Tackling a school cleaning program can be made simpler if managers plan for year-round work. Don’t just factor in cleaning necessary for the 180 school days. Make sure you plan project work for the days when the halls are empty.

Along with the 180 day school year (yours may vary) you also have a potential 80 more days (260 – 180 = 80) that include various holidays and usually the longest: summer vacation. This is usually the time that the floors will be taken down to the bare surface and recoated as well as thorough cleaning of the carpet, rugs, mats and other soft surfaces. It is important that in your bid you capture all of the tasks that will be required during the off days/weeks/months. Other tasks may include window cleaning, vent cleaning, light bulb servicing, minor repairs, graffiti removal/repainting (if necessary) and other tasks that will make the facility to be fresh and inviting for returning teachers and students.

This may be the time to look at the current staff (either school custodians or another contractor) to identify and hire one of more who know the facility and can help avoid missing any tasks that could severely impact your profit margin. Once you have a comprehensive list of all of the various tasks you need to perform, you will need to determine how many DLH (direct labor hours – housekeeping, custodial, floor techs, etc.) and IDLH (indirect labor hours – supervision, quality control, training, etc.). You will also need to separately list other specialty tasks and assign hours to be applied against the BLR (burdened labor rate).

We will look at equipment and supplies in a future article.

Your comments and questions are important. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, keep it clean...

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678-314-2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net


posted on 10/12/2015