Legal identity: CIF, S.L. and Registro Mercantil
Ask for the provider's CIF and their entry in the Registro Mercantil (companies register). A registered Spanish limited company (Sociedad Limitada — S.L.) is the minimum threshold for a commercial contract. Sole traders (autónomos) can be excellent for small residential jobs but rarely have the structure for a multi-site commercial contract.
SplendidaClean's own identity: SplendidaClean S.L., CIF B-26718155, Torrevieja.
Insurance: public liability cover
Public liability cover (responsabilidad civil) is not optional for commercial contracts. Ask for the policy number, insurer and cover amount up front — not after signing. €300,000 is a reasonable benchmark for offices, retail, clinics and shopping galleries; higher-value premises may need more.
Staff status: contracts and social security
Every operative on your site must be on a Spanish contract and registered with the social security. Ask, in writing, whether staff are directly employed by the cleaning company or subcontracted. Both are legal — but a contractor who cannot confirm on paper is a compliance risk you inherit.
References — real ones, not just logos
A wall of client logos means very little. Ask for two current commercial references you can phone, ideally in the same sector as your premises. A serious contractor either provides them or explains transparently why (multi-year confidentiality is a legitimate reason).
Written scope and Puesta a Punto
If the proposal is a single price on a page, the contractor is telling you their standard is 'whatever we feel like doing that visit'. Insist on an area-by-area written scope and a separately-quoted Puesta a Punto — the two documents together protect the client from vague delivery and the contractor from expanding-scope disputes.
Reporting and account management
Ask what the monthly deliverable looks like: what the report contains, who signs it and how quickly it reaches you. Ask who your named account manager is and what response windows are in the contract. Vague answers here almost always translate to invisible service later.
Pricing traps to watch
The three most common pricing traps in Spanish commercial cleaning:
- Puesta a Punto silently absorbed into month 1 (invoice comes in twice the expected amount).
- Materials 'billed separately' — genuine consumables like toilet roll are fair; general cleaning chemicals are not.
- 'Emergency call-out fees' outside contracted hours triggered by minor issues that a monthly report would have handled.
Trilingual capability
On the Costa Blanca South, a huge share of commercial owners and operators speak English, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian or German as their first language. A trilingual account manager avoids two months of small misunderstandings that always end up costing more than the language premium.