Meaning & use
janitorial services
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Meaning
phraseplural
Professional cleaning and maintenance work done for a building or organization, usually by a hired company or team.
Grammar: Always plural in this sense. You say 'janitorial services are provided', not 'janitorial service is provided' when talking about the whole work.
Patterns
- provide janitorial services
- janitorial services for a building
- contract janitorial services
The office building hires janitorial services to clean the floors and empty the bins every evening.
Many small businesses use janitorial services instead of employing their own cleaners.
The school's janitorial services include mopping, dusting, and restroom cleaning.
Common combinations
- provide janitorial services
- The company provides janitorial services to hospitals and schools.
- janitorial services contract
- They signed a one-year janitorial services contract with a local firm.
- in-house janitorial services
- The hotel decided to keep in-house janitorial services rather than outsource.
- janitorial services company
- She started her own janitorial services company with two employees.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cleaning services
- This is the more general term and is common in British English; it can include window cleaning and other tasks, while janitorial services often also covers minor maintenance.
- custodial services
- Used especially in American English for cleaning and upkeep in schools and public buildings; it sounds more formal and is often a department name.
Word family
- janitor noun
- A person whose job is to clean and take care of a building.
- janitorial adjective
- Relating to the work of a janitor, as in 'janitorial staff'.
Commonly confused: janitorial services or maintenance services?
janitorial services vs maintenance services
Maintenance services focus on repairing and keeping equipment or systems working, while janitorial services focus on cleaning and basic upkeep.
Practice
The company ______ janitorial services for several office buildings in the city.
Choose one answer.
'Provides' is the correct third-person singular verb to agree with 'company'. 'Provide' would be correct with a plural subject like 'companies', but here the subject is singular. 'Providing' needs an auxiliary verb, and 'provision' is a noun, not a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “janitorial services”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.