Glass & Mirror Spotting – Is It That Important?
As you review your options for hiring a team to take care of your Lakewood cleaning company service needs, you may be surprised at some of the tasks you need taken care of. It is always a good idea to work with a company that offers more services than you need, because you never know when your own cleaning service needs may change. One service you may see listed is glass and mirror spotting.
How Important Is Industrial Cleaning?
As the owner or manager of a commercial or industrial property, you know how important it is to maximize the productivity of your workers and minimize downtime caused by maintenance and repairs. But what you might not consider is that both of those things can be greatly affected by the cleanliness of your property. Keeping your industrial property clean is an important part of keeping any business as profitable as possible.
Commercial Cleaning Tips For Your Office
Office cleaning isn’t as complex or difficult as some other commercial cleaning jobs, but attention to detail is still important. When there are dust balls lying along the baseboards, dirty floors behind the toilets in the bathrooms, or grime on the walls and doors, an office can look filthy even if everything else is clean.
How Responsive is Your Janitorial Cleaning Contractor?
So many people view janitorial cleaning as a commodity, and in many ways it is. But I have talked with enough people over the years to find out that experiences with janitorial cleaning contractors goes from extremely bad to extremely good. Most of the people I talk with that use other companies put that relationship in the lower tier. What makes the difference?
Efficiency is Key to Quality Service!
At Summit Service Group we use Google Apps for Work, a suite of cloud computing productivity and collaboration tools. With the implementation of Google Apps for Work we have streamlined our processes. We have immediate access to customer contract documentation, we can meet quickly with local and non local teammates utilizing Hangouts (a video conference tool), and our online forms allow us to communicate changes at any time, anywhere.
Why Are My Cleaning Bids So Far Apart in Price?
If you have ever taken bids for janitorial cleaning and have seen a wide range of pricing, there are some common sense reasons why this happens. The Building Services Contractors Association International (BSCAI) is our national trade organization and they have statistics from many contractors around our country and around the world. No matter who is giving you a bid, approximately 70% of every dollar quoted is going to pay the wages and payroll taxes of the cleaning personnel. Only about 3% is going to profit. So if you have a wide range of pricing, then rest assured that the difference is in the labor. It could primarily be in the number of cleaning hours in each proposal or a combination of that and the wages that they plan on paying their cleaners.
Is It Important to Partner with Your Janitorial Cleaning Contractor?
Many people view janitorial cleaning service as a commodity. It is easy to understand this because the vast majority of janitorial cleaning contractors do not truly partner with their clients. At Summit Service Group, partnering with our clients is the only way that we do business
The Impact of Colorado’s Minimum Wage Increase and Janitorial Cleaning Contracts
Colorado voters passed a new law that will raise minimum wage to $12.00 per hour by 2020. Starting January 1, 2017, the new minimum wage will be $9.30 per hour. This is an increase of about 12% over 2016. It will then be going up $.90 per hour until 2020 when it will be $12.00 per hour. What does this mean for customers of janitorial cleaning companies? Summit Service Group Inc. has always paid wages above minimum wages in-order to hire and retain the best employees possible. However; the minimum wage increase puts upward pressure on our wages. It is important for us to maintain a higher wage than the minimum wage to keep our employees as it can be tempting for them to take an easier job in retail or restaurants.
Partnering With Your Cleaning Services Contractor
In my 14 plus years in the janitorial cleaning industry, it seems like most of the people I talk to view the cleaning as a commodity. Many feel like they just cannot get the consistent quality of cleaning from their janitorial contractor, that they feel they deserve and pay for. At Summit Service Group, we feel that cleaning is not a commodity and that you can get the type of service that you deserve and pay for.
A Culture of Safety
At Summit Service Group, we have established a “Culture of Safety”. To do this requires a total buy-in at all levels. In the past, our safety committee had targets of reducing accidents. The biggest step in establishing the Culture of Safety started when we decided not to try and reduce accidents but ELIMINATE them. We have monthly contests to reward safe thinking and actions. We keep in a prominent position in our communications the number of days since the last lost time accident. That way everyone can keep cheering the progress and if there ever is a lost time accident, then it really grabs our attention. The biggest priority always must be the safety and well being of our people. An additional benefit however is the reduction in our insurance premiums, so this culture benefits our people and the company.
