Choosing a
Janitorial Service Provider
Choosing a provider of janitorial services can
be a daunting task. You want to get the best possible value for your money,
while at the same time getting consistent, impressive results that don't
compromise quality. How can this be accomplished? By examining each potential
janitorial services provider with a keen, critical eye, you can ask yourself
questions about each potential company to help you weed out the poor choices and
hone in on the best choice for your business.
The first thing you should do when contacted by a janitorial services provider
is to ask for a website URL. If the company is too small to take the time or
expense to create a quality website, then they are probably going to be too
small for many jobs. What's more, they might not be able to afford full-time
employees, due to the insurance costs, payroll taxes, and other costs associated
with having full-time employees on staff. If this is the case, then they are
probably using subcontractors. This means that the people cleaning your business
are not actually employees of the cleaning company, and therefore are not
covered by insurance, and might not be getting paid fair wages. Without worker's
compensation insurance, you can be held liable and financially responsible for
any injuries the subcontractor sustains at your facility. What's more, the
company might not even know these subcontractors, and it is unlikely they have
trained them in their standards and common practices in any way. This is
inadvisable for your business for a number of reasons. The cleaning is more
likely to be substandard, theft or unauthorized use of your office equipment
(phones, computers, etc.) is more likely to occur, and if you do have a problem
with an individual's performance or behavior, your concerns might never even get
relayed to the actual person cleaning your office. For these reasons, it is
inadvisable to choose a company that gives the impression of being a small,
fledgling company. You may be charged less, but in the long run you will most
likely regret not choosing a larger, well-established company that has been
around long enough to perfect its approach.
If you are searching for companies in search
engines, then of course every company you find will have a website. Explore the
website a bit. Are they Licensed, Bonded, and Insured? (Three important words to
look for!) Do they have sufficient contact information? Will they be available
to take your calls or e-mails after hours or on weekends? What may seem like
minor, unimportant details now may become extremely important if an emergency
arises, so take the time now to make sure there won't be any problems
communicating.
Lastly, when it comes time for collecting price
quotes, or bids so that you can make a decision, there are a few things to keep
in mind. First, never even consider a company that is not willing to come out to
your physical location and calculate a free estimate for you. If they are
willing to make you an offer based on square footage alone, without even seeing
the facility, then they are going to overestimate the price in order to
compensate for any unforeseen obstacles that may exist and cause cleaning to
take longer. Also, if a company shows such laziness and lack of effort before
you are even their customer, do you really want to enter into a contract with
them? While we're on the subject of contracts, never enter into a contract that
is extremely hard to get out of. Requiring more than 30 days notice in order to
get out of a contract, or demanding money if the contract is broken, are
scenarios that you do not have to and should not put up with. There are plenty
of companies out there that will not ask these things of you, so why trap
yourself in an unreasonable contract if you don't have to?
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Now that you know
what to look for,
you should
be able to use
a discerning eye
to choose the best janitorial services company
available
that will give you the
best bang for your buck.
Good luck! |