Cindy’s Other Blog

You may have never considered how complicated hiring a good janitorial service can be. However, if you have had a bad experience with a janitorial service, you already know that it is very possible to make a bad choice that makes a portion of your life miserable. There is a lot of diversity in janitorial services. One of the most obvious is the smaller hard-working company that really wants your business, or the larger company that promises to take care of you better.

As you might imagine, there is good and bad about both of these types of services. The small janitorial firms tend to be less expensive and frankly need your business more than the larger firms. Larger firms have a track record and are less likely to go out of business due to economic hazards. Smaller firms can deliver quality of service like the larger firms, but larger firms have greater resources in equipment and manpower. Larger firms use more advanced equipment to cover the job quicker which makes them price competitive.

Large companies often have a sales force or account managers. This adds to the cost because larger companies have overhead to maintain the operation of a firm that may have 50-100 accounts. The challenge of the large firm is to stay in touch with the people on the job. One lost deal is not as dramatic to a big firm as it is to the smaller service because the sales force will replace that business. Large firms must look at the big picture in gross business which can leave the client feeling disconnected from issues that concern them.

Small companies are hungry for business and often anxious to prove that they are as good as the large companies. Frankly, they may not have the resources of manpower, equipment, or training as the larger janitorial firms, but you cannot beat the value of someone who will give you their best efforts to clean your office or building. While price will always be a factor, the most valuable element of any janitorial service is the quality of job they do after they get the contract.

The classic way of choosing a janitorial service is to prepare an RFP (Request for Proposal) or collect a variety of quotes for the job. The RFP is a prepared report that details the job, expectations, and requirements so that everyone is bidding on a equal footing. Quotes generally ask the service to do the job using standard processes. Both methods collect final pricing to determine who will be considered for the contract. Unfortunately, this reduces the task to the “low bid” mentality that frankly sends the wrong signal to the competing firms. Most people aren’t looking for cut-rate service, but the best service for the money.

Ask yourself what you really want from a janitorial service. Most people have not thought this through, and as a result, they have often been aggravated and disappointed in the janitorial service they get. I have prepared a report that I feel is an absolute necessity for anyone to read prior to hiring a service or putting out an RFP. This report can be found at www.greenjanitor.net. This is a brief and to-the-point information resource that even provides a sample RFP for those who want to do it right the first time.

There is another issue that must be including in any janitorial choice. States and cities are now pressuring area companies to “Go Green.” This start, quite frankly, with your janitorial service. In conjunction with your other considerations, you must insist on a janitorial service that does more than mouth service for Green services. In the report found at www.greenjanitor.net, I include an important section on how to determine if your janitorial service is really Green, or a Green pretender. Believe me, the pressure for companies to Go Green is going to be a huge issue, and your cleaning service is an important key to the solution.