Custodian Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the custodian job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be expected to meet to be hired for the custodian role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does a Custodian Do?

A custodian is responsible for  making sure that a building is kept clean at all times. He/she is sometimes referred to as a janitor.

The custodian job description typically ensures that a building is not just neat but safe as well.

He/she spends most of his/her time sweeping, picking up any form of trash that lays around, cleaning the building, and using vacuum cleaners in mopping the floors of buildings.

The duties commonly carried out by custodians also include cleaning window glasses and/or panes, emptying trash bins, waxing floors, cleaning bathrooms/rest rooms, and carrying out minor maintenance and repairs like replacing spoilt electric bulbs, and fixing leaky pipes within the building if need be.

A large number of persons who work as custodian do so within building environments which they maintain.

Although in some cases, they may be required to do some work outside the building, like mowing grasses, trimming trees and/or flowers, making sure that sidewalks are always clean, and picking up dry leaves (by making use of a rake) that litter the environment.

The basic duty of a custodian is to provide regular upkeep of a building/property/structure.

Some custodians are also tasked with the opening of the building where they work in the morning or securing them in the evenings.

Some have the responsibility of occasionally inspecting the building’s cooling/heating systems, fire places, and smoke detectors.

His/her work description also entails maintaining the cleaning materials used in carrying out his/her daily duties and ensuring that they are always available whenever they are required.

In some cases, the request for cleaning materials are made directly to the suppliers while in other cases, they are made through a particular unit or personnel within the organization.

Custodian Job Description Example/Template

Custodians perform various functions in ensuring building environments are kept clean. The major duties, tasks, and responsibilities that commonly define the role are shown in the job description example below:

• Keep to cleaning schedules that are set-up by the cleaning supervisor in the organization, i.e. cleaning of windows, mopping floors, dusting, and sweeping
• Empty trash bins on a regular basis
• Put up signs to signal wet floors during cleaning or to show any other form of safety situation in the surroundings
• Re-stock materials like toilet paper and hand towels in the wash rooms
• Carry out extra cleaning duties as ordered or instructed by supervisors
• Make sure assigned cleaning tasks are executed in a timely and orderly manner
• Work as part of a team to execute cleaning duties and to make sure that standards (of neatness/cleanliness) are maintained
• Make reports to supervisor concerning repairs that have to be made (which have been noticed while carrying out daily duties)
• When in contact with hazardous materials, inform the appropriate authorities to handle the situation
• Prescribe appropriate cleaning materials and products needed for disinfecting and sanitizing the entire building according to the organization’s standards
• Always make proper cleaning logs and records that show areas of the building that have been cleaned; also design a cleaning schedule.

Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities – for Custodian Role

If you are interested in the role of custodian, here are typical requirements and qualifications you may need to have to be able to access the job with most firms:

• Must be able to always put up a cheerful and positive attitude
• Must be willing to offer help to both staff and customers of the organization whenever it is needed
• Must show commitment to the overall goals or objectives of the organization
• Must possess good communication skills
• Must have good interpersonal skills to be able to get along effortlessly with fellow custodians, customers, and staff of the organization
• Must be proactive when it comes to carrying out his/her duties
• Must be honest and truthful as he/she will have access to people’s belongings
• Must be courteous always
• Must be able to work with little or no supervision
• Must be self-motivated and diligent
• Must be able to work for several hours standing
• Must be familiar or have good knowledge of cleaning techniques and procedures
• A degree is not necessarily required but a certain level of education (high school) must have been completed
• Previous working experience as a custodian/janitor will be a plus.

Conclusion

If you are an employer looking to hire a new custodian for your organization or home, you can apply the sample job description provided in this post to quickly and conveniently make one for the position in your firm.

By creating and publishing a detailed description of the custodian role that you are recruiting for, your chances of attracting the best suited individuals to your organization will be enhanced.

You will also find this post beneficial if you are interested in the custodian job and want to learn about the duties and responsibilities they are commonly charged with.