Should You Have a National Contract with Your Commercial Cleaner?
Over the past year, the landscape of commercial property ownership has changed. Flexibility has never been so important for property managers when meeting their tenants' expectations.
The question has arisen for many, “Do I need a national contract for commercial cleaning?”
Retail locations, professional offices, and shopping centers have different responses to COVID, which means your tenants now have different needs when it comes to cleaning. So, does one contract cover this? Should you find multiple commercial cleaners for different geographical locations or properties?
Let’s find out the benefits of trying to meet changing tenant expectations.
Multilevel or Multiple Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
A Service Level Agreement is one of the most important tools with your commercial cleaner. This contract details the frequency of cleaning, what services will be provided, how you will be charged, and what benchmarks must be met.
With an SLA, it is easier to evaluate the efficacy of your cleaner of choice. However, being a property manager with hundreds of tenants and businesses, how can you ensure each property has its needs met without wasting money on unneeded services? Is it better to have multiple cleaners perform their duties for multiple properties?
This is where multiple SLAs or multilevel SLAs can become handy. Different agreements for multiple properties can guarantee that your tenants will receive a level of cleaning suited for their uses, allowing you to stick with one national cleaning service. It also allows property managers to set key performance indicators for their individual properties or geographic locations, establishing clear expectations to be delivered upon.
With technology, multiple SLAs have become easier to manage than numerous vendors. Cloud databases and smartphones have empowered cleaning services, allowing property managers to keep track of multiple agreements in one app or website. This not only saves time but also avoids the need for unnecessary services.
Ensure the Right Tools for the Job
Having multiple properties and locations can also mean multiple types of tenants. Ultimately, each location you manage can come with different cleaning goals. Some buildings might be carpeted, while others might sport full tile suites.
When it comes to commercial cleaners, having the right tools for the job matters. It is no longer just a janitor with a mop and broom – commercial floor waxers, shop vacs, and static-eliminating wipes are all specialized and required in different situations. A commercial cleaner will not only have these specialized tools but will also have the staff trained to use them efficiently.
Vendor Consolidation
Despite the best efforts of competition, dealing with multiple vendors takes work. This is because at the foundation of every commercial cleaning agreement is communication. It would be best if you communicated the needs of your tenants, your expectations as a property manager, and operational responsiveness. This is not achievable with several vendors for multiple properties.
Working with a national commercial cleaner reduces your communication effort, helping to consolidate your points of contact with your service provider.
Staff and Influence
When working with a national commercial cleaner, there are a few things that you can depend on—the first being purchasing power.
Luckily, due to the influence of economies of scale, having a dependable and national cleaning firm often leads to better buying power regarding sanitizers, disinfectants, and machinery. These savings are passed on to commercial cleaners' clients, helping keep operational costs low.
Not only does economies of scale affect prices, but they also affect employees. Larger companies are more likely to invest in staff background checks, employ for longer, and offer advanced training to their staff. These benefits are passed along to you and help you choose a national contract.
A National Cleaner for You
If you’re looking for a commercial cleaner that can meet all your changing needs and keep up to date with this new COVID environment, look no further than iRestify. Our professional cleaning services are as flexible as your tenants.
Paired with our iRestify platform, you can achieve cleaning excellence at all your commercial or multi-tenant properties. Add real-time requests, see “before and after” images of completed proof of work, receive analytical reporting for all iRestify’s cleaning services, and receive the benefits discussed.
Reach out to us today for a demo to see what a difference a technology-enabled national partner can make.
