First things first
Who actually walks into your office after six
It is the question almost no commercial cleaning company can answer with names, because the work is done by rotating staff who sometimes do not even work for the company you hired.
At Cesana we are three siblings — Suseth, Jeniffer and Luis — and we do the work ourselves. No employees, no subcontractors. The people who walk into your office when nobody is there are the same three, every time, and you have met them since the day of the estimate.
That also means one point of contact. If something was done badly, you are not filing a ticket with a call center. You tell us, and we fix it.
An honest note. Cesana opened in July 2026. We are a new company and we do not have published reviews yet. We would rather tell you here than have you find out by searching.
What almost nobody explains
Commercial cleaning is taxed in Florida. Residential is not.
If you have ever compared two quotes and one looked cheaper, the difference may not have been the price. It may have been that one included the tax and the other was not collecting it.
In Florida, nonresidential cleaning is a taxable service. It is written into statute 212.05(1)(i), listed by the same industry code used for janitorial services. Cleaning a home, by contrast, is expressly exempt under administrative rule 12A-1.0091.
The state rate is 6%. Polk County adds a 1% discretionary surtax for 2026, per the Florida Department of Revenue form DR-15DSS. That is 7% total on cleaning your office.
There is no $5,000 cap
On sales of goods, the county surtax applies only to the first $5,000. On services it does not: rule 12A-15.004 says the surtax applies “without limitation” to sales of services. An annual cleaning contract is surtaxed in full.
The county where the work happens
Rule 12A-15.003 says the surtax collected is the one for the county where the service is provided, not where the cleaning company keeps its office. If your building is in Polk, Polk applies.
Careful with the 2025 news
On October 1, 2025 Florida repealed the sales tax on commercial rent. A lot of building managers read that as the tax on building services going away. It did not. That repeal changed nothing for nonresidential cleaning.
Why we are telling you. Because we itemize it on the estimate and we want you to know where it comes from. It is not our charge. It is a tax we collect and hand to the state.
Local knowledge
What the Lakeland climate does to an office
An office does not get dirty the way a house does. It gets dirty where the air comes in, where the water runs, and where people walk.
Hard water, with the real number
Finished water from the City of Lakeland has a total hardness of 108 mg/L at the Combee plant and 126 mg/L at the Williams plant, according to the utility’s own page.
On the USGS scale that is “moderately hard” and “hard.” It is not extremely hard water, whatever half of Florida writes in its advertising. What it does produce is mineral film on faucets, mirrors and restroom glass, and that changes the product you use and forces you to dry surfaces instead of letting them air off.
Pollen from February to May
UF/IFAS puts the heavy tree pollen season in Florida from February through May, with the worst of it in March and April.
In an office that shows up on return air grilles, on window sills and at the entrance. It is the season to increase frequency, not cut it.
Humidity and the HVAC
The EPA guide for schools and commercial buildings asks for three concrete things: keep relative humidity below 60% (ideally 30% to 50%), dry any wet spot within 48 hours, and keep HVAC drip pans clean and unobstructed.
We do not operate your HVAC system, but we do tell you when we see a blocked drip pan or a damp patch that has been there more than two days.
The entrance decides everything
Central Florida’s fine sand travels in on shoes and scratches floor finish. In an office with real traffic, the difference between a floor that lasts and one that needs refinishing every year is almost always the entry mats and how often they actually get vacuumed.
Products
Contact time, which is where most crews cut the corner
Disinfecting is not wiping. It is leaving the product on the surface for as long as its label says.
The EPA puts it plainly: contact time is the time the product must remain on the surface to be effective, and “the surface should be visibly wet for the entire contact time.” Spraying and wiping straight away does not disinfect. It cleans, which is not the same thing.
The EPA also warns that the same product is sold under different names and brands, and that the only way to accurately identify a product is by its EPA registration number. Using a product in a way that departs from its label is a violation of federal law.
So if you ask, we give you in writing the EPA registration number of every product that comes into your building, along with its labeled dwell time. You can check it yourself against the EPA’s List N, which is still being updated in 2026. It takes ninety seconds and it does not depend on trusting us.
Where we stop
Mold: how far we go and where we do not
Florida is one of the states that licenses this work, and we would rather tell you before you hire us than after.
We clean, and we help control the conditions the EPA points to: humidity below 60%, wet areas dried within 48 hours, and drip pans clear.
But Florida law defines mold remediation as treating more than ten square feet of mold, and that requires a state remediator license. We do not hold one. If we find more than that in your building we will tell you, and you will need a remediator licensed by the DBPR. We are not going to touch it.
About licensing. The state’s official portal indicates most services-to-buildings businesses do not need a state license to operate, and commercial cleaning does not appear on the DBPR list of licensed activities. Cesana is insured. If someone tells you they hold a “state cleaning license,” it is worth asking which one.
Services
What we do inside an office
Recurring cleaning
Daily, three times a week, weekly or every two weeks. Desks, touch surfaces, floors, interior glass and trash. With a task list by zone, not “general cleaning.”
Restrooms
The first thing a client judges, and where Lakeland hard water shows most. Disinfection with the dwell time actually respected, and chrome and mirrors dried rather than left to air off.
Break room and kitchen
Inside the microwave, the shared refrigerator if it is in scope, the sink, tables and the coffee maker filter. It generates more complaints between coworkers than anything else and it is the first thing cut from a cheap contract.
Floors
Vacuuming with attention to edges and corners, mopping, and finish maintenance appropriate to the floor type. If what you actually need is refinishing, we will say so, even though we do not do it.
After hours
After you close or before you open, so nobody has to work around a bucket. There are three of us and we schedule ourselves, so the window we agree on is the window we keep.
Post-construction
Fine cleaning of construction dust to hand over a finished space: grilles, frames, baseboards, glass, and the dust that keeps settling for the next three days.
Annual contracts start with a deep clean at no charge. It is the honest way to begin: we bring the space to its baseline, and from there we maintain it.
Questions
What office managers ask us
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes, and English. We are three Cuban-American siblings. The contract, the scope of work and the invoices come in whichever language you prefer, or both.
Will different people come every week?
No. We are the three owners and we do not subcontract. If one of us cannot make it on a given day, the other two go, and we tell you.
What exactly does the price include?
We hand it to you in writing before we start, zone by zone and task by task. The “I thought that was included” conversation is avoided by putting it on paper, not by trusting memory.
Do you charge sales tax?
Yes, because Florida law taxes nonresidential cleaning. You will see it itemized on the estimate: 6% state plus 1% Polk County.
Are you insured?
Yes, Cesana is insured. We send the certificate if your building asks for it, which is normal in managed offices.
How fast can you give me a price?
We come look at the space in person, because you cannot measure an office over the phone. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.
Annual contract or month to month?
Either. The annual contract has the advantage of starting with a deep clean at no charge. Commercial clients are billed net 15.
Where we work
Offices in Lakeland and across Polk County
Polk County has close to 14,000 employer establishments, according to the US Census Bureau. We go to any of them inside our service area.
Bartow is the seat of Polk County government, so most of what is there is administrative offices and professional practices. If your building has restricted access hours, tell us at the estimate and we will work around it.
Where the numbers come from
Sources
Tax on nonresidential cleaning: Florida Statutes 212.05. Residential exemption: Rule 12A-1.0091. County surtax for 2026: Form DR-15DSS, Florida Department of Revenue. Commercial rent tax repeal: TIP 25A01-04. Lakeland water hardness: City of Lakeland Water Utilities; hardness scale: USGS. Humidity and mold in commercial buildings: EPA. Contact time and registration numbers: EPA, registered disinfectants; label and federal law: EPA. Mold remediation license: Florida Statute 468.8411. State licensing for services to buildings: Open MyFlorida Business. Pollen season: UF/IFAS. Establishments in Polk County: US Census QuickFacts.
You may also need
Other commercial services
Medical and dental practices
If you also run a clinical space, the requirement is different there: a written cleaning and decontamination schedule, and documentation for every chemical.
Commercial cleaning in Polk County
Gyms, event venues, post-construction spaces and storefronts, across the county.
House cleaning in Lakeland
If this is for your home rather than your business, that is the page you want. And there is no sales tax on residential.
Want to know what your office would cost?
We come look at it in person, give you the price in writing, and you decide. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.