Like It Or Not, Leaner Budgets & Methods Are Here to Stay
Here at Stathakis, we work with Facility Managers and business owners from all over southeastern Michigan. We know how many of you are struggling to make reduced budgets work in your facility .
We know you don’t want an exodus of tenants or the interruption of constant emails and phone calls complaining about service issues. Outsourcing your janitorial services was supposed to make your job easier and your facility maintenance better, right?
While budgets narrow, responsibilities continue to grow — lease management, space allocation, compliance, planning renovations, energy efficiency, forecasting, budgeting, and even security. And all of this must be done for less.
Assuring solid, effective maintenance with a reduced janitorial budget is like Ginger Rogers doing every move Fred Astaire did — except Ginger Rogers had to do them backwards.
Which Do You Want First — The Bad News Or The Good News?
The bad news: belt-tightening isn’t going away. Competition and economic unpredictability push businesses to do more with less.
The workload for Facility Managers has become more complex than ever.
The good news: these challenges fuel innovation. Professional janitorial companies are actively streamlining processes, reducing waste, and increasing efficiencies to support Facility Managers.
Of course, some companies keep doing things “as usual,” ignoring the need for leaner processes. To work with reduced budgets without service drop-offs, you must partner with a cleaning company that approaches these needs strategically — not haphazardly.
Smart Cleaning Can Help You Get Right Where You Need To Be
At Stathakis, we use Smart Cleaning to help Facility Managers stay within budget without suffering service downgrades.
Our Smart Clean / Smart Cleaning method provides a holistic review of your facility and determines:
- Which services are essential
- Which are important but can be reduced in frequency
- Which represent waste and can be eliminated
We ask:
- “What are we doing currently and does it make sense?”
- “What tasks are must-haves regardless of budget?”
- “Where can we do less without negative impact?”
- “What tasks may be unnecessary?”
- “Are there better, more efficient ways to complete necessary tasks?”
- “How can we use innovation, equipment, and processes to improve results?”
Smart Cleaning Requires A Plan & A Partnership
Smart Cleaning is not simply telling your cleaning company: “Do more and better for less money.” That only leads to complaints and frustrated contractors.
It’s called Smart Cleaning, not Less Cleaning.
Smart cuts require a plan, transparency, and collaboration between you and your janitorial company.
As a service provider, we need the chance to understand your building, operations, traffic patterns, and priorities.
Smart Cleaning is fully customized and requires upfront communication — but the long-term gains make the investment worthwhile.
Smart Clean: What It Is & How It Works
Smart Cleaning combines philosophies, methodologies, and competencies to deliver more for less. Your janitorial specification shifts from a generic task list to a needs-based, efficiency-driven framework.
The Smart Clean approach requires:
- Understanding your facility and how you use it
- Site visits beyond square footage assumptions
- A holistic review to focus resources where needed most
- Scheduling and reducing services with minimal visual impact
- Understanding your pain points to provide meaningful solutions
- Leaner approaches through staff training and improved efficiencies like Team Cleaning
- Improved equipment to reduce labor while maintaining quality
- Consistent communication to address issues early
Smart Cleaning isn't about doing less — it’s about eliminating redundancies, improving processes, and reallocating resources for maximum value.
This requires a highly professional, well-resourced janitorial company with strong systems, modern equipment, and industry best practices.
Do you think your facility could benefit from Smart Cleaning? If you are in southeastern Michigan, Stathakis has over thirty years of experience developing best practices and long-term service partnerships.
If you are a Facility Manager in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Royal Oak, Farmington Hills, Farmington, Dearborn, Livonia, Troy, Auburn Hills, Novi, Plymouth, Downriver and need commercial cleaning, office cleaning, school cleaning, industrial cleaning, or building services, we would be honored to support your facility.
