A: Our goal is
to provide the level of service you
need and desire that fits your budget for your
facility. Literally, we can
provide almost any level of service from very basic, fundamental
services, to detailed and
extensive
services. Assessing your needs based on information you
provide is a
crucial part of the process of contracting
cleaning maintenance services.
2. Q: Do you subcontract your
services to others?
3.
Q: Do you perform
background checks on employees?
A. YES ! We
obtain written releases from applicants before hiring and assignment,
to check their
police records and employment
history.
This is good business for everyone concerned!
4. Q: Have you experienced
thefts or behavior problems with your employees on job locations?
A: We are
extremely proud to say that because of our centralized and tightly
controlled hiring
process, we have never
experienced a single
instance of theft, formal or informal accusation,
conviction, or
reimbursed anyone for an act of dishonesty
on the part
of any of our
employees.
Furthermore - we have
never had any incident involving illegal, criminal, or especially poor
behavior of any sort.
5. Q: Why are there such
big differences in the prices among janitorial companies?
A: Excellent
question! But there are several reasons for the differences; 1) It is
simple and inexpensive
to start a janitorial
service business. For
that reason, many people try to enter the field without
knowing all
that is involved after
the business is up and running. Pricing
services for many of these
newcomers is often "hit and
miss" causing
themselves numerous problems and
difficulties. Later
these companies that have
problems will often
over-compensate on subsequent pricing
hoping to
avoid their previous
mistakes.
2) Franchise
companies, which are not really in the cleaning business at all, but
rather in the
business of selling
franchises to would-be
entrepreneurs, cause many problems. Often the
franchisee is left
with
little more than working a part time
job with little hope of doing more in
the future.The
franchisee has
little or no control over their contracts and
must pay fees and
other costs to the
franchisor, in addition to other
taxes, insurance and overhead.
In 1994, the nation's
two largest cleaning franchise companies - JaniKing and Coverall - each
paid $100,000 to the
Federal Trade
Commission for failing to provide franchisees legally required
information about
their purchases - information that is
considered crucial for making an informed
decision about a
franchise
purchase.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/predawn/F95/coverall.htm
and
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1995/07/janiking.htm
The FTC has since issued
warnings specifically
aimed at the franchise
cleaning industry:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/invest/janitor.htm
3) Franchises and/ or others
who operate unethically or illegally typically underprice their
services since they
don't have to actually suffer the
direct consequences of their pricing strategy
- instead making their
money "off the top". It's the poor franchisee or illegal
subcontractor who
suffers trying to make
a reasonable wage from the
predicament.
4) Some very large corporate
cleaning companies offer very competitive pricing on larger facilities
and look to capitalize on
minimum-wage
workers in poor areas or neighborhoods. The heavy toll
in this case is
on the supervisory and management staff who
absorb the results of high turnover
and poorly qualified and
under-trained workers. It is a strategy that benefits the
bottom line while
boosting sales volume.
There are other factors, but
these above are the major factors in the industry.
6. Q: Do you employ
immigrants?
A: Yes, because we cannot, do
not, and
will not discriminate in employment
practices based on race,
color, creed,
religion, national origin, sex,
or any manner prohibited by law. We employ a diverse
workforce, culturally,
racially, educationally, religiously,
and almost any other
manner imaginable.
For all applicants
including
non-citizens, we require I-9 documentation as
required by federal law, and
maintain those records.
Note: Illegal
immigrants are, by law, never entitled
to employment !
7. Q: Are employees
assigned to one location, rotated, or changed frequently?
A: We believe
that a stable employee assigned to one location is more likely to
perform
consistently. This is always
our goal on any job location.
However, as
in all dealings with individuals,
sometimes
circumstances change and
require staff changes in order
to protect overall job performance.
Sometimes this happens due to 1)
changes in employee performance 2)
changes in customer
requirements 3)
changes in the customer's
facility 4) personal
situation of the employee
5) Employee's need for
change of assignment after a length of
time at one assignment
6)
interpersonal difficulties within the members of the cleaning
staff 7)
medical problems
that interfere
with attendance 8) any
circumstance that affects employee performance.
The customer should
know that our goal is always geared
toward job performance and
stability.
8. Q:How much of a typical
cleaning dollar is profit?
A: According to
industry information, the typical legally-operated cleaning company
profits
between 5% and 10%
after all costs and overhead are paid. Some
very large corporate
operations function on
as little as 2-3%, but
these are the exception in the industry.
9. Q:What about insurance
coverage?
A: We are
covered by Two Million in liability coverage, as well as Worker's
Compensation
and Occupational
Disease insurance. Any legally-operated
contractor should provide you
with proof of
liability and Worker's Compensation and Occupational
Disease
insurance.
We are pleased to
provide you proof of this coverage on
request.
10.
Q:What about
supervision - are staff supervised on the job?
A: Yes, however, it
is not practical, productive, or
affordable to supervise a worker continuously.
While regular
supervision is critical in our industry for proper performance, employee
screening,
selection, and
training minimizes
the need for continuous supervision.
However,
regular and routine
supervision is
essential! Quality control
inspections performed by supervisors
assure
completion of the job
according to specifications.
home