What’s the deal with janitorial service pricing? You get it; you know that a janitorial service can really enhance your office building. It will not just keep your space cleaner, but a good janitorial service will also keep you and your employees healthier through careful cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing.
But how do you know that the price they quote is fair to you, the customer? Let’s look at the factors that go into janitorial service pricing so that you’ll fully understand why your service charges a certain amount for their work.
Janitorial Service Pricing Variables
There are a number of variables that will affect the janitorial service pricing. Some of the basics include:
- Building type— Is your building Class A, B, or C? To break it down quickly, a Class A building has the best of the best—interesting architecture and design, high-end materials such as natural stone flooring and countertops or hardwood moldings, and exclusive tenants. Class B is a step down from Class A, with slightly lesser grade finishes such as laminate countertops and ceramic tile floors. Class C buildings are usually found in industrial parks, and use materials like VCT flooring and low-grade carpet. Your building’s classification can help determine the frequency of cleanings, the cleaning products and equipment needed to keep the facility clean.
- Building Age— A brand new building will have different cleaning requirements than an old building; a quality janitorial service will take this into account as they prepare their estimate.
- Building Square Footage— Of course, it will cost less to clean a 25,000 square foot building than a 50,000 square foot building. That’s just simple math! A lot of janitorial service pricing is based on square footage, so be sure that the numbers you provide to the cleaning service are absolutely spot on; that will help to ensure that you get the most accurate quote possible.
- Foot Traffic— How many people work in your office? How many visitors do you typically have in the course of a day? The amount of foot traffic your office receives, will definitely be a factor considered when recommending cleaning frequency.
- Frequency of Service— How often should your janitorial service to clean your building? 3 days a week? 5 days a week? Your janitorial service provider should not only make a recommendation on frequency of service, but frequency of specific cleaning tasks. For example, entryways should be cleaned daily in most buildings, but less frequently used areas may only need twice weekly cleaning. Your proposal should include recommended frequencies for all tasks.
- Number of Stories— How many floors is your office building? A 30,000 square foot, one-story building will likely net a different price than a similar sized building that has 3 floors. Multiple stories often means more restrooms to clean (at least 2 sets on each floor). Also, your service will have to clean the elevators and the stairways, which adds to the cleaning time.
- Flooring Types— Your janitorial service will want to break down the square footage of your building by the different types of flooring you have. That will allow them to make a spot-on assessment of how much it will cost to care for your floors. They’ll know precisely what services you’ll need, such as carpet cleaning, ceramic tile scrubbing, or resilient tile burnishing, and they’ll be able to offer the most appropriate janitorial service pricing for each these services.
- Consumables— Consumable products include toilet paper, hand towels, soap, hand sanitizer and other restroom supplies that you need to consider in your budget. Janitorial service providers can get better pricing and take care of management of consumables for you. They will need to know the number of occupants and visitors you get each week or month for more accurate pricing.
- Customer Expectations— What do you expect from your cleaning service? It’s important to make your expectations crystal clear when you meet with potential janitorial service providers; it will allow the service to make an accurate estimation of the cost of the cleaning, as they will include all the services you told them that you expect. When you tack on additional services after your initial meeting, they’ll be forced to give you a new, more expensive quote, which won’t make you happy.
Other Considerations for Janitorial Service Pricing
One vital thing that should occur if you want very accurate janitorial service pricing is a visit to your building by the service you’ve asked to offer you a proposal. If they don’t do a site visit before they create the proposal you’ve requested, they’re not going to have an accurate understanding of the scope of the job. The square footage alone won’t give them a true picture of everything that needs to be addressed, so they’ll need to actually do a walk-through with you to grasp the nature of the job. You don’t want to pay for square footage that they won’t be cleaning, so allow them to do a measurement of the building themselves.
Additionally, with a walk through, the service will get a better picture of the facility’s traffic flow in addition to understanding the building’s need for consumables items. They can note the specific products currently being used and either quote the same products or recommend more cost-effective products. This will help the janitorial service stay within budget.
The walk through will also allow the janitorial company to get a good handle on workloading the building. Workloading is the amount of work done by a worker within a specific period of time. For example, how much square footage can a worker vacuum in one hour while wearing a backpack vacuum? How many trash cans can be emptied in an hour?
Finally, above all else, we want to reiterate the importance of sharing your pain points with the janitorial service. If they don’t understand your needs, they won’t be able to address them properly. For example, if you’ve got a very strict budget, but you’re interested in retaining their services, perhaps they can work with you to come up with a creative solution that will get the cleaning done to your specifications without breaking the bank. Or, if you’re sick of seeing a revolving door of custodians, talk to them about their hiring and training practices. Give them the opportunity to meet your needs—don’t make the mistake of assuming that they’re like everyone else.
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