgets.
• Stronger compliance ensures wage laws are followed and payroll errors are minimized.

In short, keeping overtime in check delivers more than cost savings. It helps stabilize operations, supports retention, and positions your business for sustainable growth.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook to see where your company stands and how to start closing margin gaps today.

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Continue the Series

Read Part 1: Margins — The Most Important Metric
Learn why margins are the foundation of profitability and how to benchmark your performance.

Read Part 2: Time Theft — The Hidden Drain on Profitability
See how edited punches and missing accountability silently drain payroll and margins.

Part 2 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series — how time theft erodes margins and what operators can do to prevent it.

Margins in janitorial are already razor-thin, with labor consuming up to 70% of revenue. That leaves little room for error. As we noted in Part 1: The Most Important Metric, understanding your overall margin is the starting point, but time theft is one of the hidden factors that can quietly erode it.

Imagine running payroll and noticing a site is consistently logging 20% more hours than budgeted. At first it looks like a data glitch, until you dig in and discover a pattern of missed punches, early departures, and edits made after the fact. What feels like small slips can snowball into hundreds of thousands lost each year.

The good news: while some amount of time theft is inevitable, it can still be tracked, measured, and reduced — but only if owners know what to look for.

A Triple Threat to Profitability

Unchecked, time theft creates more than a payroll problem:

• Margin Loss: You pay for hours that weren’t worked, shrinking net profit.
• Competitive Pressure: Higher labor costs make it harder to price competitively without undercutting your margin.
• Customer Risk: Short-staffed shifts mean poorer service quality. Clients notice, trust erodes, and retention suffers.

Because janitorial work often happens after hours or across multiple, dispersed sites, direct supervision is harder — making time theft both more likely and harder to detect.

Time Theft on the Job

Time theft doesn’t always mean malicious intent. Sometimes it’s an innocent mistake; other times it’s a recurring issue that signals deeper problems. Common examples include:

• Missed punches or “buddy punching” (one employee clocking in for another).
• Leaving early or arriving late while recording a full shift.
• Taking unapproved, extended breaks.

Whether accidental or intentional, every discrepancy carries a cost. Clients also feel the impact: property managers paying a fixed monthly fee may receive less service than expected, while those paying hourly may be overcharged for inefficient work.

The Benchmark That Matters: Edited Punch Rate

Your edited punch rate is the percentage of shifts with manual edits to time entries. Some edits are a normal part of the payroll process, but consistently high rates signal deeper issues.

A company running at 20% edited punches isn’t just losing margin, it’s also wasting supervisor time on payroll corrections, and fueling frustration among employees who follow the rules. Over time, this imbalance hurts morale and retention.

How Much Does Time Theft Really Cost?

Here’s a sample formula to estimate the amount a high edited punch rate may be costing you.

That’s $350,000 disappearing from profit, largely because punches aren’t consistently tracked and enforced. For a mid-sized BSC, that can mean the difference between investing in growth and barely breaking even.

The Broader Impact on Margin

Time theft doesn’t exist in isolation. It compounds with other margin leaks: overtime, underpriced bids, and bloated G&A. By tightening time tracking, operators not only stop payroll leakage but also:

• Strengthen client trust with consistent service.
• Improve competitiveness in bidding.
• Free up supervisor time.
• Reduce turnover by creating a fairer environment where reliable employees aren’t stuck covering for others.

Reducing Time Theft: From Policy to Practice

Time theft can be reduced to manageable levels. The key is combining policy, visibility, and enforcement.

• Enforce clear clock-in rules. Employees should know expectations, and supervisors must follow through, supported by janitorial employee attendance tracking systems.
• Use mobile timekeeping tools. Easy-to-use apps reduce “I forgot” excuses and capture GPS/location data.
• Audit high-edit staff and sites. Outliers often reveal systemic problems.
• Flag repeat offenders. A small subset of employees can cause a disproportionate share of issues.

Case Study: Cleantech Service Group

Here’s how one company put these practices into action.

• The Challenge: Cleantech struggled with limited visibility and preventable account loss, often learning about issues only after a client complaint.
• The Solution: BrightGo provided real-time oversight with geofenced clock-ins, mobile inspections, and building health dashboards, giving managers the tools to verify attendance and catch problems early.
• The Results: Cleantech saved over $1M by eliminating time theft, reduced payroll leakage, and saw fewer missed and late shifts thanks to verified clock-ins.

“We didn’t have our finger on the pulse. We had no way to see what was happening on site without calling the client. Now, with a few clicks, we can see what’s happening and where each building stands. That visibility helps us catch problems early and retain more accounts.”
— Riley McNamara, Vice President

Read the full case study to see how Cleantech took on time theft.

Tech-Driven Transparency

Paper timesheets and manual reviews can’t keep up. Modern janitorial time tracking software gives operators the visibility they need:

• Mobile clock-ins with geofencing to verify location.
• Real-time dashboards that highlight edited punches.
• Alerts when staff approach thresholds for edits or overtime.
• Easy reporting for supervisors and payroll reconciliation.

Beyond the financial savings, these tools also boost client confidence and employee morale. When hours are tracked transparently, service delivery becomes more consistent, employees feel accountability is fair, and managers spend less time chasing errors.

The Takeaway

Time theft may feel like an inevitable cost of doing business, but it can be reduced with careful tracking. Left unchecked however, it can drain hundreds of thousands from your bottom line.

The operators who win aren’t the ones ignoring it or overburdening supervisors with paperwork. They’re the ones using benchmarks, enforcing clear policies, and adopting technology that makes accountability seamless.

If you missed Part 1 of the series, take a look for the profitability benchmarks that show where cleaning companies stand, and why thin margins make issues like time theft so costly.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook to see where your company stands and how to start closing margin gaps today.

In the janitorial industry, growth often came with complexity. More sites meant more staff, more variables, and more chances for things to go sideways. For Vancouver-based Cleantech Service Group, that complexity was starting to slow them down. They needed to rethink how their field operations were structured.

In 2023, the Cleantech team adopted BrightGo's janitorial workforce management software to bring their workforce management into a single, integrated system. The platform combined real-time janitorial time tracking, mobile inspections, and site-level cleaning company KPIs. The results? A 50% reduction in account loss, $1M+ saved by reducing time theft, and 60% revenue growth over two years.

The Visibility Shift: Moving from Gut Feel to Data

Cleantech had the scale of a mature operator, but like many growing cleaning companies, their systems hadn’t kept pace. Leaders couldn’t reliably confirm who was on site. Supervisors were still managing inspections by hand. And by the time issues surfaced, a client was already frustrated, or gone.

“We didn’t have our finger on the pulse. We had no way to see what was happening on site without calling the manager or the client.”
— Riley McNamara, Vice President

The company began reworking its janitorial operations with BrightGo as its central platform, focusing on three foundational improvements:

• Real-time janitorial time tracking software: Verified, GPS-based clock-ins give Cleantech live visibility into who’s on site, when they arrive, and how long they work—eliminating backfilled hours and guesswork. Supervisors receive real-time alerts for missed or late shifts, allowing them to intervene quickly. This continues to prevent time theft in the janitorial industry, saving millions in lost wages.
  
  
• Mobile janitorial inspection software: Managers use BrightGo’s mobile app to log site conditions, assign follow-ups, and verify resolution with notes and photos. Cleaners know exactly what’s expected, and supervisors can close the loop without chasing updates. As Elizabeth Pannell shared, “Our inspections are logged in real time, tasks are clearly assigned, and staff can fix issues with full visibility.”
  
  
• Building health metrics: BrightGo scores each site based on employee attendance tracking, inspection results, and unresolved issues—giving managers a real-time snapshot of performance, risk, and support needs. Rather than reacting to complaints, supervisors focus their time where it matters most.
  

Measurable Outcomes

Since adopting BrightGo, Cleantech:

• Saved over $1 million by reducing time theft
• Cut client churn in half, with retention at an all-time high
• Increased revenue by 60% over two years
• Reduced operational friction, including fewer repeat site visits and faster follow-through
  
  

“This has been our best year ever at Cleantech. These changes gave our teams the tools to catch issues early, work more efficiently, and keep clients happy.”
— Michael Anastasi, Chief Operating Officer

Rethinking Field Operations: Lessons from Cleantech

Cleantech didn’t make these gains by adding headcount or overhauling their business model. They focused on structural improvements to how daily work gets done—especially how it gets tracked.

Key takeaways:

• If you can't verify it, you can't manage it. Real-time clock-ins reduce payroll bloat and give supervisors a clear view of attendance.
• Inspections are only useful if they lead to action. A mobile workflow helps supervisors assign follow-ups and confirm resolution.
• Not every site needs the same attention. Health scores help managers prioritize which buildings need hands-on support.
  
  

For janitorial teams looking to grow without sacrificing quality or margin, Cleantech’s shift offers a clear blueprint: build systems that surface risk early, support accountability, and let your team focus where it matters most.

Read the full Cleantech case study →

See the Janitorial Software Behind Cleantech’s Growth

BrightGo is janitorial software built for cleaning companies navigating growth, client churn, labor inefficiencies, and rising customer expectations. It combines janitorial time tracking, janitorial inspection software, and field-level performance data to help operators make faster, more informed decisions.

‍Get a demo or email us at hello@brightgo.com See how data-backed tools can strengthen your operations and support long-term growth.

Part 1 of the Janitorial Margin Playbook Series, co-developed with Elite BSC to provide operators with industry benchmarks and profitability strategies.

Margins in janitorial are notoriously thin. Labor consumes the majority of revenue, clients demand more for less, and even small inefficiencies can erase profitability. Despite their importance however, margins aren’t always thoroughly understood. Many owners know top-line revenue and payroll costs, but lack clarity on how their performance compares to peers, or where hidden leaks are cutting into profit.

Margins are notoriously thin in janitorial — even small inefficiencies can erase profitability.

Common Pitfalls in Margin Management

Owners often fall into one of two traps when it comes to how closely they track their margins:

Flying Blind

Margins are reviewed sporadically, if at all. Without clear tracking however, there’s no chance to catch problems before payroll is finalized.

Over-Correcting

Others chase margin too aggressively and service slips. Hours are cut, clients notice shortcuts, and retention suffers. Short-term savings are wiped out by lost contracts.

The right balance requires protecting margin while delivering reliable service.

Benchmarking Profitability in Janitorial

Margins in janitorial aren’t like those in other industries where double-digit net profit is common. 

These janitorial profitability benchmarks serve as a baseline for evaluating your cleaning company’s KPIs and long-term business margins. While these numbers provide a valuable reference point, one size doesn’t fit all. Margins are influenced by a variety of factors: competition, market size, and ownership structure all shape performance. Benchmarks should be viewed as guideposts, not absolutes.

Net Margin by Company Size

‍Factors That Influence Margin

Market Size

Margins are heavily influenced by labor cost, which varies significantly by geography. Direct labor as a percentage of revenue correlates with market size, rising in larger, higher-cost metros:

Direct Labor as % of Revenue

Competition

Benchmarks also shift according to the intensity of the competitive environment:

Impact of Competition on Net Margin

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Companies operating in niche markets, like luxury apartment cleaning or more isolated regions like Puerto Rico, often enjoy stronger margins due to limited competition or high switching costs.

Ownership Type

While not the biggest driver, ownership structure influences profit margins as well:

Impact of Ownership Status on Net Margin

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Multi-generation firms often benefit from stability and institutional knowledge, while acquired companies may struggle with integration challenges that weigh on profitability.

Profit Strategies by Company Stage

The priorities of a new company look very different from those of an established operator. Each stage brings new risks, tradeoffs, and focus areas for owners.

The Early-Stage Mindset: Growth at Any Cost

At this stage, survival means landing accounts. Margins often appear higher because founders are multitasking—handling sales, supervision, and admin.

The Expansion Stage: Margin Matters

Once a company reaches $5M or more in revenue, retention becomes critical. At that point, there is significant revenue at risk if accounts are lost.

It’s Time for Your Check-Up

Understanding your margin is like checking your weight during a doctor’s visit. It’s an important number, but getting a full picture of your health requires a more thorough review of the underlying factors. That’s why we recommend taking a closer look at these metrics:

• Measure Net Margin Monthly. Compare against benchmarks by size and market.
• Break Down Labor. Cleaner wages, supervisors, overtime, and PTO should be separate line items.
• Audit Overtime. Flag employees approaching 30 hours midweek.
• Watch Edited Punches. This is one of the best ways to detect time theft in the janitorial industry.
• Review Budget vs Actual consistently. Regular janitorial budget vs actual tracking helps you spot labor cost overages before they erode profit.
• Carefully Monitor G&A. General & Administrative costs tend to grow as a company expands, but larger firms should have more—not less—control over these expenses.

Many operators now use janitorial profitability software to gain this real-time visibility into labor costs and margins, making it easier to track these metrics consistently and take action when issues appear.

The Takeaway

Margins in janitorial are thin, but they don't have to be fragile.

The companies that win aren’t those chasing every RFP or cutting corners for short-term gains. They’re the ones using data and benchmarks to make informed tradeoffs, protect profitability, and build sustainable growth.

Want the full set of benchmarks and KPIs? Download the Janitorial Margin Playbook to see where your company stands and what to do next.

We so often overlook the vital role of the janitorial industry in our daily lives when cleanliness is not just a preference but a necessity - it’s an essential part of all spaces we frequent, be it supermarkets, offices, malls, banks, or hotels. And the cleaning industry is a large one, with the janitorial profession ranking as the 5th largest in the world and employing more than 3 million in the US and Canada alone.

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Growing up, I spent a lot of time listening to my mom tell stories at the dinner table about properties she managed and the challenges of maintaining these places to keep them liveable. It got me asking, “How can I help building service contractors (BSCs) be more effective and improve their ability to provide such a key service worldwide?”

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"How can I help building service contractors (BSCs) be more effective and improve their ability to provide such a key service worldwide?"

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When Saagar and I attended ISSA in Chicago last year, we noticed a disconnect between what BSC business owners were experiencing with their software versus what that software was promising to do for them. We quickly realized that the existing software is just not powerful enough to provide for the modern BSC.

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After interviewing over 300 business owners of BSCs to understand their experiences, we set a vision to change the industry standard. Janitorial companies deserve world class software built by world class technical talent, and there has not been a company to date daring to do that until now.

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Today, we are announcing our partnership with venture firms Costanoa and Index Ventures, who appreciate the significance of seemingly unglamorous industries. While others are chasing the hottest trends in Silicon Valley, we are choosing to run in a different direction and help the people and businesses that need it the most.

By Gerald

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If you’re a BSC interested in reaching out, please reach out to me at gerald@brightgo.com. We are actively hiring, so please reach out to careers@brightgo.com if you’d like to learn more.