When to Switch Cleaning Contractors

Staying with your current contractor

Continuity has real value, and switching for its own sake is a mistake. A contractor who already knows your site - where the access panels are, how the runs turn, when your kitchen is quietest - carries knowledge a newcomer has to rebuild from scratch. If the only issue is a scheduling wobble or a one-off missed panel that was owned up to, the sensible move is to raise it, not to rip up the relationship.

Where staying makes sense

• They issue a full post-clean verification report every visit - before-and-after photographs from matching positions, Wet Film Thickness Test or Deposit Thickness Test readings, and a dated hygiene certificate naming the technician.
• Their operatives hold the BESA Grease Hygiene Technician qualification and the firm is verifiable on the BESCA register or Ventilation Hygiene Elite scheme.
• They flag "no access" areas in writing and propose fitting extra access panels rather than quietly skipping them.
• They clean to your correct frequency - every three months for heavy use, six for moderate, twelve for light - and remind you before it lapses.

Where it starts to cost you

• You receive an invoice and a certificate but no photographs or grease readings, so you cannot prove the 200 micron threshold was ever met.
• The same sections of ductwork keep failing, or you find grease behind panels they claim to have cleaned.
• Complacency creeps in - visits slip, the crew shrinks, and questions are met with reassurance rather than evidence.
• Sunk-cost thinking keeps you loyal to a service that would not survive a fire investigator's scrutiny.

Switching to a new contractor

Moving provider is the right call when the evidence - or the absence of it - tells you the system is not genuinely being cleaned to standard. A change also resets the relationship on your terms, letting you set expectations around reporting, access and frequency from day one rather than inheriting bad habits.

Where switching pays off

• A fresh, properly qualified contractor will usually carry out a baseline survey, take honest opening WFTT or DTT readings and expose exactly what the previous crew left behind.
• You can insist on TR19® Grease-compliant documentation as a condition of appointment, giving your insurer and fire risk assessor the paper trail they will demand.
• It is the natural moment to confirm credentials properly and to check the accreditations a cleaning contractor should hold before you sign anything.
• A new provider often improves access - fitting compliant inspection hatches so the whole run can finally be reached and measured.

Where switching carries risk

• A cheaper quote can hide the same shortcuts you are trying to escape - always compare the reporting and competency, not just the day rate.
• There is a short handover gap where site knowledge is thin, so the first clean may take longer and cost more as the backlog is cleared.
• Without a clear written schedule, a new relationship can drift into the same vagueness you left - so agree the terms up front and set up a cleaning schedule with the contractor from the outset.
• Poorly managed transitions can leave a gap in your certification history, which insurers notice.

The signals that should decide it

Strip away the emotion and the choice comes down to evidence. A contractor worth keeping can show you, in numbers and photographs, that grease is being held below the threshold across the whole system. One worth leaving cannot - and hopes you never ask. If you have requested a post-clean verification report twice and still not seen WFTT or DTT figures, treat that as decisive rather than a communication issue.

Remember what is actually at stake. If a fire is traced to grease build-up and your records show cleaning was overdue, undocumented or incomplete, your insurer can decline the claim even where the ignition source was unrelated. That is the true price of staying loyal to a contractor who has stopped doing the job properly.