Any and all help needed

[ecojan]

Hello All, I have been reading some of the posts on this forum for several days. I am a 15 year veteran GM of a national casual dining restaurant chain. My partner spent 5 years as a DM for a national commercial floor cleaning company, with territory cover 2 states. We have decided to start a green commercial cleaning service. Our basic idea is to not use chemicals that are not ecologically friendly. We have spent the last several months researching mixing our own chemicals or buying. I have a large list of different suppliers out there for chemicals and have purchased some of the equipment. We are also interested in what you guys pay for labor. We are located around St. Louis MO. I know that some of the completion pays $7-9 per hour. Our line of thinking is that you get what you pay for. We plan on doing all the initial labor our self’s until the business warrants an employee. I am a very good judge of character and plan on being very picky about my employees. I want to pay them a living wage, because I know what the turnover is like in this business with my experience dealing with hundreds of cleaning companies over the years.

My questions:
Does anyone have any experience with green cleaning? If so, what’s the better bet, pre-mix or mix yourself?
What’s your average wage? If it is low, does it contribute to a lot of turnover?
What kind of uniforms or uniform service do you use Aramark? Cintas? Any opinions?
What kind of bidding and estimating software do you use? Anyone ever try serviceCeo?

[scorpio]

Dear Ecojan,

I have used Service Ceo business software program. It is excellent program. You have three months $150 a month without 30 days trial. Or your can purchase $2,500.

Now I am beginning to use Wintac business software program. One network for $ 1,200 and then more for price increasing. You can try $299 for try demo for 60 days after than if you like the program then you pay the rest $900. It is complete intergrating program: customer data base, scheduling, and accounting system.

About the green cleaning program, Janitorial Store had excellent educational package at reasonal cost.

I am bidding Clark County government bid (Las Vegas, NV) nowadays, I am receiving favorable response. If you are near Las Vegas, we could share the info and labor. I am searching for qualified and movitivated staff.

Hope explains OK and good luck to you.
Sun