I was approached by a reader asking for suggestions on what to consider on a bid to bid on a 20-facility school system.

My initial response is very carefully since this is a rather complicated contract that requires you to work outside your basic service experience. In a prior article we touched on the challenges facing your company as you work on how many direct labor hours (DLH) you will need to satisfy the specifications of the contract. It is also important to clarify how many days per year you will actually work since the 180 day school year can be deceiving. Although there can be many different day and night tasks that need to be performed, you will also need to take into account the labor necessary to not only conduct the required annual/semi-annual stripping/recoating, carpet cleaning, high cleaning, etc. you will also need to take into account how many support staff you will need simply to move furniture and other items so the floor techs can do their job efficiently and go on to the next task.

Remember to make a clear map of the room (or even take digital pictures) so that when you go to restore the room it is close to the way it was originally set up. You will need to take special note of any equipment that is already damaged so that you are not blamed. It would be best to have a representative of the school sign off on your inventory of current condition so that you have a third party verifying the current condition of the rooms.

We will continue these thoughts 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 10/8/2015