A Russian Connection
This month I’m in Russia conducting a Cleaning Business Operations Seminar for The Training & Resource Bureau, which is operated by RONOVA Cleaning Company in Moscow.

Fifty people attended the two-day seminar program, which included contractors, in-house custodial managers and building owners from Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as several regions of Russia (Siberia, Far East and the Urals) and other countries including Kazakhstan and Belorussia.

The program covered such subjects as Successful Business Strategies, Licenses and Legal Issues, Marketing and Selling Cleaning Services, Training and Motivation of Employees, Services that are in Demand, Bidding and Estimating, Conducting a Building Survey, Workloading and Submitting a Proposal, as well as other subjects.

Many questions were asked and answered and a number of lengthy discussions took place regarding such issues as dealing with employees and customers, finding and compensating sales people, and how to best convince potential customers to purchase your services instead of hiring their own cleaning staff.

As the primary speaker, this was a challenging presentation as only a handful of attendees understood English, thus every word had to be translated live in real time into Russian and all questions had to be translated into English and then my answer translated into Russian. Considering all the challenges of two languages and cultures, everything went fairly smoothly. Attendees expressed interested in the material presented and were excited about the opportunity to attend the class and participate in the free market enterprise system.

The program consisted of presentations by myself, an attorney, as well as Margarita Avdeeva and Nidal Khoury, the owners of RONOVA Cleaning. RONOVA Cleaning has been in business for 10 years, has approximately 2000 employees and services some 1,300,000 meters (50-million sq. ft.) of public and private space in
Moscow.

As Russia transitions to capitalism, privatization has become more common and independent businesses are being formed to perform much of the work that was previously done by government workers. With the transition, contract-cleaning services have begun to crop up all over Russia (over 200 in Moscow alone) to meet the needs of a growing and developing population and economic base.

Attendees, of whom roughly 60% were women, were in various stages of business development from start up to having been in business for 10 or more years.

It was interesting to note that the concerns, issues and challenges faced by businesses in Russia are very similar to those we face in the USA and other countries.

There was much interest in the bidding process, production rates and how to calculate a price that will get you the accounts and less interest in operational and management issues. As is common elsewhere, attendees often seek specific answers to questions that have flexible answers that are based on a variety of factors.

On the second morning of the class we had a couple of surprises. Even though it is spring in Moscow, a light coating of snow covered the ground in the area of the hotel. The class was delayed slightly as one of the vans brining students to the hotel got into a traffic altercation and students had to transfer to taxis or the metro subway system to compete their journey to where the class was being held. If you have ever driven in Moscow, this should come as no surprise.

The International Cleaning Companies Association (ICCA), which has 35 members in Russia, was represented and provided information on the benefits of membership, which is $30.00 per year.

The sponsor provided a nice lunch on each day and at the end of the second day a small reception, complete with champagne and chocolates, was held in the hotel lobby. A Certificate of Achievement was provided to those attendees who completed both days of training. It appeared that a good time was had by all. I certainly enjoyed my visit and the opportunity to bring cutting edge techniques and information to such as receptive and appreciative audience.

Interesting Tidbits about Cleaning In Russia

–	The production rate for general office/light cleaning is approximately 1500 sq. meters per 8-hour shift per worker.
–	Heavy-duty cleaners are expected to service approximately 400 to 500 sq. meters per 8-hour shift per worker.
–	If you assign a crew of 3 heavy-duty workers, one person normally acts as the supervisor and the production rate would be 1000 sq. meters per 8-hour shift for the 3 workers.
–	The average starting salary for a light duty day cleaner is $200.00 per month for a 176 hour per month work assignment. More experienced workers can earn up to $350 per month.
–	65% of the contract cost is normally for labor.
–	Cost is the main criteria when customers evaluate a proposal for service.
–	In a food court area of a mall or shopping center one cleaner is normally responsible for an area that contains roughly 150 seats. In a hotel a maid normally is assigned to clean 18 rooms per 8-hour shift.
–	A standard upright vacuum cleaner costs approximately $240 in Russia and should last 3 to 5 years before it needs to be replaced. Normally 1 vacuum cleaner is required for each worker cleaning 450 sq. meters of office space.
–	Most cleaning contracts are written for a one-year term, which may be extended if both parties are in agreement.
–	Employee turnover is roughly 170% per year.
–	Overhead is normally calculated at 10% and profits at 10% to 15% of the labor cost depending on the size of the contract and other factors.
–	When cleaning over 4000 sq. meters in one location add in the cost of a working supervisor and possibly an onsite manager.
–	An onsite manager normally earns $500 to $800 per month.
–	A Supervisor normally earns $400 to $600 per month.
–	Taxes are considered high in Russia. – Value added tax of 10% – Income tax of 24% – Tax on employee salaries of 35%
–	Average price for general office cleaning is 1.5 rubles per sq. meter or 2 to 5 cents per meter.
–	Gifts, payments, kickbacks and brides to customers are common (especially when dealing with government agencies) and should be added into the overhead cost.
–	A sales person may earn $400 per month plus a small (2%) commission on jobs sold and supervised.
–	An account manager normally handles 30 to 40 accounts and is expected to visit at least two accounts per day and each account twice per month.
–	Public transportation is the most common mode of transportation for cleaners, supervisors and managers as traffic is congested and parking is extremely expensive and sometimes impossible to find in central Moscow.
–	A Branch manager would normally be provided with transportation and a driver, which eliminates the parking problem as the driver waits with the car.
–	Production rates for cleaning workers are lower than in the US.

National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA)
I stopped by the NWFA s Wood Flooring Expo and Convention, which was held in Charlotte, NC April 14 to 17. This was my first time attending this event and I was impressed by the wide variety of exhibits and the number of hands on training seminars that dealt with the installation, refinishing and the customization of wood floors in both commercial and residential applications.

The General Session presentation was by Michael Cox and economist who spoke about the Future of the Flooring Industry. He painted a bright picture for the future citing numerous examples of economic indicators that show the housing boom should continue and that wood floor is an excellent purchase value for home builders, remodelers and the do it yourself markets. Cox was joined by several other speakers who gave their perspective on the market place and the future. One of the speakers was the CEO of Armstrong flooring who brought some reality and controversy to the discussion when he talked about the growth of laminate flooring over the last 10 years in the US markets.

From the comments the audience made, it was obvious that most wood flooring manufacturers, retailers and contractors are doing quite well at the present time. They didn t want to hear or accept any suggestion that their market may be at risk from visual look-a-like products such as laminate or vinyl flooring.
After the presentation, I spoke to the Executive Director of the NWFA and asked him if the NWFA was doing any scientific research or public relations campaigns like the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) is doing that show that soft floor coverings are safer, warmer, healthier and easier to maintain then wood and other hard floor surfaces.

I was quite surprised at his response to my question. He stated that such studies aren t needed because consumers know that wood flooring is a better floor covering investment. I didn t want to argue, being I was a guest, but something tells me that even though the wood flooring industry in riding high today, it s leadership and membership are in denial if they think they don t need to respond to what s going on in the market place with new types of floor coverings. Not to mention formulating some type of response to the aggressive marketing and propaganda campaign being presented to the public by the carpet side of the flooring industry. Wake up guys, there is a war going on and you re talking and acting like you don t even know it s happening. But then again, maybe you don t.

Next year the show will again be held in mid April in Honolulu, Hawaii. For info on the convention or to purchase a CD with one or more of this year s presentations contract association at: www.nwfa.org

IICRC Certification Council Meeting

Stone Care Approved
At the recent board meeting in Portland, OR, a two-day Stone Maintenance Certification category and course were approved. Although I objected because I think the course is politically driven and technically lacking, no one seemed to care. The course should start to show up later this fall once instructors and schools are approved.

Mold Standard Generates Over $100,000 in Sales
The IICRC s new mold standard has been published and sales are brisk. With all the income the standard is generating, it would seem that the need to raise exam fees no longer exists. But that didn t seem to be the case when the subject matter was mentioned but not discussed at the meeting and I was told privately in no uncertain terms that I shouldn t be talking about things I don t know anything about such as the plan to raise the fees, which was mentioned two months ago in this column. I m a little confused as it appears I did know what I was talking about being the IICRC is now talking about raising the exam fees, but ever so quietly.

IICRC to Compete with Instructors
Oh boy here we go again. I ll bet I will hear about this as well. Of course they say no that s not the case, but it sure looks like what s happening to me.

Over the last few months a group of about 8 IICRC board members, technical advisors and ex-officials have been traveling the country conducting an IICRC sponsored seminar series related to the new mold standard. Some how this seems wrong to me. I would think that it would be more appropriate for the IICRC to use it s money to promote the schools and instructor s who are approved to teach the mold course rather than a group of mucky mucks who want to show a long and boring power point presentation. As I understand it the IICRC is supposed to be a certification body, not a publisher or an educational provider that competes directly with its instructors.

Now to take it even a step further, a program has been approved by the IICRC board to fund the development and production of a training program for the Jan-San industry.

Again, to me this is wrong and outside the scope of what the IICRC should be doing. But what do I know. What I don t understand is why no one else is concerned about this change in direction at the IICRC.

Quite frankly I get the impression that most people are afraid to speak up for fear that they won t be able to get their pet projects approved or recognized by the small number of people who are behind the scenes actually controlling the IICRC. I had a couple of committee chairs tell me that they actually agree with many of the objections I raised about the Stone Course, but just didn t think it was wise to fight a battle they couldn t win. And so it goes at the IICRC.

Ed York, where are you when we need you.

That’s it for this month. Till we talk again, keep it clean out there. If you’d like to share your thoughts you can reach me at: wgriffin@cleaningconsultants.com

Filed under: Training by William Griffin
Originally Published: CBM April 2004