The construction industry offers some of the best opportunities and the hardest, most challenging work available for commercial cleaners.
Construction site cleanup projects can and, if structured correctly, will prove to be the most lucrative aspect of a commercial cleaning business.
New construction cleanup and existing construction cleaning jobs are available in almost any location.
A business letter from a janitorial service or commercial cleaning company to the main office of the general contractor is an easy way to get the ball rolling.
An introductory letter requesting to have your company placed on their “bidders list,” along with a copy of your insurance and business licenses, construction industry references with phone numbers and some documentation of your abilities seems to go a long way.
Construction site cleaning opportunities happen quickly and will go to the post construction cleaning company with all the paperwork completed and in place.
How to bid final, post construction or after construction cleaning is the question most janitorial companies seem to be interested in.
But, that challenge won”t be addressed correctly until you shake the hand of the site superintendant or project manager.
The key to consistently working with construction contractors is the contractor”s perception that you are familiar with their requirements and that you can accomplish them on a strict time schedule and in an uneventful manner.
It would be smart to establish a new “doing business as” with a construction-related name — Sparkle Cleaning doing business as Site Cleaning Support, for example.
On a construction site, the cleaning company representative with a uniform, a hardhat and a safety vest will quickly get an invitation to bid.
When you visit the site for the first time, look for the construction office trailer.
Identify yourself as a contractor and ask for the superintendant or project manager.
This is important: Don”t try to sell anyone else; only speak with the superintendant, the project manager or their administrative staff in the office trailer.
Contractors disrupting the flow of work on a site are a problem, will be asked to leave the site and will not be asked to bid.
Your first statement to the project manager should be: “Hi, I”m a cleaning contractor and I”m interested in competing for work on this project.”
Shortly after that, you should say: “I know you”re very busy and I won”t take up your time right now, but I do want to be considered when the time is right. What”s your turnover date?”
That should be followed by: “Our paperwork is already on file at your office, and so I don”t pester you, what would be a good approximate date to stop back?”
Shake their hand, leave a card and a flyer and then get off their site.
Build A Plan
When you start to put together a post construction cleaning company business plan, it”s important to understand the opportunities available with construction site cleanup.
More importantly, it”s mandatory to understand the scope of work and the timeframes available for that work.
Basic new structure cleaning is a given and, depending on the site”s needs, can be addressed in two ways: It can be done all at once or in phases as the site progresses.
Addressing a site in phases allows the new construction cleanup company to have their completed worked signed off as: “Work complete, no additional work required.”
With subcontractors perpetually returning to a site to continue their work, the commercial cleaning company”s work is often overlooked.
The site superintendent will often ask the cleaning company to return and touch up their work without an offer of payment for the additional work.
This is why it is important to have the superintendent sign off the work already completed.
With larger sites and multi-unit sites, each unit should be signed off separately and as quickly as possible after completion of the cleaning.
An individual charge for each unit, per phase, helps with invoicing and documents pricing if the superintendent requests a re-clean.
Large amounts of money can be made with re-cleans when a site”s scheduling isn”t well-planned by the general contractor.
A construction cleanup proposal can address a lot more than basic cleaning, and the rates for construction cleanup project work may be very attractive.
There is an art to projecting a post construction cleaning business plan, and it”s found in the superintendant”s view of the scope of work and his or her costs therein.
Understanding the superintendent”s views and goals is what counts in writing winning bids.
When pricing post construction cleaning jobs, you should consider making your general labor charges competitive.
Your experienced staff can complete the tasks in a shorter timeframe than the superintendent will be expecting to pay a temporary agency by the hour.
Your competitive general cleaning rates are the hook, and the expensive project work is the brass ring.
A Plethora Of Profits
Pricing post construction cleaning jobs with the intent of making serious profit on the total job, while protecting profit in each individual task of the project, is an acquired skill that should be studied at length.
Learning how to bid final, post construction or after construction cleaning takes more than reading a sample contract for a janitorial service or a template construction bid example.
Template construction bid examples are available online, and researching them should be a major part of your post construction cleaning company business plan.
A business letter and janitorial service literature are also available to research for your post construction cleaning company business plan.
However, it really takes walking the site, speaking with the people in charge and internalizing the actual work necessary to find your profit.
