Like any business, building service contractors (BSCs) need to meet both their customers’ and employees’ needs while making a profit. They rely on tools such as staff training and the latest cleaning products and equipment, as well as cleaning protocol and cleaning validation recommendations from industry experts such as ISSA.
Every year, Cleaning & Maintenance Management (CMM) surveys BSCs to learn about their successes, their business priorities, and their methods for overcoming labor, revenue, supply chain, and other operational challenges. The survey results allow readers to discover industry trends and determine if their projected growth is on par with other BSCs.
Staffing challenges
For at least the third year in a row, BSCs chose recruiting and retaining staff as their top business challenge. Half of this year’s survey respondents said it is a challenge to a large extent, compared to 47% in 2023 and 57% in 2022. Other top business challenges chosen by survey respondents were:
- Maintaining profitable margins–39%
- Winning new bids/contracts–36%
- Retaining customers–31%
- Validating cleaning results–24%
Recruiting and hiring qualified workers is the top challenge specifically among labor concerns. Most (76%) of this year’s survey respondents named it as their No. 1 concern, followed by paying
staff enough to keep them from going elsewhere (48%), retaining existing staff (44%), and creating growth opportunities (40%).
In addition to finding and retaining staff, BSCs are also concerned about keeping their existing workers safe. Most (77%) survey respondents listed the risk of slips, trips, and falls as their biggest safety concern for employees, followed by lifting injuries (44%), and sprains and strains (33%). Other top safety concerns for workers included:
- Repetitive stress injuries– 29%
- Exposure to toxic chemicals and hazardous materials–26%
- Risks to older workers–19%
- Lack of ergonomic work practices–13%
Customer concerns
BSCs believe that their customers’ top challenges have remained consistent as well. When listing challenges their customers deem very important, 81% of 2024 survey respondents selected improving facility image, compared to 85% of survey respondents in 2023 and 2022. Reducing the overall cost of cleaning was another top customer concern, with 72% of 2024 survey respondents confirming their customers find this issue very important, compared to 71% of 2023 survey respondents and 77% of 2022 survey respondents. Other top customer challenges chosen by 2024
survey respondents included:
- Ensuring the health, safety, and security of buildings and tenants–69%
- Tenant retention–58%
- Asset preservation-51%
Technology and AI
The number of BSCs that currently use autonomous/robotic equipment, or that are considering using it, has remained consistent during the last three years. Among this year’s respondents, 15% said they are already using autonomous/robotic equipment while 30% are considering it. Last year 17% of respondents reported using the equipment, with 20% considering it. In 2022, 13% said they are using the equipment, and 25% were considering it.
Cleaning validation programs/technologies remain the top choice among cleaning solutions, with 58% of survey respondents listing it as the technology they are most likely to implement in
the next 12 months. Other top technology choices for future implementation include:
- Internet of things (IoT)/smart technology– 36%
- Autonomous equipment/robotics–34%
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems–15%
A new question to the survey this year asked how BSCs were implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations or services. Although most BSCs (40%) replied they were not using AI technology, 27% reported that they are in the early stages of exploring AI solutions for specific tasks, 6% said that they have partially integrated AI technology for various operations/services, and 2% stated they have fully embraced AI technology in their operations/services. One respondent commented that his business uses AI to standardize administrative processes and procedures.
The 2024 Building Service Contractor Benchmarking Survey is sponsored by Aspire Software.
Download the full survey below.
