Designing for Cleanability
When a building looks pristine on opening day, it is easy to assume the most challenging work is behind us. But for anyone responsible for long-term maintenance, the real test begins after the ribbon cutting—when gravity takes over, traffic patterns emerge, materials age, and cleaning professionals inherit the consequences of design decisions they did not make.
Too often, architects and interior designers envision a space, contractors build it, and cleaning pros step in only after the last tile is installed. As a result, decisions about substrates, elevations, fixtures, flooring, and even paint finishes can dramatically affect the long-term cost and maintenance feasibility. And in many cases, those decisions are made without input from the professionals who clean and care for the building every day.
To explore why earlier collaboration matters—and what’s at stake when it doesn’t—ISSA Today sat down with Gordon Buntrock, national director of service delivery at ABM. With 45 years in the industry, including decades in healthcare, education, and technical training, Buntrock has seen firsthand how material choices and design assumptions play out over a building’s lifespan.
“Cleaning professionals inherit issues with the buildings that are built,” Buntrock said. “There’s really no input that the cleaning industry often gets on the materials that go in.”
This conversation brought together the worlds of design and operations: Two stakeholders who have far more to gain by collaborating early rather than meeting for the first time after the furniture is delivered.
The hidden disconnect
The idea that facility managers and cleaning experts would weigh in during the design process seems logical. Yet in practice, Buntrock said he rarely sees architects, manufacturers, and cleaning teams in the same room before construction begins.
“I don’t think there is,” he said when asked whether architects and facility managers ever collaborate on material selection. “The discussion often takes place between the architect, the installer, the manufacturer, and the interior designer. But not with the people who actually have to maintain it.”
This disconnect leads to predictable headaches. Buntrock has witnessed the consequences across nearly every type of facility—education, healthcare, commercial, and public spaces. The most consistent challenge, he noted, is selecting materials that are aesthetically appealing but not durable, cleanable, or appropriate for the environment.
“In 45 years, I’ve seen all the substrates and materials that are put down,” he said. In many cases, the natural materials selected for their visual beauty were never designed to withstand constant foot traffic, exposure to liquids, or the abrasion of sand and grit. Other times, designers chose porous or unsealed surfaces that trap soil and require costly maintenance interventions.
“There are just certain materials that… on the Mohs scale, at four or less, are soft,” he said. “They’re beautiful on the wall, but on the floor, they take a lot of maintenance.”
According to Buntrock, the industry already offers alternatives, such as porcelain or ceramic tiles, which replicate the look of natural stone while delivering better wear, better cleanability, and greater long-term value. But those alternatives only surface when maintenance professionals are invited into the conversation early.
“For less wear and less maintenance, we could put in a porcelain or a ceramic product that would look similar to the natural stone and wear better,” he said. “I don’t think that happens very often.”
Gravity never stops working
Material choice is only one part of the puzzle. Gravity plays an equally powerful—and often overlooked—role in how a building ages.
“Everything falls toward the floor,” Buntrock said. “Whether it’s air deposition, ventilation systems, soils, dust, or organic compounds, gravity takes over.” This means the highest elevations in a space—those architecturally stunning ceilings that soar 50- or 60-feet high collect dust, debris, and airborne particles that must eventually be removed.”
Cleaning teams have tools that can reach 20, 30, or even 60 feet, but the safety and practicality of those tools depend entirely on the building’s design. Floors must be level enough to support lifts. Fixtures must be spaced to allow movement. And in many cases, high windows require planned access routes.
“We always want our employees to come to work and return home the same way that they came,” Buntrock emphasized. When tall ceilings, open shafts, or multi-level atriums are designed without maintenance considerations, facility teams are forced to take risks they shouldn’t have to.
He summarized it succinctly: Architects must anticipate the long-term need to reach and clean every installed surface.
The long-term cost of short-term decisions
Beyond elevation, Buntrock said the most significant design variable affecting cleanability is porosity—how permeable a surface is, and how likely it is to absorb soils, liquids, pathogens, or stains.
He shared a worrying trend he has seen in many new builds: Tall, unsealed wood structures extending dozens of feet high.
“Recently, I’ve seen the installation of wood from floor to ceiling… and it wasn’t sealed,” he said. “So, you get soil that embeds in the wood. Vacuuming won’t get it out. It’s a discoloration or a staining of the material.”
The surface can be saved—but only with sanding or refinishing, neither of which is realistic as a routine cleaning practice.
Porous upholstery presents another challenge, particularly in public spaces that must comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) protocols in the event of blood-borne pathogen contamination. Many fabrics are dry-clean-only, but disinfectants are water-based.
“If we need to clean up a blood-borne pathogen spill, we need to use a water-based disinfectant,” he explained. “If your furniture is dry-cleanable, it shrinks or discolors because it was naturally dyed… and it will probably ruin that furniture.”
Even paint selection—often treated as an aesthetic decision—has significant implications for cleaning. “Every architect and designer loves flat paint,” Buntrock said with a smile. “It can be easily touched up. But is it cleanable? No.”
Flooring: Where climate, wear, and maintenance collide
No surface experiences stress like a floor. Buntrock, who spent years traveling across regions, shared a stark contrast between a Midwest hospital dealing with slush and salt and a Rocky Mountain facility designed with soil prevention in mind.
The latter featured a four-foot grate at the entrance, followed by additional grating on the walkway—an intentional effort to remove snow, sand, and gravel before visitors reached the interior.
“It was more about the prevention of soil coming into the interior environment,” Buntrock said. “Architects and designers should know the climate and design for it.”
Failure to do so has real consequences. Sand alone, he noted, has the same hardness as granite on the Mohs scale. When trapped under shoes or wheeled equipment, it acts like sandpaper—scratching, abrading, and slowly wearing away finishes.
Facility managers can use coatings, densifiers, and modern chemical treatments to mitigate the damage. And new flooring products such as luxury vinyl tile (LVT) offer promise—when specified correctly.
“Not all LVT flooring is the same,” Buntrock warned. “Some manufacturers put urethanes or harder materials in the top layer. It’s important to understand the durability rating.”
Selecting the right product significantly reduces labor and extends the maintenance cycle.
A possible design guideline?
When asked what ISSA could include in a design guideline for architects, Buntrock identified three overarching considerations:
- Functionality of the space. “Functionality is number one,” he said. “What is the crowd volume? Is it a vertical or horizontal surface? Is it high-touch?” These factors influence both the risk and the required cleaning frequency.
- Location and use. A lobby surface, a school hallway, and an operating room all have fundamentally different requirements. “Space type matters,” he emphasized.
- Material behavior. Porosity, cleanability, moisture resistance, and compatibility with disinfectants are crucial.
He also pointed to practical fixture design—particularly in bathrooms. “You always love to go up to a sink and get water all over you,” he joked. “Why couldn’t fixtures be slanted so the moisture goes back in the bowl?” In other words, he stressed, even small design choices have a significant impact on daily life.
When collaboration happens, everyone wins
While architects rarely initiate maintenance discussions, Buntrock has seen powerful results when building owners seek input.
He recalled a hospital customer who planned to replace terrazzo floors with a new substrate. Instead, Buntrock suggested restoring the terrazzo by removing acrylics, honing, polishing, and applying a densifier.
“We did two patient rooms,” he said. “The customer came out and said, ‘Could you do that to the rest of them?’”
It saved money, reduced disruption, and preserved a superior flooring system. In another new healthcare facility, Buntrock’s team worked ahead of time to adjust specifications, so newly installed stone would be honed and polished to 3,000 grit—dramatically reducing maintenance needs for years to come.
These examples, he said, demonstrate what’s possible when cleaning professionals participate early in the design process.
The path forward
Looking ahead, Buntrock believes the industry must build stronger bridges between design and maintenance. He regularly attends NeoCon—one of the world’s largest design shows—not to examine color palettes but to ask manufacturers what they’ve done to make new products easier to clean.
“I surprise them and ask, ‘What did you do in the design of the product to make it more easily cleaned?’” he said. “These are new materials hitting the market. We should be asking these questions early.”
He believes ISSA can play a meaningful role in developing guidelines and fostering dialogue between these professions. “ISSA could build a guideline for architects and start that interaction,” Buntrock said. “That would be something I’d want to participate in.”
Ultimately, the goal is simple: Create spaces that remain as beautiful, functional, and cost-effective on day 3,000 as they were on day one. “It would be a good conversation path to get started,” he said.
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