Sector guide · Cleaning & facilities
A facilities contract is five trades wearing one client-facing brand: cleaning crews, caretakers, maintenance, grounds and front-of-house. The sector's workwear problem isn't any single kit list — it's making five kit lists read as one team without buying five uniforms' worth of chaos.
The map
| Role | Kit | The detail |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning crews | Polos or tunics, SR washable shoes, chemical gloves | The full list: workwear for cleaners |
| Caretakers & handypersons | Work trousers, polo + softshell, S1P | The generalist kit — smart enough for reception, tough enough for the boiler room |
| Maintenance engineers | The mechanic logic in a corporate colour | Snug cuffs near plant; nitrile for oils |
| Grounds staff | The landscaper list, badged to match | Same brand outdoors |
| Front of house & concierge | Corporate uniform, embroidered | The contract's face — presentation is the spec |
The system
FM borrowed healthcare's trick: colour codes identify role and zone at a glance — cleaning colours per area (the classic red/blue/green/yellow zoning), trim colours per trade, and client-specific accents where the contract demands. The garment that makes it cheap is the tabard: worn over a standard polo base, it carries the colour, the badge and the wipe-clean surface, and swaps per task without re-uniforming anyone.
The fleet logic follows: one base wardrobe (polos, sweatshirts, trousers in the company colour, embroidered once) plus role layers on top — tabards for cleaning zones, hi-vis for car parks and grounds, aprons for wet work. One brand, one reorder line, five jobs covered — and when the contract changes client, only the badge changes.
Buying
Questions
Assigning colours to zones or risk areas — commonly red for sanitary, blue for general, green for food areas, yellow for clinical — across cloths, equipment and often tabards, so cross-contamination is visible at a glance. Uniform trim can carry the same system.
They're the cheapest uniform system in FM: worn over a standard polo, a tabard carries the zone colour, the company badge and a wipe-clean surface, and swaps per task without changing the whole uniform. One base wardrobe serves every zone.
A standardised base layer (polos, sweatshirts, trousers in company colours, embroidered once) with role-specific layers on top — tabards for cleaning, hi-vis for grounds and car parks, corporate pieces for front of house. One brand, one reorder line.
Supply and customise, or embroider what you already use — send the logo and the headcount.