| Beware under priced cleaning contracts
Commercial cleaning is a highly competitive industry. There are some 10,000 contractors in the UK and choosing one can be an arduous task. This is exacerbated by the fact that many cleaning companies under price contracts to win business. For these companies, their only differentiator is being cheap. Experienced buyers will understand that there are simply no bargains to be had in service industries. Perceived bargains always become a false economy.
Cheap contracts come at a price. The cost of under resourcing contracts includes:
- Unhappy clients and occupiers
- Unhappy cleaners (being asked to do too much for too little pay)
- Risk of bad publicity for low pay rates
- Breakdown in relations and trust
- Little or no account management and supervision
- Little or no training
- Little or no compliance with health, safety and environmental issues
- High cleaning staff turnover
- Continuous expensive retendering
- Increased cost of maintenance
- Clients do not get what they have been promised
- Clients are regularly told "that is not included, that will cost extra"
- Hassle, hassle and more hassle!
Under resourcing a cleaning contract by having too few labour hours, cheap cleaning materials and equipment, no account management and supervision and no training does not make the contract achievable or sustainable in the long term. There may be a short honeymoon period to get the contract off the ground, however complacency and the contractors' bottom line will soon dictate the inevitable poor cleaning standards received by the client.
Value for money is the answer, but how can it be defined? Not Just Cleaning describe it as the balance of the required cleaning service quality, with a low risk of service failure at an appropriate cost.
Cleaning standards can be agreed by simple task frequency schedules. Low risk of service failure can be achieved by standard processes for training, health & safety, quality control and the innovative use of ICT. The appropriate cost will include for the right amount of resources. This will include sufficient labour, good quality materials & equipment, supervision, appropriate training (and re-training as required) together with fair rates of pay. This will ensure that the contract is properly resourced from day 1 to completion of the term.
The economies desired at the outset come with added value service from the cleaning company. Your contractor should be able to provide innovation through understanding and meeting the clients changing needs. The greatest economies are those gained from the trust built over a long term sustainable relationship.
| |
| Greetings!
Welcome to the March 2008 issue of our newsletter. We hope that you find this issue interesting and informative. Visit our website and subscribe to our blogs, for more tips, ideas and information about the cleaning industry.
Scanning time 20 seconds. If you don't have time to read this issue now - why not print it out and read it later?
If you would like to send this issue to a friend - scroll down and click 'forward email' - Thank you.
This newsletter comprises NJC's intellectual property and may not be used or copied by third parties. It is protected by copyright. |
|
New e-commerce site for cleaning and hygiene supplies
PKHCleanShop.co.uk is the safest, most reliable and easiest to use e-commerce site for cleaning and hygiene supplies.
If you are looking to buy cost effective janitorial products and/or cleaning machines from a company that looks after its customers with low prices, reliable service and safe online shopping - then visit PKHCleanShop.co.uk
These are 7 reasons to buy from PKHCleanShop.co.uk
- Safe - PKH use HSBC Secure ePayment for completely secure online shopping.
- Reliable - PKH use Parcel Force for the majority of deliveries. Large orders are delivered by our own drivers.
- Low prices guaranteed.
- The PHONEBACK service means PKH are always available to answer your queries.
- Look out for amazing offers, which PKH will email to you when you register.
- PKH have a large range of quality products to suit your needs.
- You can trust PKHCleanShop.co.uk - PKH know what is important and looks after its customers.
Click here to visit PKHCleanShop.co.uk ...... |
Join the campaign to end poverty wages in London
London Citizens are a pressure group devoted to "A fair day's pay for a hard day's work". They describe the Living Wage as "the level of pay and conditions that enables a full-time worker to make ends meet for themselves and their family".
London is an expensive city. The principle London Weighting, that wages should reflect these higher costs, is long accepted. The statutory minimum wage does not take this regional variation into account. According to London Citizens, due to the high costs of living in the capital, the national minimum wage keeps 400,000 Londoners (many of which are cleaners) below the poverty line.
| |
|
|
 BIFM Good Practice Guide to Procuring and Running Cleaning Contracts (written by NJC)
The guide explains good practice in the procurement, delivery and management of cleaning service contracts.
Author of the GPG and Director of NJC Reuben Heppelthwaite commented at the TWM exhibition, "The Guide itself went through three drafts and now that it's been published, we are really pleased with the positive feedback it's received. More importantly, we are sure that it will prove to be a useful industry manual for anyone involved in the commercial cleaning process."
Click here to request your copy of the guide from NJC....
|
 NJC is a commercial cleaning service provider.
We provide a complete cleaning and related services package for uk commercial clients. This combines daily cleaning - together with periodic cleaning tasks. These include carpet cleaning, window cleaning and many other specialist tasks. In addition, we provide supplementary services which include waste management, washroom services, linen services and consumables supply.
Sincerely, |
Reuben Heppelthwaite
Not Just Cleaning
|
|
|
