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What does a senior custodian do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read

A senior custodian's main responsibility is to lead a team and assign team members various tasks related to the daily custodial activities. They regulate a variety of custodial tasks to provide a safe and clean working environment. They have to make sure that restrooms, meeting rooms, and other rooms are duly cleaned. They also ensure routine maintenance activities are performed.

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Senior custodian responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior custodian resumes:

  • Maintain cleanliness ofschools, monitor seventeen man work crew
  • Operate power equipment such as carpet extractors, pressure washer, hand, and power tools.
  • Maintain cleanliness throughout college campus which includes bathroom, hallways, laboratories lodges, offices, and lecture hall
  • Maintain exteriors by sweeping and/or blowing down sidewalks, stairs, or cleaning with high-pressure washers and riding sidewalk scrubbers.
  • Operate vacuum cleaners, floor scrubber, buffers, high pressure washer, carpet cleaning machines, wet/dry vacuums, extractors.
  • Operate cleaning machinery including floor buffers and scrubbers.
  • Demonstrate ability to lift and move heavy objects owing to exceptional physical dexterity.
  • Used hand and power tools such as dollies, floor polishers, vacuum cleaners, mops, floor strippers.

Senior custodian skills and personality traits

We calculated that 9% of Senior Custodians are proficient in Ladders, Windows, and Floor Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Mechanical skills, and Physical strength.

We break down the percentage of Senior Custodians that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Ladders, 9%

    Operate and utilize a variety of custodial equipment including vacuum cleaner, small power and hand tools, various ladders.

  • Windows, 7%

    Checked and secured doors, windows, utility equipment, and property of district buildings.3.

  • Floor Care, 6%

    Performed floor care responsibilities following established cleaning and maintenance schedules.

  • Floor Machines, 5%

    Operate powered floor machines, and Anything that had to do with cleaning or stocking was my job.

  • General Maintenance, 5%

    Perform semi-skilled and skilled cleaning, housekeeping and/or general maintenance duties for the majority of the time.

  • Extractors, 4%

    Utilize buffing/waxing equipment and carpet extractors.

"ladders," "windows," and "floor care" are among the most common skills that senior custodians use at work. You can find even more senior custodian responsibilities below, including:

Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior custodian to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what senior custodians do because "janitors and building cleaners must interact well other cleaners and the people who live or work in the buildings they service." Additionally, a senior custodian resume shows how senior custodians use interpersonal skills: "assisted underground welding safety procedures.technical skills:interpersonal skills, organizational skills, time management skills, and basic industrial laborerskills. "

Mechanical skills. Another essential skill to perform senior custodian duties is mechanical skills. Senior custodians responsibilities require that "janitors and building cleaners need to understand general building operations and should be able to make routine repairs, such as to leaky faucets." Senior custodians also use mechanical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "general knowledge and experience in plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems. "

Physical strength. This is an important skill for senior custodians to perform their duties. For an example of how senior custodian responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "janitors and building cleaners often must lift and move heavy cleaning materials and equipment." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior custodian: "handle the general maintenance of all physical aspects of the clinic facility. ".

Time-management skills. A big part of what senior custodians do relies on "time-management skills." You can see how essential it is to senior custodian responsibilities because "janitors and building cleaners must plan and complete tasks in a timely manner." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior custodian tasks: "cleaned class rooms cleaned deskscleaned windowsswept and mopped floors came to work on time always good attitude"

All senior custodian skills

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Senior Custodian Resume
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Senior Custodian Resume
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Compare different senior custodians

Senior custodian vs. Cleaning and maintenance worker

Day porters are skilled employees who are responsible for conducting daily building maintenance at a facility to ensure it looks neat and presentable to the public. These porters are required to clean all common room areas such as the kitchen, cafeteria, and lobby as well as prepare conference rooms before and after meetings. They must complete minor repairs and place safety hazard signs in the building to warn customers and employees. Day porters must also provide service washrooms while responding to major spills or other cleaning crises.

The annual salary of cleaning and maintenance workers is $5,928 lower than the average salary of senior custodians.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between senior custodians and cleaning and maintenance workers are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like floor care, general maintenance, and scrubbers.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior custodians and cleaning and maintenance worker. For instance, senior custodian responsibilities require skills such as "ladders," "windows," "floor machines," and "extractors." Whereas a cleaning and maintenance worker is skilled in "clean windows," "customer service," "office buildings," and "commercial cleaning." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Cleaning and maintenance workers really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $26,444. Comparatively, senior custodians tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $45,245.cleaning and maintenance workers tend to reach similar levels of education than senior custodians. In fact, cleaning and maintenance workers are 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Senior custodian vs. Day porter

Cleaners ensure that a room, building, or other area is spotless. They clean by mopping floors, dusting cabinets, wiping surfaces, among others. They are in charge of ensuring that all areas are sanitized and always ready for use. They manage the sanitation of the washrooms. They also manage cleaning supplies and update the inventory when needed. They create requests for needed purchases of cleaning materials. They also keep a record of areas with routine cleaning needs to ensure that they will not be missed.

On average, day porters earn a $3,727 lower salary than senior custodians a year.A few skills overlap for senior custodians and day porters. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "ladders," "floor care," and "general maintenance. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior custodian responsibilities requires skills like "windows," "floor machines," "extractors," and "dust mop." But a day porter might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "commercial cleaning," "customer service," "work ethic," and "strong work ethic."

Day porters may earn a lower salary than senior custodians, but day porters earn the most pay in the utilities industry with an average salary of $28,643. On the other hand, senior custodians receive higher pay in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $45,245.day porters earn similar levels of education than senior custodians in general. They're 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Senior custodian vs. Cleaner

A porter is responsible for managing the building's cleanliness and orderliness, together with the cleaning maintenance team. Duties of a porter include ensuring the premises' safety, operating cleaning tools and equipment, and performing basic troubleshooting for defective machines. Other tasks include assisting visitors with their inquiries, leading clients to the appropriate departments, adhering to the highest safety standards and procedures, and answering maintenance calls. A porter must have excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to ensure daily smooth operations.

On average, cleaners earn lower salaries than senior custodians, with a $4,472 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on senior custodians and cleaners resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "floor care," "general maintenance," and "extractors.rdquo;

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior custodian is likely to be skilled in "ladders," "windows," "floor machines," and "dust mop," while a typical cleaner is skilled in "commercial cleaning," "ventilation," "customer service," and "work ethic."

Cleaners earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $29,514. Comparatively, senior custodians have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $45,245.When it comes to education, cleaners tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior custodians. In fact, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Senior custodian vs. Porter

Porters tend to earn a lower pay than senior custodians by an average of $2,686 per year.While their salaries may vary, senior custodians and porters both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "general maintenance," "extractors," and "scrubbers. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "ladders," "windows," "floor care," and "floor machines" are skills that commonly show up on senior custodian resumes. On the other hand, porters use skills like excellent guest, dexterity, manual dexterity, and customer service on their resumes.porters enjoy the best pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $30,781. For comparison, senior custodians earn the highest salary in the government industry.The average resume of porters showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to senior custodians. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.

Types of senior custodian

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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