How Michigan’s Rising Minimum Wage Will Change Janitorial Pricing

In the state of Michigan, legislation has pushed up the minimum wage resulting in the small but impactful raise from $8.15 in 2015 to $8.50 in 2016 to $8.90 in 2017 to $9.25 which went into effect January of 2018, and now again $9.45 for 2019 starting in late March. This is all while the federal minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour. As an industry that is largely pinioned on its employee base, pricing can be severely impacted by an increase in such costs. While we can try to absorb these changes to limit the impact on your business, it is easy to see how challenging manage operational cost increases without passing along some of this price to you, the customer. That being said, you as the Facility Manager are still under pressure to keep your janitorial budgets under control. Let's look at a couple of ways that commercial cleaning companies are responding to higher labor costs to make sure that your cleaning budget isn’t further impacted while maintaining an effective level of service. For many of the most experienced, consistent, effective cleaning companies, it is a combination of some of the industry's best practices like:

• Smart Cleaning
• Open Book Pricing
• Time Saving Cleaning Equipment
• Team Cleaning
• Employee Retention Practices

The Difference Between Team Cleaning & Zone Cleaning

Team cleaning has been demonstrated again and again to be strictly more efficient than the traditional zone cleaning. To zone clean is to divide a building up into areas, assigning a specific cleaner or cleaning team to each respective area. While this may seem like a common sense approach to cleaning it can present a couple of problems, namely duplication and specialization. Take for example the process of cleaning one floor, it must be vacuumed or mopped (or both), dusted, surfaces cleaned, trashes emptied, and restrooms cleaned. This requires a large amount of equipment, consumables, and other products for each cleaner to do their job. Further, to properly complete these tasks, each cleaner must be familiar with the specifics of each task that goes into cleaning a whole section of a building. This is a challenging task and can often lead to incorrectly completed work. Team cleaning instead sends a group of people, each with assigned tasks to do throughout a facility. Each person is a specialist in their own right working on one specific item or process for each room. This way, each individual is better trained in their task and doesn't have to move large amounts of equipment from room to room helping to increase efficiency and decrease overall cost. Similarly, if you have a vacuum specialist, a floor cleaning specialist and a restroom specialist, for example, you do not have to outfit each individual cleaner with the equipment and supplies to do a variety of tasks. It is cheaper and far more efficient.

Industry Innovation Can Help Keep Prices Low

Like every industry, the janitorial industry has gone through a number of technological advances in the past few years. As a result, commercial cleaning has become increasingly more effective and more cost efficient. As an example of, the Clarke’s Boost floor cleaning machine, through case studies, has been shown to reduce labor costs by over 80%. While investing in this technology has a high associated cost, the efficiency it offers and reduction in hours can help keep janitorial and commercial cleaning prices down despite a rising minimum wage. Another technology that drastically changed the industry is HEPA filtration backpack vacuums, which allow cleaning staff to cover more than twice the area in a facility in the same amount of time as before. Additionally, the HEPA backpack vacuums also helped reduce repetitive motion injuries as well as improve indoor air quality compared to traditional vacuums. As you can see, not only does innovation in the commercial cleaning industry reduce labor hours, it also improves the health of your building by implementing greener, more sustainable technologies.

How to Use Smart Cleaning to Keep Prices in Check Without Letting Go of Quality

Implementing Smart Cleaning in your facility can help you keep costs down while living with the rising cost of labor in Michigan. To Smart Clean is to strategically target certain services while reducing others to help reduce the overall cost of cleaning while maintaining a similar, livable level of quality. Strategicallyis of course the key word. If your level of service suddenly drops off you are sure to be flooded with complaints and numerous other ancillary problems. The key to effective Smart Cleaning is two things: first, use a cleaning company that is experienced enough to know what can be cut back on and what cannot. Second, find a company that is willing to take the time to understand the ins and outs of your building as well as your specific needs so as to best implement Smart Cleaning in a way that works well for you and your facility. Smart Cleaning isn’t just a phrase that you can throw at your commercial cleaning company and expect results, it requires forethought, innovation, customization and above all, commitment. By cutting tasks that can go undone intermittently, you can significantly reduce your cleaning costs. When applied by an experienced company, you'll find you can reduce your cleaning hours and cost without drastically lowering the quality of your cleaning.

Janitorial Turnover Can Hurt Your Cleaning and Your Wallet

Any service businesses’ single greatest resource is their people, this is in part why rising labor costs have a big impact on Michigan cleaning companies. Employees are key to delivering quality service but the commercial cleaning industry can be notorious for its employee turnover. So, when you come across a janitorial company that actively works to reduce their turnover rate, you are very likely to benefit from their endeavors. Why is that? Mainly because the cost of bringing in new employees with any degree of frequency is a very large expense as it entails recruiting, screening, hiring, and training among other things. Add to that newer employees are more inefficient as they are learning and mastering their responsibilities. This is of course unavoidable, but if your cleaning company is a revolving door of new hires, they are really always in training mode reducing the quality and value of the cleaning services you are receiving. The higher the turnover rate is, the higher the cost is going to be to you, not to mention that the quality of your cleaning will be reduced by the constant changing of the staff that is cleaning your facility.

Use Open Book Pricing to Your Advantage

Open Book Pricing is when a janitorial company literally opens their books and shows you how they break down costs and profit. The benefit of this type open communication is that you can see exactly what it is your paying for and exactly what the hard costs are for your janitorial company. What you should be expecting to see when it comes to hard costs is the following:

• Direct Costs (often in the form of consumables like cleaners and other paper products)
• Labor
• Taxes
• Management Fees
• Employee Benefits
• Insurance
• Profits

In terms of expenditures, the highest expense will always go to staffing, and with the increase in minimum wage, this number will only go up. The best companies in the industry will look to position their business model in such a way to avoid passing on the cost to you by utilizing techniques like Smart Cleaning and by investing in efficient equipment. However, if you need fixed hours, the cost is going to go up. Taking advantage of industry innovation can help keep prices level, but understand how the rising wage impacts the price of your janitorial and commercial cleaning service provider.

Managing a Rising Minimum Wage Without Sacrificing Service

Inevitably, Michigan’s rising minimum wage will have an impact on costs in a number of industries and the janitorial industry is no exception. Still, there are things to be done with both you and your janitorial company making adjustments to try to keep costs as level as possible and still keep your facility well maintained. Are you looking for better service? Better value? More consistency? Reach out and let us show you how we can make your facility services work for you rather than against you.

Stathakis proudly serves the Southeastern businesses of Ann Arbor, including Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Downriver, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, and Plymouth.

Crystal Clear Pricing Is A Must For Any Successful Partnership

So often janitorial bids are confusing and difficult to understand when in reality cleaning prices should always be crystal clear and certainly easy to compare. We know that finding the right janitorial company to partner with can be a difficult task, especially given how many companies there are here in Michigan from which to choose. Not only are is it a crowded janitorial marketplace, there are so many different level providers and so many other factors to consider when trying to decide what company will be the best long term fit for your facility.

What Makes Up A Janitorial Bid?

No matter how much we would all love if effective commercial cleaning and janitorial services were easy to find, effective and affordable, that just isn’t the case. Deciding upon your next cleaning company doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark if you are armed with good information. First, what’s really in a bid? Every service industry, janitorial companies included, must account for hard costs like insurance, taxes, labor, benefits, cleaning supplies and more. As is with any service business, the largest hard cost is the price of labor, especially considering the changes to minimum wage here in Michigan. Aside from this, you also have your facility’s needs to consider. For instance, budgetary requirements, your building’s traffic, and maintenance needs among a host of other things. In order to provide you with the most accurate information about the cost of cleaning your facility, your prospective janitorial company is going to need to know these factors as well as information like square footage, the number of restrooms, floor type and any other details that can help them build an accurate quote. Site visits can also be an important component of accurate janitorial bids.

Too Low & Value Falls Apart

In an era of ever tightening budgets, we are all looking for a way to trim costs. Still, keep in mind when negotiating costs that there needs to be a balance between reducing the cost to you and making sure your prospective company is still turning a healthy profit. Go too low and your commercial cleaning company simply won’t be able to do the work you need. Janitorial companies have hard costs especially with regard to labor hours. They need to be able to cover their costs in labor, equipment, administration, supplies, and most importantly, net a reasonable profit margin. Without that they won’t be in business for long. So, when looking at prices for your commercial cleaning company, you have to consider what it costs your janitorial services company and what it costs you and strike a healthy balance.

Don’t Use Price As Your Only Gauge

If you are using lowest price as the sole basis for deciding on a Plymouth janitorial company, you are not likely to like the results. Getting a company that fits your bottom line but doesn't do the work promised or the work you need isn’t a good deal at any price. Getting your facility's needs met is the first priority of any potential partnership between you and an Ann Arbor cleaning service. This doesn't just mean that they sometimes provide the level of service required, it means that they consistently deliver on their promises to you and adjust according to what you need. While price will always factor into choosing a contractor, it should never be the only factor.

Beware the Very High & Very Low Prices

There is an important distinction that needs to be made between price and value. If you are receiving poor or inconsistent service at a rock bottom price, you might like the price but you aren’t getting what you need. Another way to think out about it is paying to have your facility not cleaned. No one would ever say “Hey! That is a great deal on not having my facility cleaned!” And the flip side of this is that high prices are not a guarantee of better service. You have to look beyond price t determine if you and your facility are truly getting value. All too often you will ask for a number of janitorial quotes and the prices will not actually reflect the reality of what your facility needs, value or what you will really end up paying. Many companies simply don’t know how to accurately price their services. Low prices can be a way of securing your contract and then boom, you are hit with hidden charges and fees and high prices are usually a result of inexperienced bidding. As Facility Manager, you should be looking for the company that offers a reasonable and clear price that falls within your janitorial budget. As such, you deserve to get clear bids and transparent pricing to help you make the best decision for your facility.

Why The Cheapest Price Is Not Likely The Best Value

Cheap prices are always going to be tempting, especially if your budgets are tight to begin with. Unfortunately, very low prices are often a red flag for activities like illegal hiring, subcontracting, low quality service, and pricing games. Still, it is all to often the Facility Managers convince themselves that as a result of their budget that they have to partner with a bottom of the barrel commercial cleaning company in order to make ends meet. Never settle for a company that isn’t going to provide a consistent level of quality in their work regardless of their price. The best cleaning companies in the industry understand that many Facility Managers are in the same position and actively work to come up with custom cleaning solutions to make sure that your facility gets cleaned properly without going over budget. By taking advantage of industry proven practices like Smart Cleaning and Team Cleaning, you can streamline your cleaning to only include the essentials while removing other expensive services that your facility does not really need in order to operate effectively.

Some Janitorial Companies Understand How To Do More With Less

Experienced, professional janitorial companies know which services can be cut and which cannot in order to help you meet your bottom line numbers. They know that cutting service to areas without thought and planning will immediately cause an influx of complaints and calls that will cause all kinds of problems. Cuts have to be smart, strategic and planned. For instance, maybe the conference room can be cleaned once or twice a week, while restrooms must be cleaned every evening. The right commercial cleaning company will be able to work directly with you to make these calls to get the core areas of your building serviced without showing an appreciable loss in service to your tenants or employees. For smart cleaning to be effective, however, your cleaning company needs to have a detailed and complete understanding of the ins and outs of your facility. This means that you need to do a complete walk-through and sit down to create a plan based on traffic patterns and unique building requirements. Smart Cleaning, done correctly, will give you the tools you need to still get a high level of consistent service without going over you cleaning budget.

Don’t Settle For Overpriced Services That Don’t Deliver, You Can Do Better

It is always a balancing act between a reasonable price and a reasonable level of service when it comes to commercial cleaning. You don’t want to overpay for your cleaning service but at the same time you don’t want to accept the first unbelievably low bid you get as you likely won’t like the results. The goal of course is value, that point where price and quality meet to give you the most bang for your janitorial buck.

Here at Stathakis, we deliver janitorial services and building maintenance services to Southeastern Michigan including: Genesee County, Livingston County, Washtenaw County, Monroe County, Wayne County, Macomb County, St. Clair County. We offer effective, professional office cleaning services to the cities of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Farmington Hills, Dearborn, Farmington, Livonia, Plymouth, Downriver, Royal Oak, Southfield, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi and more.

The Myth Of The Perfect Commercial Cleaning Company

While finding the right commercial cleaning company for your facility isn’t always going to be a fairytale with the perfect happy ending, it is certainly a worthy quest to embark upon. Still, it can feel like a futile pursuit. Maybe this is in part because many cleaning companies will offer promises of service that seem straight out of mythical stories where they are the one and only hero cleaning company that can vanquish dirt in your facility. Finding a company that not only makes promises but can actually deliver on them is quite a feat. While finding a janitorial company that can and will deliver effective, consistent, high quality service is the goal and we have a couple of tips and tricks to make sure that you can find the right company for you and your building without having to go on an epic, lifetime journey slaying monsters and dragons along the way. Don’t give up on your quest to find the best commercial cleaning company just yet.

Blind Bids & Cloudy Pricing Don’t Lead to Happy Endings

It happens all too often that a Facility Manager will accept a less than clear cleaning contract thinking. Maybe they are mesmerized and hopeful about finally getting the service they need but all too often they find that promises disappear in a poof of air or worse, that it was all a devious trap. Many cleaning companies will offer unbelievable, mythical prices, too good to be true as some would say, and it can be easy to convince ourselves this is what we need. However, these low, unclear prices are often a sign of two things. The first is inexperience, a company that lacks experience in janitorial and commercial cleaning will often not know how to properly construct a bid leading to inaccurate, unclear pricing. Second is that a cleaning company is trying to hide fees and charges in order to get your business now and get more money out of you later. By having an unclear bid, they can effectively obscure these charges. Never partner with a company that can’t or won’t produce a clear janitorial bid for your building. You deserve to know exactly what you are getting and what it is going to cost.

Communication Must Be a Part of the Story

The next critical aspect of any successful commercial cleaning service is a quick system in place to respond to problems and customer issues. Now of course, when you ask if there is such a system in place, every company will answer with a resounding yes. But, not every company can back this assertion up.  The key here is to ask to see their plan, to walk you through how they handle issues now. The best commercial cleaning services will have a clear written plan/policy on how they respond to customer requests, complaints and other issues. The truth of the situation is that not even the oracle of all cleaning companies can operate with peak performance in your facility without some feedback. After all, you know your facility the best. As such, regular communication is key to your satisfaction as well as receiving a high level of consistent cleaning service in your facility year after year.

People Are Key

The cornerstone of any successful service business is their frontline staff, as they are the people that represent them. You can’t have an epic story without the very best characters. One significant problem when it comes to the janitorial and commercial cleaning industry is the high turnover rate that often leads to an influx of new people servicing your facility. This can bring with it a couple of major problems. The first is that no matter how good a company is at training their cleaning staff, nothing can make up for experience and getting acclimated to the unique needs of your facility. So, with a constant revolving cast of characters, what you’ll find you are missing is practical experience reducing the quality of service. The second issue that will come up is that of security in your office. With new staff constantly entering and leaving it can be difficult to properly screen employees, putting you building at risk or giving tenants and employees the impression it isn’t safe.

Require A Regal Reputation

When it comes to protecting your kingdom from the dragon that is dirt and germs, you want to have the right dragon slayer for the job, right? So how do you find a this almost magical, mythical cleaning company? You don’t want the man that boasts about his skill but rather the one that has a reputation for quality dragon slaying. Finding the right commercial cleaning company for your building can really come down to who you know. Recommendations from other industry professionals and trusted Facility Managers are great if you can get them. While no one is perfect, these companies consistently provide a high level of service earning them a reputation for their solid work ethic, professionalism, easy to understand bids and quotes, open communication lines, and proven practices.

Check Certifications

In lieu of a trusted recommendation, you can use the ISSA’s CIMS and CIMS-GB certification to separate the princes from the frogs. This particular industry certification requires companies to hit a series of benchmarks in service, people, training, communication, green cleaning and other core areas to ensure that if you partner with this company, that they will deliver the highest quality cleaning service. Essentially, going with the commercial cleaning service that has secured professional certification from an industry organization is like magic to save you the time of doing all of the due diligence from the start. Of course you still will want to determine that they will be a good fit but you at least start well ahead of the game.

Getting Your Happily Ever After

Get your fairy tale ending, or at least pretty close by finding and partnering with a commercial cleaning company that will service your building most effectively for the best possible price. Any janitorial company that invests and values their staff, offers clear, easy to understand janitorial bids, and has a solid reputation is likely to keep your building looking it’s best. As an added bonus, you can quickly identify companies like this by taking advantage of the ISSA’s CIMS certification to quickly sort the pros from the nos. As long as you know where to look, there are truly professional commercial cleaning services and finding one for your facilities is possible and will make your job and life much easier in the long run getting you closer to happily ever after.

Here at Stathakis, with over 30 years in, we have carefully developed and refines our standard of service that meets or exceeds that of our closest competitors. We have achieved CIMS certification through hard work and determination and continue to meet CIMS certification year after year. We have also worked hard to create lasting relationships with our customers and offer the businesses of southeastern Michigan the service they deserve by adhering to and even expanding janitorial best practices.

Are you searching for commercial cleaning services in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver or surrounding areas? Are you looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or other building services and need more than the same old song and dance, please contact us to learn more about how we can assure you get the service you and your facility require.

The Dirty Truth About Germs & School Cleaning

If you have children or have ever been around them, it is no surprise to you that they are very efficient spreaders of disease. Not to call anyone out but with dirty fingers, always in noses, mouths and eyes, and the ability to make objects sticky just by looking at them, kids are the ideal carrier and distributor or the flu and other common illnesses. So, when flus are making their yearly rounds, you can be sure children have a role in its spread and transmission. Ideally, we would want sick children to stay home for their sake and ours, but often children are most contagious before they even show symptoms of illness. So keeping sick kids home does only so much. And with an already tight curriculum and the increasing importance of attendance for success, attendance is more important than ever. So, what can your school cleaning company be doing to minimize and prevent illness in the classroom and to keep your students and your staff healthy?

Cleaning In Schools 101

Research on bacterial and viral spread in classroom settings is plentiful and the ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) has an extensive list of recommendations when it comes to school cleaning. What does this research say and what should your school cleaning company be doing to keep your school a healthy learning environment even in the middle of flu season?

1. First and foremost, it was found that elementary school classrooms were often as, if not more dirty as their respective restrooms.
2. All too often surfaces are only cleaned to appear clean, passing visual inspection but still being laden with bacteria and other disease causing pathogens.
3. Door handles, railings and any other surfaces that are touched regularly offer an ideal breeding ground and transmission point for bacteria.
4. Of all classroom surfaces, gym mats are the most likely to be contagion spreaders because they are cleaned with dirty mops that only spread dirt and bacteria.

If There Were A Test On School Cleaning How Would YOUR Cleaning Company Do?

To understand effective school cleaning, you need to understand touch points. A touch point is any surface that is regularly touched throughout the day. For instance: stair railings, computer mice, and door handles. Research confirms what common sense tells us, that the surfaces touched the most often are the dirtiest and have the highest bacterial load. On top of that, these areas are the main perpetrators when it comes to spreading disease around the classroom. Think about it, Johnny has the beginning of a cold so he wipes his hand across his runny nose, then he touches the stair railing, uses the computer lab computer that many other children will use and opens the door to the cafeteria, all the while leaving behind germs that can then hop an easy ride with the next hands they come into contact with.

So, if your school cleaning service is ignoring these touch points then the germ loads build up and make their way across your school even more efficiently. If you school cleaning service isn’t taking the time to thoroughly clean those oft touched surfaces, your school may look clean but it isn’t clean where it counts most. Proper disinfection of all surfaces, especially hotspots, is the only way to make sure that your school is both visually clean and a safe, healthy environment for students, teachers, and other staff.

Quality Education Starts With a Clean School

It can be easy to convince yourself that because your surfaces appear clean that they are, but we know this isn’t the case. There are real and measurable effects of failing to clean for health from the overall health of your students to absenteeism and even overall school performance. Many studies show a strong correlation between clean surfaces like desktops, work tables and handles and a reduced rate of absenteeism for both students and staff. With the obvious link between absenteeism and test scores that can negatively impact your school’s performance, it is essential that you take steps to insure the health of your students, educators, and staff by partnering with a school cleaning company that knows what matters most.

Is Disease Spreading On Your Campus?

Does your current school cleaning company understand the science of cleaning for health? No matter what kind of institution you are, whether it be university all the way down to pre-school, a commercial cleaning service that understands how to protect you and your students health and uphold a clean and welcoming appearance. The most effective school cleaning companies understand the distinction between the terms cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing and know when it is appropriate to use each. Understanding the importance of hotspots and touch points and the science of disease transmission can distinguish the run-of-the-mill cleaning companies from your committed industry professionals.

Building A Healthy Learning Environment Is Key To Successful Education

Good learning begins with a good foundation and that begins with the right tools and a healthy, clean, safe school environment. Your school cleaning company should make these lofty but necessary goals more attainable rather than out of reach. Are you happy with your current school cleaning services or is time for a change?

Here at Stathakis, we work with schools of all kinds to build cleaning programs that meet the needs of each individual customer. We know how to deal with touch points and tailor our cleaning solutions to target areas that may be unique to your school and learning environment. Don’t settle for a company that doesn't take cleaning for health seriously. Can we help you? If you would like to learn how we help schools with effective maintenance all while staying on budget, please contact us at (800) 278-1884.

At first glance it may seem like cleaning for health and green cleaning are two separate things. It even used to be the case that green cleaning solutions were less effective than your standard cleaners putting you in the position where you had to make a choice between safe but less effective cleaning products or potent but dangerous commercial cleaners. Green cleaning has come a long way since then, but it still has that negative association of less effective cleaning or much higher cost attached to it. We are here to tell you that you can have your cake and eat it too. Green cleaning has made real strides and can both help protect you from harsh cleaning chemicals while making sure that your facility is properly cleaned for the sake of your health, all at prices that won’t bust your budgets. Now you can have the benefit of better indoor air quality, environmental stewardship, and a high quality cleaning that you and your facility require.

Eco-Friendly Office Cleaning Now Versus Then

Green cleaning has significantly advanced in the last decade with advances in safety AND efficacy. By combining new advances in tools, training, and chemicals, new environmentally friendly cleaning solutions and techniques far surpass their predecessors. While you care about environmental stewardship, at the end of the day your facility needs to be cleaned at the highest level to both protect your reputation and safeguard the health of everyone who enters your facility.

The best commercial green cleaning services are going to utilize the best in green cleaning solutions like color coded microfiber rags, HEPA filtration vacuums, green cleaning chemicals, spray-and-vac equipment and other no touch cleaning systems. HEPA multi-filtration vacuums have been shown to improve air quality by up to 99% by removing allergens and other particulates. Additionally, color coded microfiber cloths are a good way to minimize cross contamination in your facility while remaining an effective way to remove dust and bacteria from surfaces. 

Another important aspect of environmental stewardship is water conservation and material conservation. There are a couple of green cleaning solutions that make this directive a reality. Low-moisture vacuum systems like the Whittaker carpet cleaning method have been designed to use less water in the cleaning process as well as improving the life expectancy of your carpets. Another good example would be flat-mopping, or a system of carefully dispensing water and cleaning solution onto surfaces to make sure it gets spread evenly and does not oversaturate specific areas while not cleaning others. Even newer mechanical hard floor cleaners are using less water than ever. Not only are these cleaning solutions effective for keeping your facility bacteria free and looking presentable but they are the best in green cleaning. As for material conservation, a cleaning company’s methods can help work to this goal. For instance, cleaning companies can opt to empty trash cans with mostly paper refuse without replacing plastic liners every time both cutting costs and plastic trash. Similarly, a cleaning company can stock restrooms with toilet paper and hand towels made with a high percentage of recyclable materials. These products, practices and equipment all add up to big green cleaning feats.

Green Cleaning Can Make Or Break Your Budget

With advances your commercial cleaning services can do more work in less time giving them adequate time to focus on cleaning for health and implementing green cleaning solutions that won’t break the bank. These professional cleaning companies are experienced in tailoring their cleaning solutions to your facility and determining how green cleaning best fits into the specific needs of your building. The fusion of all these green cleaning techniques, technology, solutions and training is what makes the best Detroit cleaning services miles ahead of the competition. By going green you not only get access to better cleaning products and cleaning equipment, but you get the benefit of better trained teams and specialized cleaning built for your facility and its unique needs. Not only will you get a superior cleaning, but it will be environmentally responsible and better for you and your staff. The right green cleaning companies use green practices, green products and green technology to drive a better, more efficient service at a better price.

Using CIMS-GB To Find The Right Green Cleaning Company

While green cleaning is top of mind for many a facility manager, is can be a challenge to find a green office cleaning company that has a serious commitment green cleaning that goes beyond marketing buzz words. More often than not, you are going to run into companies that try to use green cleaning as a way to get your business and take your money rather than giving you the effective green cleaning service you seek. Fortunately for you, there is a good way to sift through the many cleaning companies looking for the shining stars among them. CIMS certification makes that sifting process much, much easier. CIMS certification is a comprehensive industry certification done by an independent auditor and examiner that verifies that a company holds up the industries best practices. On top of this, the CIMS-GB is a sub-certification specifically for green cleaning. Starting your search for a new commercial cleaning company is much easier and more likely to net the right partner when you limit your search to companies with CIMS certification.

Is There a Trade Off Between Green Cleaning & Price?

We all want to protect the environment, but at the end of the day, we need our facilities to be cleaned properly and at a reasonable price. There is a trade off between environmental stewardship and our janitorial and commercial cleaning budget. Fortunately, with the rapid advance in cleaning technology, you can get an effective green cleaning that fits your budgetary requirements if you partner with the right Michigan commercial cleaning service.

It can be helpful during your search for janitorial service to ask prospective companies about their green cleaning programs. Do they have real practices, policies and systems behind them or are they just empty promises? If you are in search of green commercial cleaning services in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver, please reach out to us at Stathakis. With over thirty years serving the businesses of southeastern Michigan, we are a respected and trusted part of the business community.

The Monsters In The Closet Of Office Cleaning

You partner up with a office cleaning service in the hopes that they will be able to keep your facility clean without the nightmare of trying to manage each aspect of making sure it gets done. In fact, this offloading of management duties should be a significant benefit of outsourcing your commercial cleaning to an industry professional. As such, you go out and scour the janitorial marketplace for a company that meets your needs and sign a contract on the promise of responsive, effective, and professional cleaning services.

So when the office cleaning company you thought was going to be a dream turns out to be a nightmare, it’s disheartening. Perhaps this has happened more than once, the unfortunate truth is that the industry is filled with cleaning companies that just can’t deliver on their promises of service. Many of the Facility Managers that we partner with had enough bad experiences that they cane to believe that it was nearly impossible to find office cleaning services that could provide a quality service for a reasonable price. All too often we hear that every cleaning company is the same. While there are plenty of bad companies that are the stuff of nightmares, there are some quality service providers just right for your facility that will make it easier to sleep at night knowing your facility is in good hands.

Why Inexperienced Office Cleaning Companies Are the Stuff of Bad Dreams

Commercial cleaning companies will vary in size, type, and levels of experience leading to a diverse, sometimes tricky marketplace to navigate. As such, finding the right commercial cleaning service can be one of the scariest parts of the process. Many of these companies are startups, fly-by-night operations, and small companies trying to grow outside of their markets. While every business needs somewhere to start, many of these office cleaning companies simply aren’t going to be able to meet your needs in any capacity. It takes time to master skills and to adjust services in order to offer the professionalism and responsiveness customers deserve. No matter how enthusiastic startups and young companies are they just can’t make up for a lack of experience. Further, many of these cleaning companies have an idea of what it takes to run a successful office cleaning company that isn’t firmly based in the reality of the work. They will often pursue contracts thinking that they can service your facility only to find out they have bitten off more than they can chew leaving you with a cleaning service that can’t do their job. This will almost always lead to them asking for more money or them cutting down on service. Either way, their inexperience creates major problems for you.

Overly Low Janitorial Bids Should Frighten You

We have all heard the saying ‘you get what you pay for.’ Many of us discard it as anachronistic wisdom, but there is a lot of truth to it when it comes to hiring commercial cleaning companies. The largest hard cost to any service company is the cost of labor and labor hours, so when looking at a bid that seems too good to be true, think about what that might really mean:

• Illegal hiring and subcontracting that often avoids taxes and insurance
• Intentional or unintentional underestimating the number of labor hours needed to completely clean a facility to artificially deflate prices. This will usually be followed by a request for more money or a downshifting of service
• Below market pay and a lack of training or benefits that both reduces service quality and increases employee turnover.

Are Hazy Office Cleaning Quotes Giving You Bad Dreams?

While suspiciously low cleaning quotes should give you pause, high prices from a prospective office cleaning is no guarantee of dream service. On either end of the spectrum, price doesn’t always align with value. The trick is to look for good deals over great deals. The goal should be real value built into a price that fits your budget. Ask yourself, am I getting the services I need to maintain the facility at the level I need and is it priced in a way that makes sense and fits my budget? Look for clear, transparent pricing and janitorial quotes that are specific to your facility. The more specific a quote and the clearer the price point, the easier it will be to compare your quotes apples to apples style to decide what is best for your facility. Another important characteristic to look for when shopping commercial cleaning companies is company culture and employee practices.Office cleaning services that have established, proven practices for recruiting, hiring, and training are more likely to have lower janitorial turnover and better service. Not only will this help ensure a higher quality of service, but companies that actively invest in their staff are likely to be more experienced and will ultimately offer you a better cleaning.

Finding An Office Cleaning Company That Won’t Give You Nightmares

The right office cleaning company can make your life so much easier but the wrong one can be a nightmare. But finding the most professional, effective and responsive office cleaning companies can take a lot of leg work. Imagine not having to spend hours of your already busy day trying to determine whether a prospective cleaning company sufficiently screens their employees, or illegally subcontracts or has sufficient liability coverage or is going to still be in business months from now. Fortunately for you there is an easier way to do this, and better yet, it is entirely free to you. You can quickly narrow down prospective cleaning companies by looking to see which have the ISSA’s CIMS or CIMS-GB certification. This intensive industry specific accreditation is a good way to determine which companies are committed to industry best practices, innovation, responsive customer service, and offering observable systems and practices that assure a higher level of service.

At Stathakis, we work to recruit, screen, train, and properly manage our staff to provide a quality cleaning experience. We dedicate ourselves to the highest level of cleaning and customer service and continue to innovate in our industry to offer our customers continua improvements and cost savings. And, of course, we are CIMS certified because we are committed to quality. If you need office cleaning services and your business is in the Southeastern Michigan service area, please reach out at (800) 278-1884 and let us make your life easier and your facility shine. Proudly serving Genesee County, St. Clair County, Macomb County, Oakland County, Livingston County Wayne County, Washtenaw County and Monroe County.

Poor Restroom Cleaning Spells Disaster

It may not always seem critical, but restroom cleaning is one of the most important aspects of proper maintenance and cleaning. Restrooms, more than any other area of your building, are going to get used, abused, and are quite often the first areas to need your cleaning service’s attention. Not to mention the restrooms you are dealing with are not like your average home bathroom with a few users, but rather  full blown high capacity public restrooms with a steady stream of people in and out all day long. If you don’t slice through the layers of dirt, filth, and odor with regular and deeper cleaning, your restrooms are going to look like a scene out of a horror movie. And just like every horror movie, once things start going downhill, they go downhill fast. The last thing you need as a busy facility manager is to have an inbox filled with complaints about poorly cleaned restrooms. So how do you go about keeping your restrooms presentable? How do you find a commercial cleaning company that can do their job properly?

Are Restroom Odors Sharp?

If your commercial or janitorial cleaning company isn’t up to par, odds are that this isn’t the first time you’re hearing about it. Maybe you are constantly inundated with complaints about the state of your restrooms. Or maybe service is hit or miss and you can see that there simply isn’t a plan in place to keep your restrooms looking their best. If there is one thing that needs to be done correctly, it’s restroom cleaning. It sends a message to your customers and employees alike about the atmosphere and culture of your business. Not only can dirty restroom present a major image problem, the much larger concern is the health hazard an unclean bathroom poses. Any area that is regularly used and touched by large amounts of people is going to come with the risk of housing pathogens. The office restroom is the perfect spot for disease and infection to spread at record speed. When it comes to the health and safety of your facility and everyone in it, your commercial cleaning won’t cut it if they can’t keep your restrooms cleaned and stocked. Poorly cleaned restrooms will cut your reputation to shreds and ultimately slice right through your bottom line.

How Restroom Cleaning Cuts Apart Your Bottom Line

We all know that filthy restrooms are some of the least pleasant places on the planet, but this isn’t the only cost to you. A dirty restroom has a real and measurable impact on your business. First and foremost, filthy restrooms are one of the largest contributors to employee absenteeism and subsequent employee turnover. Even if your employees don’t leave, restrooms that aren’t cleaned properly have been traced back to lower employee satisfaction rates and productivity cutting apart your bottom line. No matter what kind of business you run, unclean restrooms are going to hit where it hurts most. You’ll notice increased employee turnover, reduced sales, and a much more difficult time attracting industry top talent. On top of this, when your employees perceive that you take shortcuts with insufficient cleaning, it sends the message that shortcuts and subpar performance is acceptable.

Is It Clear Your Restroom Cleaner Isn’t Making The Cut?

You probably know the risks and danger associated with poorly kept restrooms. And you can definitely see and smell a poorly maintained restroom. But how can you really tell if your cleaning service is not cutting the mustard? Here are a couple of red flags that indicate your cleaning service isn’t cutting it:

• Mirror are cloudy, spotty, wet or dirty
• Sinks are grimy with dirt and muck collecting around drains and handles
• When you walk into the restroom the smell is the most overwhelming feature
• Amenities like soap, toilet paper, and towels are low or out of stock
• Your stalls have been less that creatively decorated with graffiti and unpleasant markings
• There is visible sediment and soils that have built up on the base of urinals or sit-down toilets
• Your trash cans and other disposal receptacle are filled or overflowing
• The door handles and other switches are dirty or broken
• Restroom floors are dusty, dirty, wet or sticky

No cleaning company is going to be perfect, but if you are seeing these things frequently in your restrooms it is time to have a talk with your cleaning company or to start looking for a new janitorial contractor.

Restroom Cleaning Services That Make the Cut

The difference between an effective, successful commercial cleaning service and subpar cleaners isn’t such a big one. It is often the small details and consistency that set them apart. While these changes are small, they make all the difference in how people perceive your facility. The most effective cleaning companies understand cleaning for health and are well versed in deciding how to best deal with pathogens in different settings. They will not only make your restrooms look their best, but they will actively reduce the bacterial load and take preventative measures to keep your restrooms and overall workplace clean and healthy. They take advantage of the industries best practices like a color-coded rag system to prevent cross-contamination, they observe dwell times, and their employees are well trained an equipped to effectively clean restrooms. So what do these best practices look like when they are applied to your office restrooms? Here a couple things you’ll notice when you have an effective, consisten restroom cleaning service:

• Their rags and mop heads are color-coded so that they keep cross-contamination to a minimum helping reduce the bacterial load in your restrooms and throughout your facility.
• They keep stalls graffiti free and well cleaned so there is never anything suspect on them.
• All sinks and toilets are left completely clean.
• All counters and other surfaces are kept well cleaned so that dirt and other filth isn’t allowed to build up on them.
• They are familiar with your restrooms touch points and spend extra time making sure they are properly disinfected.
• When you walk into the restroom you are not hit by a thick miasma of restroom odor.

Looking for the right restroom cleaning service and commercial office cleaning company to keep your facility looking its best? Here at Stathakis, we provide consistent, responsive, effective service and a solid value for businesses all across southeastern Michigan. With more than 30 years in business, we have developed a consistent standard of service that our customers have come to depend on. We will work hard to develop a lasting partnership with you and your facility as well as to deliver the highest quality of service to your facility. If you are a Facility Manager in Royal Oak, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Novi, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Plymouth, Downriver and you are looking for commercial cleaning services, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, medical cleaning or a janitorial company, please contact us so we can help your facility look its best and work to meet your specific needs.

Knowing how to deal with your facility’s unique and often complex set of industry requirements and compliance issues is a must in order to be an effective Industrial Janitorial Company. With out this industry specific knowledge a commercial cleaning company just won’t be able to deliver the results you and your facility require. Not only is the work required more stringent and industry specific, it should be performed at a consistently high level to meet your compliance and safety requirements. With the varying needs of different distributors and manufacturers, along with their job specific tech and buildings, it is no wonder that your janitorial cleaning service needs to have a deep and complete understanding of the individual needs of YOUR facility.

Is Your Industrial Cleaning Company Is Doing What’s Best For You

As you are well aware, industrial cleaning clients have their own set of objectives and industry specific compliance issues to manage. So you should not settle for a company that offers any “one-size fits all” proposals. The best industrial cleaning companies will take the time to learn the ins and outs of your building and business to make sure that your facility is kept in the best possible condition. Companies that fail to adapt to niche or specific buildings and industries can’t stack up to those industrial cleaning services that change and fine tune their service to your building.

The Quality Of People Dictates The Quality Of Industrial Cleaning

As you would expect with service businesses, the most important resource a company has is their staff. This is never more true for commercial industrial cleaning companies. As frontline service providers, your cleaning company’s people are going to be in and out of your facility delivering service that company management promised. The ability of their staff relates directly to the quality of the service you will receive. Knowing this, be sure to inquire about your prospective cleaning companies screening, hiring, training and managerial techniques so that you know their staff will be the best fit for your facility. You can’t expect a high level of service from a company that takes shortcuts with their staff, or simply doesn't screen or train new employees.

Understanding The Requirements And Regulations of Industrial Cleaning

There are measurable differences between industrial cleaning and general office cleaning, but this isn’t to say that they don’t share some important commonalities.  There will always be floors that need cleaning, bathrooms that need restocking, and the ever important janitorial budget that makes the entire system work. While industrial cleaning brings along a complex and important set of regulations, health concerns, and safety measures, the central tenets stay the same. The difference between commercial cleaners that can and cannot handle your individual facility is if they make it their responsibility to get to know your specific needs. When looking into prospective janitorial companies, ask the important question about their teams familiarity with your industry and how confident they are that they can train their teams to clean your facility in a way that works for you. Finding out what kind of processes they plan to use and the way that they want to tailor their services to your building can reveal a lot about how solid a business partner they will make. Any Detroit industrial cleaning company invested in best practices will be eager to share what they can do for you and specifically how they achieve that.

Looking At CIMS To See A Commitment To Best Practices & Industry Standards

As a seasoned Facility Manager, you likely know the right questions to ask, but looking for that needle in a haystack is not the best use of your time. You likely have a long list of things to do and most certainly do not have the time to vet every commercial cleaning company in line for your business. Fortunately, there is a way for you to sift through contenders to find a reliable Detroit industrial cleaning company. ISSA’s CIMS certification is a respected accreditation program that helps cut through the numerous commercial cleaning companies to find the best of the best. They find the cream of the crop so that you can spend more time doing your job and less time identifying and scratching poorly qualified candidates off of your list. 

What is the CIMS certification and why should you trust it? For a company to be CIMS certified, it is required to demonstrate their ability to service at the highest level in a number of job critical categories. CIMS, or the Cleaning Industry Management Standard showcases a company's ability to adhere to the cleaning industry’s best practices and even to excel and pioneer their own. These best practices have been shown time and time again to correlate with effective, quality service. While CIMS certification is not an automatic slam dunk, any company that meets CIMS standards is at least worthy of being in the running for your business.

Looking For Your Next Industrial Cleaning To Get High Quality, Effective Service

Having a consistently high level of service in your facility is never something that happens by chance. Rarely do we see Facility Managers really rave about their commercial cleaning services unless they did a great deal of work up front to thin the herd. The most effective commercial cleaning companies in Michigan work hard to deliver results and create raving fans. They don’t take shortcuts with people, they utilize and advance industry best practices, they invest in innovation and technology and they pursue industry certifications that set them apart.

At Stathakis, we are an  ISSA CIMS-GB certified building services company and have been providing business services for over 35 years. CIMS assures our customers that our processes are among the industry's best. Not only do we follow industry best practices, we set them. If you are looking to outsource your industrial cleaning or need to upgrade your current industrial cleaning, please contact us to speak with a member of our team to get your questions answered and see if we might be able to help you and your facility shine.

How Do Your Office Cleaning Prices & Service Add Up?

Is the difficulty of trying to find a new commercial cleaning company beginning to feel reminiscent of your college algebra course? Does it seem like no matter what you do, you can’t ever seem to find the right solution? Finding the right office cleaning company for your facility can feel like a seemingly insurmountable task. For every professional, effective office cleaning company, there are probably at least twenty cleaning companies just treading water. Fortunately for you, although this task can feel Sisyphean or even impossible, there is a tried and true formula (no algebra we promise) for finding high quality, effective, responsive office cleaning without too much suffering on your part. By looking at a few core aspects of office cleaning and what takes it from poor to good to great, you can see what makes a company effective and those qualities that add real value to the service you receive.

Fuzzy Pricing is a Major Red Flag

Forget the algebra, this isn’t rocket science, but if you did the math on your prospective cleaning companies bid and things just aren’t adding up it might be time to look for another office cleaning company. An imprecise bid has a number of inherent problems with it. First, if the pricing isn’t clear, it can be difficult to see what it is your actually paying for. Without being able to determine the value of a service, it can be difficult to decide if a commercial cleaning company is right for your facility. Further, fuzzy pricing can be a function of hidden fees and other upcharges, which can further damaged an already reduced budget and throw careful planning into a tailspin. Second, without a clear price point it is impossible to compare different companies to each other. As a Facility Manager, you are always looking to get the best deal for your company, so not having the tools to do so can create a significant handicap. The most experienced, professional companies will always give you a detailed and crystal clear bid. They want to set a benchmark and consistently perform at that level so that you continue to give them business.

The Equation is Fairly Simple, Good People = Good Service

Any service business’s most important asset is the people that they employee. The best commercial cleaning companies understand this concept and work around the clock to attract, hire, and retain the best staff for getting your facility cleaned properly. A good gauge of the quality of any prospective commercial cleaning company is their understanding of the value of their staff. Ask them how they attract, screen, hire, train and retain their top talent. The best companies will show you clear, well thought through and developed processes that make them shine above the rest of the competition. What is even more encouraging about these companies is that they didn’t just stumble across their techniques to this particular challenge. Any company that dedicates themselves to finding the right employees and implementing pre-qualifications such as background checks and drug checks is going to take cleaning your facility just as seriously. Partnering with a company that shows a passionate interest in the quality of their company culture is always going to perform better than a company that is not interested in the people that they hire.

The Solution Lies in the Right Office Cleaning Company

Communication is another important trait of any successful commercial cleaning service provider. These companies recognize the need to have the right people in place in order to deliver the most effective service as well as respond to your requests and suggestions as they come up.  As you likely know as a Facility Manager, being responsive to your customer’s requests is one of the foremost priorities of any service business.  The reality is that people are performing a service and people are only human after all. Even the most effective, professional office cleaner will need some feedback to fine-tune their work to your particular requirements. It is never a question of if your commercial cleaning company is going to make a mistake, it is a question of how they are going to address it and how smoothly the issue can be resolved. The cream of the crop companies will communicate how they are going to solve the problem and then quickly implement their solution.

Take Advantage of a Couple of Industry Shortcuts

Finding the right cleaning company as a Facility Manager can seem like a giant headache full of numbers, computations and promises that may or may not hold water. Fortunately for you, there is a useful shortcut you can take advantage of to help cut down on the time you have to look for the right company. As a Facility Manager, why wouldn’t you avail yourself of any and all advantages you could in finding and hiring a solid, consistent and quick to respond office cleaning service? One means to get to the answers to your office cleaning problems faster and more effectively is to put industry certifications to use in creating your short-list of qualified, professional office cleaning companies. Taking advantage of such certifications as the ISSA CIMS offers an effective way to winnow down this list given the rigor and prestige of such a certification. Companies that are CIMS certified are often the best in their industry committed to excellence and innovation. When looking for your next partner in cleaning, take advantage of this free tool to help make the search for your next office cleaning company easier and more effective.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year… to Help Your Office Cleaning Company Help You

We all know that the winter months and bevy of holidays be a time of shifting needs with regard to our office cleaning. This time of year can present both challenges and opportunities for both you and your commercial office cleaning company. Often you will find that with more employees taking vacation time, your needs shift. You may need less service or even more service from your office cleaners depending on the nature of your business. And sometimes, with so many people out of the office, it is a good time to get some deep cleaning done. But there are some factors that can get in the way of a clean building and even your office cleaner’s ability to make the most of the seasonal down times. How can you take advantage and make the most of the downtime in your building to make sure you offices look their best?

#1: Keep Desks Organized to Help Out Cleaning Staff

Your commercial cleaning company can’t clean the desks if they are covered in paperwork and other important things that they don’t know what to do with. Further, any trash, cups or other items can make it near impossible to get to the surfaces beneath. As Facility Manager, it can be helpful to remind your employees to clean their desk and other communal areas before they leave for holiday to allow the cleaning staff to effectively get their job done and get as deep and thorough a cleaning as possible.

#2: Prevent the ‘Holiday Fridge’ From Becoming a Biohazard 

When people start leaving for the holidays, your communal refrigerator can quickly becomes a biohazard if some steps aren’t taken to prevent it. How often have you looked into the office fridge post holiday party to find a Jenga of foil cartons threatening to tumble and assorted sundries left behind after the merriment si over? The danger (not to mention the smell) of the three-week-old salmon and the platters of party goodies that no one took with them in the haste to start their holidays can quickly become ideal hosts for molds and other unpleasantness. If you ignore this problem your office fridge may become the worst smelling thing in the office. The trick to solving this all to common problem, is getting employees to take responsibility for the week old Chinese or half finished soda. The most effective solution, we have found, is to create a regularly cleaning schedule so that anything that isn’t claimed within a certain time period is disposed of before it can become a problem. This eliminates any risks associated with leaving food in the fridge for too long and gives cleaners an opportunity to deep clean and minimize odors.

Tip #3 Winter Means Cold and Flu

The holiday season also coincides with another less pleasant season, cold and flu season. As such, your Michigan janitorial company should be doing everything in their power to keep touch points and hotspots regularly cleaned to help reduce the risk of bacterial and viral infections and assure you have a healthy work environment. Is your office cleaning company cleaning for health?

It isn’t solely on your cleaning service, their are some things that you should remind your employees of:

• Wash your hands correctly to stop the spread of pathogens
• Don’t come to work sick, you won’t be an effective employee and it can potentially get other people sick
• Regularly use hand sanitizer and wash hands as well as to keep hands away from the face. It may sound like something you here in a kindergarten classroom, but science has shown time and time again that this is the most effective way to prevent illness
• Understand practices that help reduce the risk of spreading disease such as how to cough and sneeze

TIP #4:Use Winter Downtime to Your Advantage to Get Some of That Deep Cleaning and Maintenance Done

Most offices are busy, bustling places so deep cleaning and other intensive maintenance tasks are often pushed to the side or delayed longer than they should be. However, during the holiday season, take advantage of the reduced number of people to catch up and even do some preventative maintenance to prepare for the busy months ahead. Many office cleaning services not only offer cleaning but other services such as HVAC care, plumbing painting, electrical, carpet and window washing, among other things that you can use to care for your facility. Need carpets cleaned? Need floors stripped and recoated? Need some other extras? The holidays present a rare opportunity to get these things done, unobstructed by high traffic.

Tip #5 It is the Season of Giving, so Give Yourself an Effective, Professional Commercial Cleaning Company

The holiday season is a time of giving, so give yourself the right office cleaning service provider for your facility. Maybe you’ve had it with your current cleaning company and are looking to try something else. Or, perhaps you are new to the janitorial market and are trying to decide who can help keep your facility looking fresh and clean. Either way, if you are looking for quality, consistent, responsive, professional service for you and your building, there is a company out there that can fill your needs.

The winter holidays can present a good time to transition to a new, better office cleaning company. So often in talking to Facility Managers we are finding that as budgets remain tight or even reduced, demands go up leaving many Facility Managers struggling to get their buildings cleaned effectively AND within budget.

The time of reduced office budgets have been here and it doesn't look like it will be changing anytime soon so you need a company that will give you value for your dollar and that will be committed to working with your budget and giving you consistent, effective services. Thoughtful winter maintenance, planning and even bringing on a new more adept office cleaning company can be the answer to assuring your office is clean and ready to go during winter months and all through the year.