Finding the Right Janitorial Service

by: WaynePozdol
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If one of your pending tasks is hiring a janitorial service, you will need a quick lesson on making the right choice. There is a huge diversity of cleaning services. Some do residential. Some do commercial. Some do industrial, and some do specialty jobs like medical offices and restaurants. One of the other factors is that some are small services with a few accounts and others are large services with hundreds of accounts. It is not as easy as picking up the Yellow pages and selecting an attractive ad.

The fact is that a small or a large cleaning service can do the job for most normal buildings. Smaller janitorial firms will generally be less expensive, but larger janitorial firms promise more in support and associated services. It is easier to check the track record of an existing firm, whereas smaller firms may have only a year or two of business to research. Looking for quality of workmanship is an important factor in any company that you hire, and you want more than a spurt of good service at the beginning. Few firms will do more than check references (which are hand picked from their best customers), but it would be good to know how they handle a company like yours before you make your choice.

Let's be honest. It costs more to run a large janitorial firm. There is a need to hire more staff, sales people, and managers to keep the operation functioning well. Large firms may have move the 50-100 accounts. They must operate well on many levels to handle the businesses they service happy. Beware of large companies who promise the world to get your business then do poor work afterwards. These companies bid low because they do not intend to give you quality service, but to ride out the contract with as little expense possible. Conversely, small companies may be ill-prepared to handle the needs of your company, and you get the flack.

Conversely, the small company struggles to provide a level of service compared to the bigger operations. They may not have the depth of manpower, training, and equipment that you will find in the large services. If the key people are ill or out of commission, the business is directly impacted. As you can see, it is often a trade off between pricing and support. The company that can span both issues will be the winner.

Choosing a janitorial service is therefore not as simple as sending out an RFP (Request for Proposals), doing a walk-through with vendors, and selecting the lowest bid. There are a variety of important decisions that must be made before choosing a janitorial service. In my opinion, taking the lowest bid is the wrong way to select a company even though they claim to be able to service the account as described in the RFP.

It's time to change the process. Although price will always be a part of the consideration, it is important that you discover the quality and reliability of the cleaning service that you hire. To help you understand this better, I have prepared a ten page report called "How to Hire a Janitorial Service." It includes a sample RFP and offers some needful advice on a subject that few people really understand. You'll find this report at www.GreenJanitor.net.

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.

About the Author

Before you hire a janitorial service, you need to download my report on "How to Hire a Janitorial Service. Avoid problems and make the right choice that will make your life better, your office cleaner, and your workers healthier. Your firm needs a clean facility and a healthy environment.  

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