Kathleen Misovic

Gaining knowledge and confidence in wood floor care can give building service contractors an advantage when jobs come up in buildings with this niche flooring.

Regular vacuuming and deep cleaning takes planning in busy public buildings with near-constant foot traffic.

Survey participants weighed in on the causes of staffing and retention challenges, ranging from a shortage of skilled candidates and a lack of fair compensation to competition from other facilities and complications arising from immigration crackdowns.

Technology, such as RFID sensors and ultraviolet light disinfection is taking an old problem—the transmission of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)—and looking at new ways to prevent it.

To attract clients among all generations, BSCs generally highlight how their businesses stand out from the competition. However, when dealing with millennial or Generation Z clients, BSCs must be sensitive to the younger generations' challenges and preferences.

Imagine working the 9-to-5 grind, then clocking into a cleaning job an hour later. This scenario is a reality for many cleaning professionals working the night shift.

Participants from CMM’s 2025 Building Service Contractor (BSC) Benchmarking survey, sponsored by Convex, shared their biggest challenges, including include attracting and retaining skilled talent, balancing cost optimization with high service quality, and adapting to rapid digital transformation.

Kitchens are one of the top facility areas at risk of fires, along with electrical rooms and laundry areas.

Building service contractors (BSCs) who care for hard floors are accustomed to encountering resilient flooring but are occasionally surprised to come across less common materials such as bamboo or cork.

Burn tests are the easiest method to identify carpet fibers. Pay attention to flame color and odor, and note the presence of smoke or ash.

Pest control is crucial when the insect breeding population emerges. Fortunately, minimizing the breeding population does not need to involve toxic pesticides.

Labor challenges remain at the forefront of the most critical issues facing the in-house cleaning/facility management industry today, with most survey respondents who offered their opinion of the industry’s No. 1 problem mentioning hardships in finding, hiring, and retaining qualified staff.