San Diego Office Cleaning
Office Cleaning basics
Here are some basics about office cleaning that should be considered and quantified at each office prior to actually creating a proposal.
The Customer’s Hot Buttons are NOT THE SAME
When I first got into this business 10 years ago, I quickly realized that people do not define “clean” in the same way. Almost overwhelmingly people define “clean” by a few items. It is our job to figure out what those are BEFORE we write up a cleaning proposal. Some examples of hot buttons we have seen are (obviously not in order of importance….after all, these are very subjective measurements of clean):
You will also notice that some of these Hot Buttons are diametrically opposed to each other – such is the life of a cleaner 
One person’s definition of “cleaning” is the opposite of the next customer’s definition.
Example 1 – Toilet Paper
Customer 1 “The toilet paper roll should go on with paper coming off of the top like this.”
Customer 2 “The toilet paper roll should go on with paper coming off the bottom like this.”
Customer 1 “I don’t like it when the Toilet Paper Rolls being thrown away before they are used up”
Customer 2 “I don’t understand why the Toilet Paper Rolls not being replaced when they are ‘low’ – just throw away the remaining part of the roll and put a fresh one up there each night”
Example 2 – Dusting
Customer 1 “How come some of the items have been moved on my desk when you dust – I expect everything to be exactly where I left it. Are you guys stealing stuff.”
Customer 2 “Why aren’t you guys moving my original collection of rare art to dust? When I come into my office, everything is exactly where I left it, I know you guys aren’t cleaning because stuff would be moved around if you did.”
Example 3 – Floors
Customer 1 “This floor is too shiny, I also think that when you stripped the floor, you put down ‘slippery wax’ because now when someone spills water – the floor is really slippery.”
Customer 2 “This floor doesn’t have a very good shine to it. I should be able to see my reflection in it after you mop (which by the way is not accomplished by mopping the floor alone). When I mop my tile floor at my house, it looks all clean when I am done (the customer is telling us this while we are standing looking at a VCT -Vinyl Composite Tile floor).
Example 4 – Restroom Deodorants
Customer 1 “When I come into the restroom in the morning, it smells like the deodorant is masking the stench of this restroom. Can we stop using the restroom deodorant sprays please.”
Customer 2 “You’re telling me that you cleaned the restroom last night, but I don’t smell anything. I should be able to smell the clean fragrance of cleaning when I walk into the bathroom.”
The point is this; CUSTOMER’S DO NOT DEFINE CLEANING OBJECTIVELY. “Cleaning” is defined by the manager put in charge of managing the office cleaning company.
This is particularly apparent when there is a change of manager at a company. We have tailored “clean” to match what the last manager defined as clean (i.e. fragrance in the restroom, pet-peeve about the blinds being dusted), but the new manager defines cleaning by having everything “squared” after the cleaning each night, and having the front entryway glass spotless each morning (which isn’t in the cleaning schedule).
A change in manager is essentially like having a brand new customer. We need to go back, ascertain the hot buttons of the new manager, and then tailor our cleaning emphasis to match what the new manager is defining as cleaning. And what the new manager wants for their office cleaning may be completely different than what the last manager wanted. Oh well.
So why the whining about Office Cleaning?
Not trying to whine, just trying to illustrate that a good company will understand that the definition of “clean” is subjective, and will change with the Manager of the company put in charge of managing the cleaning company. The sooner we understand that, the better life will be for us all.
