What to look for when looking for proposals

Looking for an office cleaner in Nashville!

Have you ever received cleaning service proposals that are significantly different in their pricing? It is not uncommon to have multiple janitorial services proposals with significant variances in pricing. Why does this occur?

In most cases, the variance is due to each cleaning company’s estimation of the number of staff hours needed to complete the cleaning tasks. However, there are other elements that go into the development of a cleaning proposal. The following six items should be a part of every cleaning proposal you receive:

Direct Staff Wages- This is the largest portion of a cleaning contract. It is important to use as a responsible company to pay a living wage. Our largest investment is our people. We invest in our office cleaning staff with competitive wages. We take into consideration: How long will it would take us to clean your office, warehouse or facility (Number of staff hours)? How much will we have to pay (competitive/market wage) our cleaners?
Direct Staff Taxes & Benefits- In addition to payroll taxes, there are several other direct staff cost that is included in our proposed pricing. We include vacations, employee benefits, background checks, drug screens, and uniforms including badges.
Supplies- Supply cost is represented in the cost of the proposal. This includes cleaning chemical, microfiber rags, mops, buckets, ect. Excel can also include consumable items such as toilet, tissue, paper hand towels, hand soaps, ect. Contact us for an additional quote.
Equipment-We might need to invest in certain pieces of equipment to complete the work at your facility. This will vary based on scope and complexity of the work.
Indirect Cost (Overhead)-There are a number of indirect costs that prospective vendors should include in their pricing. Examples of indirect costs: accounts payable/receivable costs, HR costs including the cost of recruiting, liability and workers’ comp insurance, management/supervision, etc. Unlike the other costs above, indirect costs should not vary much from customer to customer. In other words, vendors should have an indirect cost/overhead percentage that is applied to each customer.
Profit-It is important that prospective vendors derive a reasonable return for the work that they perform. Vendors with a healthy profit margin tend to provide better service and remain in business longer.
There are many “here today and gone tomorrow” office cleaning companies in Nashville popping up that who don’t consider all of these elements in their pricing, and subsequently are not able to sustain long-term profitability.
If the cleaning proposals you receive don’t have the above components included, make sure you ask about them. Otherwise, you could be signing a low-ball offer that you’ll regret later.