How often are commercial office restrooms cleaned? Most facilities managers can quickly provide a date and time for each cleaning while others may say it depends on use and need. Which manager is more cost-effective without compromising the tenant or user experience?
If you are like 66% of facilities managers, you may believe it’s the manager who knows exactly when each restroom was cleaned. This is because cleaning is tied to a fixed schedule, where every restroom is approached with the same frequency regardless of how many people used it. This data comes from a recent Wakefield Research survey of 400 building and facilities management professionals. However, the facilities manager that can efficiently clean on demand is actually more cost-effective. Here is why.
Fixed Cleaning Schedules Are a Throwback
Fixed cleaning schedules made sense when it wasn’t possible to understand building usage and demand. However, this creates a blind spot. Let’s say the restroom near the lobby is very busy while the one on the third floor only sees heavy foot traffic midweek due to hybrid work schedules. In these common scenarios, the same staff and cleaning supplies are put to work with the same frequency and urgency.
What if the facilities director gets a call from HR that the lobby restroom is in disarray and a VIP client is on their way? The answer simply cannot be the crew is busy cleaning the unused space on the third floor. This leads to staff scrambles and potential burnout, wasted cleaning supplies, and a potentially embarrassing situation at the precise arrival time of the client.
While the survey found 60% of facilities decision-makers believe restroom cleaning is an area where better data would yield measurable savings, the majority believe that getting that data poses a problem. After all, if the goal is to better understand restroom usage, the assumption is that it requires installing invasive technology. Cameras are forbidden. Foot traffic counters are misleading. Physically checking each restroom is a waste of time.
Using Thermal Technology for Smart Cleaning
Facilities teams are taking a closer look at the use of thermal sensing technology to better understand the comings and goings of people in the building. Since thermal doesn’t have a camera and is built to understand human movement based on body heat, not individuals, it provides anonymity. On a macro level, this aggregates data about clusters of people outside the restroom, hallway traffic, and usage. On a micro level, you can get insight into the number of restroom door swings. This can alert maintenance crews when to clean. When the job is complete, the crew member can confirm they completed the assignment via an app instead of a paper form.
Pair all these data points with conference room reservation information and you start to see patterns following the Monday morning staff meeting or Friday team lunch. These patterns inform decisions about staffing and ordering cleaning supplies. It also becomes backup data for compliance audits.
One company that relied on fixed cleaning schedules experimented with using thermal technology. They reportedly saved $1,400 per year on one restroom. The cost savings prompted them to expand the technology throughout the building.
When you consider commercial janitorial service prices increased 5.7% from December 2025 to June 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for more strategic cost and staff management is clear.
While facilities teams understand everything about their buildings, perhaps it is time to get a deeper level of insight into exactly how the buildings are used. This granularity can maximize time and resources while ensuring an optimal occupant experience.
Honghao Deng is CEO and co-founder of Butlr, an MIT Media Lab spinout.