Every contractor hands you a reference list of three clients who love them. That is the problem. The list is curated, the clients are primed, and a five-minute call where you ask “were they good?” gets you a five-minute answer that tells you nothing.
Reference checking works when you call the right people and ask questions that are hard to answer with a rehearsed “they were great.” Done that way, a reference check is one of the most reliable signals you have before signing a floor care contract. Done lazily, it is theater. Here is how to make the calls count, whom to actually call, and the patterns that tell you what the reference will not say outright.
Why most reference checks tell you nothing
A reference list is a sales tool. The contractor picked those names because those clients will say kind things, and they often called ahead to let them know you might reach out. None of that is dishonest. It is just not useful on its own.
The naive call makes it worse. “How were they? Great? Great, thanks.” You have confirmed only that the contractor can find three happy customers, which every contractor can.
What you have not learned is how they behave when a job goes sideways, whether the crew that showed up on day one was the same crew on day thirty, or whether the finish they laid down still looks good a year later.
Getting real signal takes two things: calling references the contractor did not hand-pick, and asking questions specific enough that a vague answer becomes its own red flag.
Who to actually call
The reference list you are given is the starting point, not the whole job. Three types of client tell you three different things, and you want all three.
- The most recent client. Ask the contractor for their last one or two clients, not just their favorites. A recent client knows the current crew, the current pricing, and how onboarding actually went, not how it went five years ago when the company was smaller and hungrier.
- The longest-tenured client. A client who has used them for years tells you whether quality holds up after the honeymoon. Anyone can nail the first job. Consistency over time is the thing you are actually buying.
- A client who left, if you can find one. This is the highest-value call and the hardest to get. Ask around your own network, or ask other facilities in your building or business park who they use and who they fired. A former client will tell you exactly where the contractor fell short.
If the contractor bristles at giving you their most recent client and steers you only to a curated three, that hesitation is data. A confident contractor with a steady book has no reason to hide the last job they did.
The questions that actually surface signal
Skip “were they good.” Ask questions that require a specific story, because a specific story is hard to fake and easy to read.
On consistency and the crew
- Did the same people show up every time, or was it a rotating cast? Commercial cleaning has a turnover problem, with industry churn often cited near 200 percent, meaning the average position refills about twice a year. A rotating crew means no shared training and no accountability. If the reference describes “always someone new,” that is the churn showing up in the work.
- When something went wrong, how fast did they fix it, and did you have to chase them? You are listening for a name and a callback, not “I think they handled it eventually.”
On the floor work specifically
This is where general reference-check advice falls short, because floor stripping and waxing has its own failure modes. Ask:
- Did the finish still look good months later, or did it yellow, streak, or start peeling? A floor can look perfect the day the crew leaves and fail six weeks later. Only a client who has lived with it can tell you.
- Did they work the hours they promised? If the job was supposed to happen at night or on weekends so the floor could cure without disrupting the business, ask whether that actually happened or whether the crew showed up mid-morning and worked around people.
- Did the final invoice match the quote? Ask whether furniture moving, baseboards, or after-hours labor got billed as surprise add-ons after the fact. A reference who says “the price was exactly what they quoted” is worth a lot.
The closing question
- Would you hire them again, and would you recommend them to someone in your building? The pause before the answer tells you as much as the answer. An enthusiastic, immediate yes is real. A hesitant “yeah, probably” is a soft no.
The red-flag patterns to listen for
You are not just collecting answers. You are listening for patterns across the calls.
- Hesitation or refusal to provide references at all. This is the loudest signal there is. A contractor who has done good work has a line of clients willing to vouch for them. Stonewalling means the list is thin for a reason.
- Only cherry-picked friends. If every reference is a personal connection or a client from years ago, and the contractor will not connect you with anyone recent, the recent work is the part they do not want you to see.
- A crew-turnover number they will not give. Ask directly what their crew turnover looks like. A company that has invested in keeping people will tell you, sometimes proudly. A company that dodges the question is answering it.
- Vague answers that never land on specifics. “They were professional” with no story behind it, across multiple references, can mean the references barely remember the work, which is not the ringing endorsement it sounds like.
When the pattern across your calls is specific, consistent praise with real stories attached, you have a contractor worth hiring. When it is thin, curated, and vague, you have your answer too. These same instincts apply to the whole hiring process, and our guide to the red flags in a commercial floor care bid covers the ones that show up before you ever reach the reference stage.
Where reference checking fits in the bigger vetting picture
A reference check is one leg of the stool, not the whole thing. It confirms or contradicts what you have already learned from the bid, the walk-through, and the questions you asked the contractor directly. If you have not done those yet, our walkthrough on how to choose a commercial floor stripping and waxing contractor covers the full sequence, and the questions to ask before you hire set up everything a reference should later confirm.
Reference checks matter more for floor work than for general cleaning because floor stripping is the service the most contractors quietly get wrong. A crew can look busy and still leave a floor that fails, which is exactly why floor stripping trips up so many cleaning contractors. A reference who has watched a contractor’s finish hold up over a full year is telling you something a bid never can.
Frequently asked questions
How many references should I ask a floor contractor for?
Ask for at least three, but insist that at least one be their most recent client and one be a long-term client. The mix matters more than the number. Three curated favorites tell you less than one recent client, one client of several years, and, if you can find one on your own, a client who stopped using them.
What questions should I ask a contractor’s references?
Ask for specific stories, not general impressions. Whether the same crew showed up each time, how fast problems got fixed, whether the finish held up over months, whether the crew worked the promised hours, and whether the final invoice matched the quote. Close with whether they would hire the contractor again and recommend them to a neighbor.
What is the biggest red flag when checking references?
Hesitation or refusal to provide references, especially recent ones. A contractor with a steady book of satisfied clients has no reason to hold back. If they steer you only to a few hand-picked names and will not connect you with their last job, treat that as a warning.
Should I ask for recent references or long-term ones?
Both. Recent references tell you about the current crew, pricing, and onboarding. Long-term references tell you whether quality holds up after the first job. A contractor who can offer both is showing you consistency; one who can only offer old references may have a quality or retention problem now.
Is it worth calling references at all if the list is curated?
Yes, if you call the right people and ask the right questions. A curated list still leaks information when you ask for specific stories and listen for what is not said. And asking for the most recent client, plus finding a former client on your own, gets you past the curation entirely.
Excellence Janitorial Services has stripped and waxed commercial floors across Northeastern Pennsylvania for more than ten years, and we are glad to connect you with clients who can speak to how our floors hold up over time, not just how they looked on day one. If you are vetting floor care contractors, call us at (800) 851-0806 or request a free estimate, and ask us anything you would ask a reference.