Things I Learned: Commercial Cleaning Biz.

[Kevin]

Ok lets see, and feel free to ad on to this list.

The most important thing in any commercial building is the ladies mirror in the bathroom, closest to the big bosses office.

That if the check does not arrive the 1st, it will not arrive before the 5th either.

You can never have enough hand towels or toilet paper stocked in the bathroom.

People with sloppy desks are the hardest workers, and their complaint goes along way with the boss when they say their desk wasn`t cleaned.

Everything should be included for the same price.

Your the last person they call when there is a key change, private event or an alarm code change.


And...........

[john0324]

Everyone you meet has cleaned floors in their past and is an expert.

[logan5127]

You are the first suspect if anything is missing out of an office.

You are the first suspect if anything is found broken in an office.

You left hand prints on the entrance door glass even though it was not noticed till late in the day after the offices opened.

[Kevin]

Good ones Dan!

-People will take all the hand towels to their desk, they will take the toilet paper home.

-There seems to be a new fad of blowing up lunch in the staff lunchroom microwave.

- The employee refrigerator is the scariest place in any commercial building.

- The womans restroom is always dirtier than the mens.

- You are always walked through for a cleaning proposal, the night after cleaning was done. (they think they can fool ya)

And...........

[Grizzly]

:'(When it rains it pours. Have too many jobs when not enough staff and when you have adequate staff, there is nary a job to be had.

The contact person has never looked at the specifications but is always the one complaining.

The cost of the client doing business always warrants an increase, you must never experience an increase in costs because you can't raise your prices.

The great deal on assets or inventory always comes along when the cash doesn't.

Bill

[www.cmpropertymaint.com]

Sept 24, 2008 14:34:25 GMT -5 Grizzly said:

:'(When it rains it pours. Have too many jobs when not enough staff and when you have adequate staff, there is nary a job to be had.

The contact person has never looked at the specifications but is always the one complaining.

The cost of the client doing business always warrants an increase, you must never experience an increase in costs because you can't raise your prices.




This all true Bill, it seems that in larger accounts the contact person has never seen the job specs but never assume this is coincidence rather truly the norm.I guess the project managers think this is a way to push more for their money its called plausible denie ability that will only affect your bottom line if you think this tactic is an accident rather than the norm.

The great deal on assets or inventory always comes along when the cash doesn't.

Bill

[www.cmpropertymaint.com]

This all true Bill, it seems that in larger accounts the contact person has never seen the job specs but never assume this is coincidence rather truly the norm.I guess the project managers think this is a way to push more for their money its called plausible denie ability that will only affect your bottom line if you think this tactic is an accident rather than the norm.

[Grizzly]

:DOh it is never a coincidence, especially with the banks, however, it is the norm and irritating. I try to target stand alone light industrial, commercial for this reason, you must provide quality service but they are willing to pay for it and expect to pay for add ons.

Another irritant, never assume that doctors, dentists and other professionals are prepared to pay for CLEAN. They may profess to want it but would rather wish it into being.



Bill

[Silver City Cleaning]

The customer is always right, even when they're clearly wrong (which can be far too often with some customers!)

If customers don't like us, we are up the creek and our cleaning will never be good enough for them. We have to sell ourselves before we can sell our services.

There are times when the customer complaint to customer compliment ratio can seem like its 100 to 1.

There are also times when we may goof up and damage something that belongs to a customer. And then Murphy's Laws of Selective Gravitation comes into play, for example, "The greater the value of the rug, the greater the probability that the cat will throw up on it" or "A falling object will always land where it can do the most damage".

Some employees seem to have grandparents that pass away two or three times a year. Oddly enough, it seems to happen on Friday evenings or around the holidays.

[integritycs]

Man, you guys took all mine.

Bill's post is especially true and the one about the cleaning crew being last to know on a key change.

[sparklingsolutions]

You are always the first to blame for the office I have we usually clean while someone is there. Thank god. I haven't ran into any problems yet.