Office cleaning prices can be confusing but they don’t have to be. Why is there such variation from one office cleaning bid to the next? Well for one, the office cleaning industry is flooded with startups each year and new office cleaning businesses simply do not have the experience to accurately price the services, especially with regard to large commercial office buildings. On the other hand, competition for your business can drive some office cleaning companies to lowball in an effort to get your business with the hope that upsells and add ons will eventually get them to a livable number. This is bad for business and bad for budgets but often a reality with poor office pricing practices.
As a Facility Manager, you do have a role in helping prospective commercial office cleaning services get you a more accurate office cleaning bid or respond to a Request For Proposal. The first thing you must do is provide good information. What type of information helps get better office cleaning quotes? Your office cleaning company should have accurate numbers regarding cleanable square feet categorized by floor type. Various flooring has different cleaning methods with the labor times on these varying. Gross square footage with no break down by flooring type can offer a very rough estimate but if you want accurate office cleaning prices, you must get more specific. Similarly, an idea of head count and traffic patterns can help a commercial office cleaning company nail down a more accurate cleaning quote. These help determine not only how quickly your building gets dirty but can help your office cleaning company estimate consumables like trash can liners, toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap and more. These might seem like little things but having good information on them can make a big difference when it comes to accurate pricing.
If you want an accurate office cleaning quote, any prospective office cleaning company must conduct a site visit. Site visits help a prospective office cleaning company see with their own eyes what your facility really needs and even areas they might save you money. Furthermore, an in-person site visit offers you the chance to see for yourself how a prospective office cleaning service will handle your questions, issues and give you the information to find the best fit and value for your facility.
Don’t keep your pain points a secret. The more your office cleaning company knows, the better they can help you. Had a problem with your last office group of office cleaners? Tell your prospective office cleaning service. Working with reduced budgets? Tell them. Tired of a revolving door of new people in your facility? Sharing this with your professional office cleaning company will help them identify potential issues before they arise and deliver the kind of professional office cleaning you expect.
Major budget cuts can leave you with what may feel like an unworkable office cleaning budget. Here at Stathakis, we often work with Facility managers that have had to manage major building services budget cuts. It’s certainly not ideal, however, as an experienced large office cleaning company, we know better than most how to do more with less. When you need to do more with less, you must choose form only the most experienced and capable Detroit office cleaning companies. From being able to determine how your facility is used to creating minimum acceptable plans that are customized to your office, the best office cleaning companies can make sure you and your building occupants need hardly notice shifts in service. Large office cleaning companies like ours can use their large buying power and business volume to find and create efficiencies that help you live with nearly unlivable budget cuts.
Getting great service and accurate pricing isn’t impossible, but it won’t just come from any office cleaning company. It takes good information, best practices, careful planning, decades of experience and even innovation to price janitorial services and deliver a standard of office cleaning services that sets the bar high. If you need help finding the needle in the crowded janitorial haystack, CIMS can be the answer to your prayers. CIMS, or the Certified Industry Management Standard is a highly coveted industry certification offer by the ISSA, the International Sanitary Supply Association. The ISSA’s CIMS is a high level certification offered to office cleaning companies that wish to set themselves apart from the crowded, often unprofessional office cleaning marketplace. Office cleaning services that meet ISSA CIMS certification have documented processes that demonstrate their ability deliver the most effective, consistent, responsive office cleaning services, clear office cleaning prices and ultimately the highest value from your office cleaning budget.