School cleaning

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Hi everyone,
I've been asked to send a quote for a small school(this is a first for me) and was wondering if anyone can offer some information. They asked me to include in my quote the number of hours needed and also how many people would be needed. They want everything done daily by 8am when it starts to get busy. I don't want to overquote. There is a main building and they have a small reception area , 2 sets of stairs, 4 quiet rooms(very small and empty just a sofa),6 medium classrooms, 5 toilets,3 small corridors, 4 medium offices, 1 medium staff room. Then in another building they have 2 medium classrooms and 1 quiet room- small and empty(just a sofa) 1 toilet, 1 corridor + stairs ,3 small offices and a medium dinning room. They asked for basic cleaning with mostly carpet that needs to be vacuumed in all above specified rooms, empty bins in all rooms, sweep where needed or mop, wipe all desks(office and classrooms) and window sills, clean and sanitise toilets basins,mirror and replenish soap and toilet rolls. Please pm or reply if anyone can help. Many thanks
 

Mark Sutcliffe

Cleantalk Member
The done thing is mainly after the school day, in my personal experience, although most schools have it ongoing throughout. If someone's pee'd on the floor, you don't want it there overnight...
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Yes I thought it was a bit odd but that's what they requested and don't want anyone there during the day
 

Jamie Biles

Cleantalk Member
My first question would be have they had anybody before,and how long they took. If had previous company,why are they not happy. Is it reliability or standards. Maybe the standards slipped as school expected too much for their budget. Or other company (if was one) is too expensive,which means you got battle consistently high standards with price. It's not all doom and gloom but great earner if get right.
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
It is a small special needs school. About 40 children and 20 staff members. They are not happy with their current cleaning company in terms of reliability and standards. They didn't want to share their current arrangements in terms of how many people and hours just sent a list of areas and their requirements for me to quote. I guess they are hoping for a better deal than what they currently have.
 

Ken Wainwright

Cleantalker Veteran
Not my area of expertise Roxi, just some ways of approaching this

If you look to compete primarily on price, there will always be others who are cheaper, be this today or next year. Anyone can be a busy fool.

Firstly, you need to sell yourself, so be professional at all times. Will you have an obligation under T.U.P.E. ? Other business costs will involve various insurances, PAT testing at 12 months (or they may require 6 months).

How long do you have to complete the daily task? 1 hour? 2 hours..... this will dictate the staffing numbers. As said earlier, afternoon/evenings would be preferable from a hygiene perspective (especially important these days)

Can you already cover the labour requirements or will it be new staff? Is the site on a bus route if staff do not have a car?

When you cost the job, remember to factor in holidays and absenteeism. Will you be required to supply consumables such as loo roll, soap etc as well as your own cleaning products? Cost in the supply of new equipment eg floor buffer, vac cleaners...... Do they have a secure cupboard with storage and water supply? Also cost in supervision (usually the business principal in a small business. There will be other factors too such as credit facilities. Will the school be paying direct or the education/council authority? Maybe work in a penalty clause for late payment?

Finally, do not forget profit for the business. Miss out this element and you may as well go and stack the shelves at Tesco.

Safe and happy cleaning:smile:
Ken
 

Peter McDougall

Cleantalk Member
Excellent advice from Ken there, in addition to it, be sure to visit the site and look around for yourself to get an idea of sizes of rooms etc and the extent of the work involved.

When working out your quote don't be so concerned with the service they received before. Quote based on your own merit's and standards. Don't allow a desire to get the job override the need for the business to be in profit. As Ken says, there'll always be someone cheaper and I suspect taking on a cheap quote while expecting high standards has lead them to this situation in the first place.
 

Dave Atkins

Cleantalk Member
I’d ask them what their budget is so I can assertain why they’ve got problems. You would need these figures so to evaluate whether you can offer a better service or not. If information is not forthcoming it’s a bit like a doctor seeing a patient that won’t tell them their problems.
Their problems are either
1 staff training
2 bad management
3 insufficient budget
You have to get a commitment from the client, it’s no use quoting for a £20k car when the customer only has £10k.
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Not my area of expertise Roxi, just some ways of approaching this

If you look to compete primarily on price, there will always be others who are cheaper, be this today or next year. Anyone can be a busy fool.

Firstly, you need to sell yourself, so be professional at all times. Will you have an obligation under T.U.P.E. ? Other business costs will involve various insurances, PAT testing at 12 months (or they may require 6 months).

How long do you have to complete the daily task? 1 hour? 2 hours..... this will dictate the staffing numbers. As said earlier, afternoon/evenings would be preferable from a hygiene perspective (especially important these days)

Can you already cover the labour requirements or will it be new staff? Is the site on a bus route if staff do not have a car?

When you cost the job, remember to factor in holidays and absenteeism. Will you be required to supply consumables such as loo roll, soap etc as well as your own cleaning products? Cost in the supply of new equipment eg floor buffer, vac cleaners...... Do they have a secure cupboard with storage and water supply? Also cost in supervision (usually the business principal in a small business. There will be other factors too such as credit facilities. Will the school be paying direct or the education/council authority? Maybe work in a penalty clause for late payment?

Finally, do not forget profit for the business. Miss out this element and you may as well go and stack the shelves at Tesco.

Safe and happy cleaning:smile:
Ken
Ken,

Many thanks for your reply , really helpful information. No TUPE obligation. They didn't want to give me details of their current arrangements in times or staff. They asked me to supply them with a detailed quote including this based on my assessments. They supplied a list of rooms and expectations. No consumables required but using my own cleaning products. They have a secure storage with water supply. Payment from the school directly.
Sent them the quote now will wait and see.

Many thanks again
Roxi
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Excellent advice from Ken there, in addition to it, be sure to visit the site and look around for yourself to get an idea of sizes of rooms etc and the extent of the work involved.

When working out your quote don't be so concerned with the service they received before. Quote based on your own merit's and standards. Don't allow a desire to get the job override the need for the business to be in profit. As Ken says, there'll always be someone cheaper and I suspect taking on a cheap quote while expecting high standards has lead them to this situation in the first place.
Hi Peter,

Many thanks for your reply. Really good advice with letting a desire to get a job override the need for the business to be in profit. Took that into consideration, sent them the quote and now will wait and see.

Many thanks again
Roxana
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
It's a school

It's a nightmare to service and keep them happy.

This is why the turnover of facility providers is so high.

Lots of schools bounce around companies every year

J
Hi Jacob,

Probably true. Sent them the quote now will wait and see. This would be my first school and maybe my last :smile: Just thought maybe give it a shot when I was approached by them
 

Jacob Ward

Cleantalker Veteran
Roxi

I do alot of work for a large facility management company in the Midlands.

The director of the company (good friend ) is on the board of his local school.

He got the contract for 6 months to provide what your quoting for and more

HE dropped it because it was so much hassle, the company was loosing money.

Not to paint the worst picture, but it's a tough game sector.


J
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
I’d ask them what their budget is so I can assertain why they’ve got problems. You would need these figures so to evaluate whether you can offer a better service or not. If information is not forthcoming it’s a bit like a doctor seeing a patient that won’t tell them their problems.
Their problems are either
1 staff training
2 bad management
3 insufficient budget
You have to get a commitment from the client, it’s no use quoting for a £20k car when the customer only has £10k.
Hi Dave,

I asked for the budget and current arrangements with regards to times and staff but they didn't want to disclose these. Just asked for my opinion and quote based on their cleaning requirements and areas. Maybe they are hoping for a better deal. I do agree with the doctor analogy and thought it was odd because usually in my experience these terms are already laid out but hey there's always a first :smile:
They did mention that the current company are not very reliable and not up to their standard.
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Roxi

I do alot of work for a large facility management company in the Midlands.

The director of the company (good friend ) is on the board of his local school.

He got the contract for 6 months to provide what your quoting for and more

HE dropped it because it was so much hassle, the company was loosing money.

Not to paint the worst picture, but it's a tough game sector.


J
Jacob,

Sounds like it's just not worth it and a lot of trouble. I'll focus back to where I am comfortable :smile: Just got this opportunity and thought that I shouldn't refuse it from the start and maybe get out of my comfort zone.

Will see now what happens. Won't be too disappointed if I don't get this contract :smile:
 

Dave Atkins

Cleantalk Member
Roxi, just ask them straight: they're coming to you with a problem but wont tell you what it is? is it the quality of work, the hours, the cost, the staff?
 

Roxi craciun

Cleantalk Member
Roxi, just ask them straight: they're coming to you with a problem but wont tell you what it is? is it the quality of work, the hours, the cost, the staff?
They only mentioned that the current company are not very reliable and not up to their standard.
 

Jacob Ward

Cleantalker Veteran
current company are not very reliable and not up to their standard.

And the company says ;

they keep changing what they want doing and when, we cant do it in time. They keep wanting extra things doing and the cleaners are trying to catch up in the allocated time. The school wont extend the time or pay for any over what we quoted on the contract.

The school provides all equipment, we keep saying we need this and that but it doesnt arrive....

Been there done that.

J
 

Dave Atkins

Cleantalk Member
classic story of the tail wagging the dog. treat the customer firmly or walk away. They need to define what it is exactly that they are trying to achieve. Ask the closing question 'What is it you are trying to achieve ?' then SHUT UP, the first person to speak will lose control of the situation. If they say something like the old cleaners were unreliable, ask them to define how they let them down so you know exactly how you can go about giving the customer the improvement they want (when they say unreliable they may just mean that when the cleaners turn up they ask them to do other jobs, thereby not allowing enough time to carry out their normal cleaning effectively). e.g. If the latter information were the case, we can ascertain that the problem lies with the customer and not the cleaners. See how it works?
 
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