How to Make the ISSA Cleaning Times Standards Work For You

Put the ISSA Cleaning Times Standards To Work!

Price comparison. It’s something that most businesses practice when it comes to ensuring the prices they are being charged for products or services is competitive. When you get the chance to respond to an RFP for custodial services, how can you be sure that your proposal is fair and competitive when compared to other companies? This is where the ISSA cleaning times standards come into play.

Back to Basics

Workloading is a process that many managers are returning to in order to have a more precise understanding of the needs that they should actually be looking to meet with a cleaning contract. Workloading requires a lot of data and figures, but with a commercial cleaning software equipped with the latest ISSA cleaning times standards, you’ll be able to input raw measurements and customer needs and come away with a strategic set of numbers and costs.

What are the raw measurements that you’ll need to know?

• The total amount of space in the building that your team will be responsible for cleaning. Now, this isn’t the gross square footage of the facility. That number would include storage rooms, mechanical rooms, and other areas that should not be included in raw measurements. While it may look like a nice way to pad your bid, it will also cause your bid to be notably higher than those who are including only the square footage that will be cleaned on a regular basis. To get this number accurately, utilize an architectural drawing or measure the appropriate spaces by hand.
• Daily cleaning, scheduled cleaning, and tag work. You should know what cleaning projects will be done daily; what work is expected to be scheduled on a monthly, weekly, or quarterly basis; and what tag work will be added in once or twice a year.

• Accurate cleaning task times x frequency. Once you know what spaces will need to be cleaned, it’s time to crunch the numbers to establish your labor time. This is where the ISSA cleaning times standard comes in handy. Sure, you could attempt to complete each task manually, and time it all out yourself… but that would be crazy! Instead, utilize a commercial cleaning software that incorporates those numbers into an easy-to-use dashboard that automates the process for you. For example, using the Janitorial Manager bidding assistance dashboard, you could input that the facility you’re creating a proposal for has 10,000 square feet of carpet that must be cleaned 200 times per year. ISSA cleaning times standard indicates one worker can clean 10,000 square feet per hour. That task time (1) is multiplied by the frequency (200) to equal 200 hours per year. That process – made simple with the pre-applied ISSA cleaning times standard measurements – is then repeated for every single task, from sanitizing countertops to taking out the trash.
• Hourly Rates for Labor. Once you have the number of hours needed for each task in each room, you can then multiply those times by the hourly rate you pay. Remember to add in extra expenses like taxes, workers’ comp, and insurance.

Although the largest expense in your business is, without a doubt, labor, you’ll also need to figure your supply costs. Input the supplies you purchase for each customer into your commercial cleaning software so that you can track the speed of use and keep an eye on any necessary training or corrections. Bill Garland is a joint managing partner of Daniels Associates, a Toronto-based cleaning consulting firm. “In 1969, computers knew, to the second, how long it took to get to the moon; we should be able to figure out how long it takes to clean a restroom,” he says.

Be Prepared for the Bid

When you know exactly how much it should take to make an accurate and defensible bid for your customers, you’ll present a strong, professional appearance. Using a janitorial bidding assistance software that seamlessly incorporates the ISSA cleaning times standard is the fastest and most productive way to accomplish this. For more information on the Janitorial Manager bidding assistance software, contact our experts TODAY for a free, live demo!