A knowledgeable, well-document-ed contractor who looks the part is more likely to win a bid than a fly-by-night operation. struction cleaning company with all the paper-work completed and in place. How to bid final, post construction or after construc-tion cleaning is the question most jan-itorial companies seem to be inter-ested in. But, that chal-lenge won’t be addressed correctly until you shake the hand of the site superintendant or project manager. The key to consis-tently 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 sched-ule 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 com-pany 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 consid-ered when the time is right. What’s your turnover date?” That should be followed by: “Our paper-work 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 under-stand the opportunities avail-able with construction site cleanup. More importantly, it’s mandato-ry to understand the scope of work and the timeframes avail-able 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 com-plete, no additional work required.” With subcontractors perpetually returning to a site to continue their work, the commer-cial cleaning company’s work is often over-looked. 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 gen-eral labor charges competitive. Your experienced staff can complete the tasks in a shorter timeframe than the super-intendent will be expecting to pay a tempo-rary 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 janitori-al 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 construc-tion cleaning company business plan. A business letter and janitorial service liter-ature are also available to research for your post construction cleaning company busi-ness plan. However, it really takes walking the site, speaking with the people in charge and inter-nalizing the actual work necessary to find your profit. CM Thomas Anthony of Facility Support Services runs a website offering tips for those in the JanSan industry and other tools for people want-ing to start or grow in the commercial cleaning industry. Please visit www.acleaningbid.com for additional information. Anthony may be contacted at (256) 603-8355 or [email protected]. www.cmmonline.com 39
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