Deep cleaning can be defined as a special one-time project or a periodic task that occurs on a set schedule or as needed basis. In educational facilities, floor and carpet care, along with wall and furniture cleaning are often referred to a deep cleaning and may be scheduled once or twice a year and often during the summer months or over holidays. In an office building, deep cleaning may refer to tasks that are done every 6 mos. or possibly annual or even less frequently or a special project like upholstery cleaning or complete cleaning of desks or wall washing. In manufacturing or industrial environments, we could be cleaning in or around equipment, the equipment itself or ceiling structures or a dust collection system. In high tech, it could be a complete clean of everything in a lab or production area before it opens or during a maintenance shut down, remodel or upgrade.

Keys to Deep Cleaning Success

1. Planning

Put you plans in writing, review what needs to be done, who’s going to do it and will supervise each task or groups of tasks. Next determine what supplies, labor and equipment will be needed. Make lists, review procedures and diagrams and have a backup plan in case things don’t go as expected. No body likes delays so plan ahead so projects don’t take longer than expected. Allow as little slop time in the process, so when thing do go wrong or take longer than expected, you are the only one who knows it. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM November 2017

If you are lucky and doing a great job on an exiting account, you will get a notice to renew your contract for services instead of a notice that the customer is putting the account out to bid. When this happens, it’s time to give some long hard thought to what it will take to get the longest renewal possible and how to increase profits or at least keep them where they currently are. Here are three areas that I would focus on to improve your chances of success.  (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM October 2017

Nobody like to have to lower their price, but if you want the job and the customer says “Sharpen Your Pencil” if you want the job that’s what you do. I’ve always figured it’s better to be on the inside looking out, than to be on the outside looking in. When you’re the one with the contract, at least there is some money coming in and there is hope that income can be increased through extra projects and that over time, things will improve and previous service levels can be restored.

The Good News

Looking at it from a positive point of view, at least the customer didn’t cancel the account or simply award the work to someone else. You were given an opportunity to take a second shot at the account. Both of which are good news. Count your blessings, get over it and move on. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM Sept 2017

Snow happens and ice make it worse. If you service areas that are prone to wet and freezing temperatures chances are part of your specifications and responsibilities for the buildings you serve will involve ice and snow removal. Planning for bad weather events will help you respond quickly, efficiently and profitably. If you live in Hawaii, or the South, consider yourself lucky and skip this article. At this time, weather trends indicate warmer climates and less severe winters in most locations.

What:

Ice and snow removal deals with shoveling, plowing, applying ice melting products and possibly salt and or sand. Disposal is also an issue, where are you going to put the snow once it is removed, will it be piled high, hauled off site or melted on site. There are usually specifications that tell us when, where and how to remove snow and which ice melter to apply where and how often. Along with this will be quality assurance guidelines that define schedules, expectations, desired results and possible penalties for non-performance. Having these details in place and in writing, along with color coded maps or blueprints of assignment areas helps prevent confusion, misunderstandings and make everyone’s work easier when attempting to deal with changing environmental conditions that we can’t control due to the whims of mother nature.

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Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM Aug 2017

When we think of servicing building exteriors, we normally think of dumping trash cans, picking up garbage and cigarette butts and sweeping the sidewalk within 10 ft. of the entrance. Today’s customers have much broader exterior cleaning needs that can include: roof top gardens and parks, interior atriums, landscaping, patios, pet areas, balconies, decks. athletic fields, pools and spas as well as parking garages & lots, streets, sidewalks, walking paths, gazebos, fire pit and barbecue areas, beaches, ponds, lakes, windows, and the actual building façade. Service expectations can range from daily/routine policing and cleaning, to periodic maintenance and restoration. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM July 2017

Intro

Pricing the cost of paper, plastic and hand soap can be challenging and financially risky if you don’t have a formula or historical basis for accurately estimating past or future use. The safest approaches are to let the customer order and pay for these products or to provide these products as extras or pass through cost with a slight markup cost (2% – 5%) for handling, purchasing and stocking.

If the customer is requiring these items to be included in the cost, bid or square foot price, ask them to provide or allow access to use and costing data from the current suppliers. If they are not forthcoming with this information, you will need to add an error factor (8% – 10 %) into your price to assure that you don’t lose money on providing these products.

As a last resort, your distributor or paper sales person should be able to assist you figuring out which products may fit current dispensers and in calculating pricing and use information. If you can’t use exiting dispensers there will costs associated with swapping out dispensers. An emerging trend in new, remodeled and public and heavy use restroom, is to eliminate paper towels and replace them with electric hand dryers. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM April 2017

Forward thinking companies and contractors are adopting sustainable cleaning process and products as the only way of doing business and have found this to be a good operational and marketing strategy. Other companies have taken a wait and see approach and have not been willing to make a commitment to change, especially if it means an increase in costs. There is a large segment of the market, primarily the low-price contractors and customers, who don’t know or don’t care about sustainable cleaning and have no interest in changing the way they do business. Early adopters of sustainable cleaning include health care, education and local and federal government agencies. There are also geographic areas, primarily the West and East Coast states that have more interest in sustainability, with Central and Midwestern states having little or no interest in sustainable products or cleaning.

In the early years, sustainable cleaning and products were provided at premium prices, and in many cases, there are still slightly higher costs involved in the purchase and use of sustainable equipment, products and supplies. The difference in costs has continued to shrink and there is often hidden saving to be found during the implantation process. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating, Green Cleaning by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM April 2017

Pricing, Production Rates and Cost per Sq. Ft.

There are a wide variety of production rates, formulas, and industry standards that can be applied to the bidding and estimating of educational facilities. As with other types of cleaning, the only true rates are based on what you can accomplish with your staff, process, equipment and budget. There are no industry production rates that will apply in every situation as there are simply too many variables that must be considered. The safest approach is to break down each building and facility in to micro areas and bid and staff each area or building based on actual, as well as changing needs. Here are some guidelines that may be helpful: (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating, Schools by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM March 2017

Stadiums arenas and sports venues come in many sizes. It is not a job that can be approached haphazardly, but demands planning, preparation, communication, coordination and the ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances and requirements. The concepts outlined here are the same regardless of the size of the facility.

Primary factors impacting cleaning:

• Type of Event
• Attendance
• Set-up & Tear Down Requirements
• Cleaning Shifts
• Weather

Break down of shifts:

• Pre-event Cleaning
• Event Cleaning
• Post Event Cleaning
• Next Event Scheduling

STAFFING:

Warning: These are only guidelines based on my experience and the information I have been able to collect. The only true and accurate time standards are based on your staff’s performance and experience. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM Feb 2017

When it comes to being competitive in the marketplace. Technology has the potential to be a game changer. There are multiple ways you can apply the impact of technology to reduce costs without a loss of quality. I find that technology and better processes can allow you to reduce costs while improving the quality of the service you provide. Validating the numbers, you see being used in the marketing of technologies impact on cost reduction can be difficult to confirm.

Let’s take a look at some of the areas where technology can impact your ability to increase production rates and reduce costs.

Computerization:

You can’t operate a cost-effective department or business today without taking advantage of the benefits that computers and associated software bring to work place. Tracking of costs, bidding, communications, timekeeping, and quality control are just a starting place when it comes to the aspects of cleaning that are now much easier, faster and more accurate when processes are computerized. Taking it a step further requires that you do as many of these processes on a smart phone, the notebook and desktop machines are quickly becoming old school and far less productive than the phone in your pocket. (more…)

Filed under: Bidding and Estimating, Technology by William Griffin
Originally Published: CMM Jan 2017