You hire an office cleaning service in the hopes that they will handle this area of your facility without micro managing needed from you. In fact, that’s supposed to be one of the benefits of outsourcing your commercial cleaning right? So you do the work and contract for office cleaning hoping you will end up with one of the pros who delivers on their promises of responsive, effective commercial office cleaning services. So when hope turns to disappoint after you begin to realize your office cleaners are not delivering, it’s frustrating. And maybe as a Facility Manager, this has happened to you more than once. We talk to a lot of Facility Managers that are frustrated that finding a solid, professional office cleaning company that does what they promise seems so elusive. After a few failures, it can even start to feel like maybe all office cleaning services are the same. The good news is they aren’t all the same, the bad news is there’s enough subpar office cleaning companies out there that finding the gems of the bunch isn’t easy.
There are many different companies that make up the industry, ranging in type, size and years of experience. One of the challenges in finding the right commercial office cleaning service is the sheer number of startups, fly-by-night operations, and small companies trying to grow outside of their markets-- that can flood the market. Listen, every business has to start somewhere but in the bid to grow, too many office cleaning companies bite off far more than they can chew with accounts that are too large and too complex for them to properly service. Professional office cleaning services take time to hone, adjust and perfect their services and the reality is that you don’t really want your facility to be the guinea pig for a cleaning company that is stretching beyond their core competencies. Why? In part these cleaning companies and startups promise way more than they can deliver by inaccurately estimating the work required in your facility. Once they get the contract, they tend to grasp that there is far more work than they planned for. So what is the result? One, they come back and ask for more money or two, they just do less. Either way, you and the level of maintenance in your facility suffer.
While the saying “you get what you pay for” isn’t always true, there is at least some truth to it. While quality isn’t precisely correlated with price, good work means good people and the right amount of hours allocated, and that costs money. The single greatest cost with professional office cleaning is labor, the office cleaners themselves. If an office cleaning company comes back with a janitorial bid or quote that seems significantly lower than most, there is likely something amiss. They might be:
1) Underestimating the hours needed to complete the promised work. Typically the office cleaners will cut corners and not deliver on what was promised or ask for more money later on or add unplanned charges and extras.
2) Reducing pay and wages to below market value. This increases janitorial turnover creating service and safety headaches. And consequently, lower than norm pay will so often attract a lower qualified employee who isn’t being hired elsewhere.
3) Illegally pay employees as subcontractors to avoid paying taxes and insurance.
Paying a high price for your office janitorial services is no guarantee of amazing service, but paying too little is likely to leave you disappointed. So what’s a Facility Manager to do? Look for good deals over great deals. The goal should be real value built into a price that fits your budget. Look for clear, transparent pricing and janitorial quotes that are very, very specific. Specific, clear janitorial quotes allow you to compare multiple office cleaning services in a meaningful way. And look for commercial cleaning companies that have a culture that supports their employees as this directly spills over into the level of service you receive and even reduces janitorial turnover further netting you reliable, responsive office cleaning services. Janitorial services rest on labor and training ,so is your prospective office cleaning service finding, screening, qualifying, training, managing and rewarding their office cleaners? Companies that put resources into these important areas of their business aren’t going to give you quotes at the bottom of pricing, but they will likely deliver a level of service that affords you the value you are looking for in your facility.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could almost magically weed through the overcrowded office cleaning market and whittle your choices down to just those companies that are really outfitted to deliver both effective services and value in your facility? Imagine not having to spend days 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. Sounds nice right? Well consider yourself lucky because there is a way to do just that and it’s free! You can simplify your search for the right commercial office cleaning company by narrowing your search to those janitorial services that have achieved ISSA CIMS Certification. The Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification program requires businesses to meet or exceed set industry standards of excellence on several different benchmarks.
Here at Stathakis, we work hard to find, screen, train, manage and inspire quality people. We offer a solid organization dedicated to both our employees and customers. We are committed to exceptional customer service, industry best practices, innovation that controls costs for our customers and clear pricing that gives them real, useful information from which to make their buying decisions. We are ISSA CIMS certified demonstrating our commitment to exceptional commercial office cleaning, every time.
If you need office cleaning services and your business is in the South Eastern Michigan service area, please get in touch with us 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.