bidding & estimating The Costs And Profit Of Sustainable Cleaning Savings can be found when advanced cleaning processes are implemented in a facility. By: William R. Griffin D Does cleaning in a green, sustainable manner cost more or less than cleaning in what might be referred to as the standard way? Good question. A transition is taking place from the standard way of cleaning to what is commonly referred to as green or sustainable cleaning. This normally refers to at least the use of green chemicals and pos-sibly green equipment and processes. The advanced thinking companies (and better customers), along with healthcare, education and government, are demanding that their cleaning contractor will at least use green chemicals. Many companies now want to see a more comprehensive package of services that includes green equipment and processes along with support for their recycling program. are implemented in a facility: This includes such things as chemical-free cleaning; elimination of finishing, stripping and burnishing of hard floor surfaces; low-moisture carpet cleaning; the use of microfiber cloths and mops; bucketless mopping; robotic and riding equipment; day cleaning; and composting. No Hard Numbers It’s difficult to put an exact amount on savings or costs related to sus-tainable cleaning as there hasn’t been a lot of factual data collected because the cleaning industry isn’t very good about benchmarking or analyzing its costs. In many cases the companies with the factual data are privately held and don’t share this information as it gives them a competitive edge over the competition. One study I heard about at the BOMA convention a couple of years ago was done by the Hines Interests in Houston, Texas, and it related to green chemical costs in several million square feet of high rise of-fice space over a five year period. The end result was that when they switched over to green chemi-cals, cost went up slightly for the first six months and then went down 20 percent to 30 percent and remained at that level for the balance of the study. The bottom line was at least a 20 percent savings in cleaning chemical costs that were attributable to the use of green chemicals. Several other factors to consider include energy saving attribut-able to day cleaning, reduced water usage and a related reduction in sewer costs. Costs And Savings Ten years ago, contractors would charge 10 to 20 percent extra for this premium level of service, and rightfully so as it was a new type of service and the products did cost considerably more. Today it’s a different story. Almost every chemical company has a line of green products and most of them work pretty well and don’t cost much or any more than other products on the market, and it’s pretty much the same for what is considered to be green equipment. The cost might be a little more, but the difference isn’t much and there are often hidden cost savings achievable from the use of green equipment and processes. These cost savings include a reduction in overall chemical usage, higher productivity and less-frequent scheduling of labor intensive periodic tasks related to floor and carpet care. Another big issue is cost savings related to trash removal and recy-cling; trash is normally dumped daily, on a set schedule or when the receptacle gets full to a certain level. In most locations dumping the recycling happens far less frequent-ly than trash removal, so labor savings are possible if more paper goes in the recycle bin than into the trash can. This also results in a substantial trash removal cost reduction for the customer, as they often get paid for their recycled materials ver-sus paying to haul away the trash. In a large facility this can be a savings of $50,000 or more per year. Engineering The Work For Profit And Quality In the eyes of the more advanced companies, if you don’t use green cleaning processes and products you are seen as being outdated and not on the cutting edge of technology and cost savings. The ongoing challenge today is to track your costs and continually make adjustments in the way the work is done to improve the process and profit on each account, without a loss of quality or a negative impact on the level of service. This goal is achievable when backed up with accurate account-ing, bidding, workloading, training, management and quality as-surance. CM William (Bill) Griffin is the president of Cleaning Consultant Services Inc. and president of the International Custodial Advisors Network (ICAN). ICAN is a nonprofit association comprised of industry professionals provid-ing free consultation services through the Cleaning Management Institute (CMI) and their Ask The Experts page. Comments and questions about bidding and estimating are encouraged: (206) 849-0179 or WGriffin@ CleaningConsultants.com. Everybody Wins The reality is that everyone wins with green cleaning. Costs are less for the building owner and the contractor, employ-ees don’t have to work as hard, the work environment is healthier and together we all protect the ecology of the Earth. More savings can be found if advanced green cleaning processes 44 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • August 2013
CMM – Archives August 2013: 44
