In today’s hypercompetitive economy, business owners, property owners, and managers are constantly searching for ways to improve their services and companies at the lowest cost. When it comes to finding a janitorial services company that will do everything that is needed and more, at the lowest cost, successful management of the vendor selection process is an important component in your success. Let’s discuss How to Select the Right Janitorial Service!
Size Matters – For Your RFP
Once you have identified acceptable performance measures for your target janitorial services company, you are ready to address your RFP. In the first place, a well-defined RFP gives janitorial service companies all of the necessary information regarding your needs. Additionally, it is much easier to make side-by-side bid comparisons to identify the best janitorial services company for your needs. When bids start coming for your business, a well-defined RFP is a great way to ensure that you are comparing apples to apples when looking at services offered.
RFP Requirements for Custodial Services
Items to address in an RFP for custodial services include:
- Cleaning specifications
- Indemnification
- Employee training
- Quality Assurance
- Supplies (quantity, quality, and responsible party)
- Equipment
- Square footage to be cleaned
- Insurance requirements (coverage limits and rates)
- Supply storage areas
- Recycling
- Hours and days of service
- Safety, Worker’s Compensation
- Length of contract
- Identification (uniforms and badges)
- Payroll taxes, and
- Personal screening
Selecting the right Janitorial Service Companies to Interview
You have received several different proposals from janitorial service companies at this point. What do you do next? When reviewing proposals, we recommend using the following criteria to guide your selection process:
History
History repeats itself. Notably, reputation and references are major factors to consider in your decision. Talk to references and if needed, inspect the quality of the candidate janitorial services company.
Quality Control
This is another major factor to consider. What type of quality assurance program is in place to ensure that the client is receiving everything that they are expecting? What types of guarantees does the company make about the quality of its work?
Resources
Does the company have the resources to increase its services as your business grows? And, what type of training do they provide to their employees? Do they provide operations manuals and employee checklists? What type of back-office support do they provide?
Cultural Match
Is your vendor small or large? Are they national, regional, or local? Are they similar to your business in scope and objectives? What trade or professional organizations do they belong to?
Existing Relationships
What other companies do they work for? Larger contracts require a higher level of trust. Not all janitorial service companies are created equally.
Added Value
What additional services do they provide that can be absorbed within the services that they are seeking to provide? In other words, do they repair general maintenance services?
Price
Price is another important consideration. However, we recommend you look at the value that the candidate janitorial services provide to your organization. How well are they able to address all of your business needs at what price? The cheapest janitorial services company can end up costing you more money in the long run.
The Walkthrough
Walking your candidate janitorial service companies through your business or property is another important step in the selection process. This is the point where you will receive confirmation that they fully understand your business needs and service level expectations. The candidate janitorial service companies need to know what types of supplies you use, the square footage of your service area, building density, flooring surfaces so that are sure that they can meet your expectations. It is like the interview process between your company and theirs.
Pricing Models
Once you have reviewed all of the RFPs that you received from your candidate janitorial service companies, you can review pricing. Most pricing models include are made up of the following:
- Labor: Includes insurance, benefits and payroll taxes
- Direct operating costs: Includes supplies, transportation, uniforms, training, and the like.
- Overhead and profit
Candidate janitorial service companies should be able to explain their pricing models and address any questions you have about their services, guarantees, and pricing.
Selecting the right janitorial services company
In most cases, the selection of the right janitorial services company for your business needs comes down to the following factors:
- Can the candidate janitorial service company do the job?
- Can you work well with the candidate janitorial services company?
If you have received several responses to your RFP, how well does everybody stack up? Who offers the best combination of staff, equipment, and service to get the job done right? To answer the many questions asked above and to ensure a level playing field, review your RFP requirements and review the proposals received from candidate janitorial service companies focusing on the following factors:
6 Factors to Consider
- Labor – Verify the number of cleaning hours and total hours in custodial services received per day.
- Taxes – Ask for an itemized breakdown of taxes by category and compare FICA, FUI, and SU and ask for explanations of large discrepancies.
- Insurance – Accredited janitorial companies should be able to provide proof of required general liability and workers’ compensation.
- Supplies – Be sure everybody agrees on quality. Supplies are a major expense in providing janitorial services and can be a problem area if the quality is not agreed upon.
- Equipment – Do they have enough budget to do the job? Compare budgets between candidate janitorial service companies
- Reputation – What do their existing clients say about them. Their experiences are likely to be similar to what you can expect.
Conclusion – How to Select the Right Janitorial Services
The more thought you can put into defining your janitorial needs, the better you can manage the candidate selection process for janitorial service companies for your business or property, the more success you are likely to have. We hope that this information helps you with the selection process for your janitorial services provider. Please let us know if you have questions, need more information, or would like to receive a proposal for services. Advantage Maintenance Inc. is a full-service janitorial services provider focusing on high technology facilities, medical facilities, and commercial facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York since 1984.