7 Ways to Improve Commercial Cleaning Production Rates

Could your commercial cleaning production rates be better? Find out how to make your work more efficient

Your commercial cleaning production rates are your bread and butter. Or should I say, they are the key to buying your bread and butter. Your production rates help you determine how many hours it will take to do a job, what to charge for that job, and what your expenses and profit will be. 

As a quick review, your commercial cleaning production rates are how much work your team can get done in a given time, usually measured in square feet. For example, your production rate for mopping might be 5,000 square feet per hour. To carry that forward, let’s say your expenses for that job, including payroll, supplies, transportation, and any other overhead, are $25. To make a profit, you need to charge more than $25. Simple, right? 

Of course, it’s more complicated in the real world. Most customers want you to do more than just come in and mop the floor. And you’ll have different supplies for different jobs and so on. The basic principle is the same, though. So when you create a bid, you’ll have your commercial cleaning production rates for each task and the number of appointments per week, then you add everything together for a total. 

Incidentally, Janitorial Manager has a built-in bidding calculator that helps you with all of this. You can use ISSA templates and the ISSA 612 time and task standards, or you can customize the settings to use your own numbers. 

This is where things get fun, though. There are numerous ways to improve your commercial cleaning production rates. And when you can do that, you can potentially lower your prices and make a higher profit. Let’s take a look. 

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7 Tips for better commercial cleaning production rates

So, we know that your commercial cleaning production rates are the time it takes you to perform certain tasks. And we know there’s often room for improvement. Assuming you already have a hard-working team, here are some steps you can take to work more efficiently.

1. Ensure your rates are detailed. There’s something to be said for bundling tasks into one job. It makes things easier for clients to understand, and it streamlines the bidding process for you. Have you ever asked yourself how accurate those rates are, though? They might be spot on. It might also be worth running a comparison. Would your commercial cleaning production rates be the same if you specified each task? 

2. Base your rates on more than square footage. It’s much easier to mop a 10,000-square-foot floor in an empty building than it is to mop an 8,000-square-foot floor spread out over three stories in a highly trafficked office building. Square footage is an excellent starting point for determining your rates, but make sure to consider other factors that may impact your efficiency. 

3. Consider climate. What will building occupants be tracking into the space? Winter could bring lots of melting snow, salt, and mud. Areas near beaches may end up with a lot of sand scratching the floors and digging into carpets. 

4. Use the right equipment. Whether it’s a floor buffer or a microfiber cloth, using the right equipment for the job is one of the best ways to work efficiently. 

5. Keep your equipment maintained. Here’s a situation where putting in a little time and effort in advance can pay off big time. Well-maintained equipment lasts longer, is less likely to break down on you, and ensures that your team doesn’t spend half a shift trying to figure out how to fix it. 

6. Use more efficient tools. This one is simple. In the same amount of time, you can cover twice the area with a 24-inch broom as you can with a 12-inch broom. 

7. Keep your team organized. If you have more than one person working in the same location, you don’t want them to double up on tasks. With industry-leading tools like Scan4Clean QR codes, you can use Janitorial Manager to keep your team on task, organized, and communicating.

If you can improve your commercial cleaning production rates, you have numerous options, including increased profits, higher wages for your team, room to negotiate with clients, and the ability to take on more clients since you’ll be able to work more efficiently.