| tart --> | | | | take to clean... you"ve got a lot! And when you start |
| Could a simple price per square foot approach work | | | | with THAT, you're miles ahead of the guy who |
| when bidding on office-cleaning jobs? Maybe. Yeah, | | | | decides on his monthly price by either dividing the |
| maybe if all cleaning companies were the same, it | | | | total sq. ft. by some arbitrary production rate, or by |
| might work. But they're not. And, maybe if all | | | | multiplying it by some just as arbitrary price per sq. |
| customers wanted the same thing, it might work. | | | | ft. figure. |
| But, they don't. And there's the rub. See, broad, | | | | Over-simplified measures give over-simplified answers. |
| one-size-fits-all approaches to bidding office-cleaning | | | | And over-simplified answers in a business, like |
| like price per square foot, might work, if all cleaning | | | | cleaning, can quickly turn around to bite you in the |
| companies were all the same size, cleaned the same, | | | | form of under-priced jobs which leads to lower |
| had the same costs, and expected the same profit. | | | | profits. To avoid this, we recommend you: Workload |
| But they don't. The really big ones may come close. | | | | each office-cleaning job you're bidding on! For our |
| Really large cleaning companies, some of whom, may | | | | purposes, workloading is the process of using specific |
| have 500, 1000, or more employees... may come | | | | information about a building such as floor |
| close. | | | | measurements (i.e. room dimensions), floor types (i.e. |
| At that level, the "players" (competing cleaning | | | | carpet, tile) and fixture counts (sinks, toilets) along |
| contractors) may begin to look similar; similar | | | | with a schedule of job specifications where each |
| management structure, similar approaches to cleaning, | | | | cleaning task has an associated production rate per |
| similar quality control methods, and maybe most | | | | sq. ft. or by item count, to calculate an average |
| importantly... similar expense ratios and profit | | | | cleaning time. |
| requirements. And at that level of play, per square | | | | Yes, there's a lot to it. But, fortunately, there's help |
| foot based pricing may work adequately. But, the | | | | available to make it easy, a whole lot easier, ...more |
| reality is the vast majority of cleaning businesses | | | | about that later. For now, it's important to realize |
| don't look anything like that. No, the truth is most | | | | how critical it is to start with calculating a cleaning |
| cleaning companies vary greatly in: How they CLEAN | | | | time for office cleaning, and then set the price... not |
| - one person, area, or "team" cleaning How LARGE | | | | the other way around! It really all comes down to |
| they are - from one person to a hundred or more. | | | | calculating an estimated cleaning time for the building |
| What KIND of cleaning they offer - from straight | | | | you're bidding on. And when you have a calculated |
| janitorial, office- cleaning to residential, ...to any | | | | cleaning time, you can move forward confidently to |
| number of other types, such as carpet or industrial | | | | pricing the job. |
| cleaning. What their OVERHEAD, or PROFIT | | | | Cleaning business owners can multiply a monthly |
| requirements are. And those differences... make a | | | | hours estimate times a properly 'loaded' hourly rate |
| difference! | | | | to determine a monthly price to charge. When you |
| That's right, for most cleaning companies... Figuring | | | | start with calculating a cleaning time you're miles |
| out what price to charge for office-cleaning should | | | | ahead of the guy who is simply guesstimating a price |
| start with figuring out... the TIME. And what TIME is | | | | using one of many over-simplified methods. |
| that? Well, it's the estimate for how long it should | | | | Fortunately, there are useful janitorial bidding |
| take, on average, to clean the building. The reason | | | | software programs available to help you "workload" |
| we say, on average, is, we all know, things come up | | | | the janitorial jobs you're bidding on. There are many |
| that may take a little longer to do than usual some | | | | convenient janitorial bidding software programs |
| nights, or may save a little time on others. But, that's | | | | available today, ranging from simple downloadable, |
| not the point. The point is when you start with a | | | | Excel-based programs to full feature, online bidding |
| good estimate, or average, of how long a building will | | | | programs, some of which generate proposals as well. |