Finding Opportunities in Tough Times

A&A Maintenance Enterprise is a 36-year-old building service contractor (BSC) that cleans offices and scores of other facilities in New York, Boston, Miami and Chicago. During their nearly four-decade history, the company has experienced a number of economic ups and downs; however, as has been the case for many firms in our industry, the current financial downturn has been one of the most trying.

“Probably the biggest impact we are experiencing is that many of our clients have cut back on carpet cleaning and floor care,” says Armando Martinez, the company’s CEO. “Typically, cleaning carpets and refinishing floors are very lucrative for us.”

However, Martinez suggests that losing the business created by these add-on services-- most specifically floor refinishing--has actually opened the door to new opportunities that should offer long-lasting benefits for his company. “We are working with our customers to develop floor-care programs that keep their floors looking good longer,” he says. “This is helping us strengthen [our business] relationships with these customers, which is always a good thing.”

Floor Care Costs: Where Does the Money Go?

According to a 2004 report by GreenSeal® (a leading Green certification organization), more than $1 billion is spend annually on floor-care products such as strippers, polishes, sealers and cleaners in the United States. However, although this may appear to be a large amount, it only reflects about 10 percent of the total amount spent on floor cleaning, refinishing and polishing.

Where does the rest of the money go? The bulk of the costs involved in floor care are actually due to labor. These amounts can range anywhere from 70 percent to more than 90 percent of the total expense.

At one time, when labor costs were lower and there were fewer concerns about the environmental impact of floor care, it was not uncommon for BSCs to strip and refinish floors a facility's floors two, three or even more times per year. However, those days are long gone. The current state of the economy appears to have put the final nails in the coffin regarding performing floor stripping and refinishing with that kind of frequency.

Cleaning professionals are now looking for ways to keep their customers' floors looking satisfactory at a reduced cost. Fortunately, there are several strategies that can address this need. Some are surprisingly low-tech, while others, specifically those that apply to floor-care equipment, involve new types of technology.

Dot Technology

“We clean lots of schools and day care centers,” says Richard Sanchez, Owner of the AJ Janitorial company in Santa Rosa, CA. “This often requires that the floors be refinished during school breaks a certain number of times per year, whether they need it or not.” While the floors in educational facilities typically do experience considerable wear and tear and need to be refinished frequently, a complete strip and refinish is not always necessary.

To prove this to his clients, Sanchez uses something he calls “dot technology,” wherein colored dots are placed between coats of finish on a floor using a magic marker or a similar device. A red dot, for instance, is placed after the second coat of finish, a blue dot after the third, and a yellow after the fourth. These dots fade into the finish when first applied, but become more obvious as the floor undergoes normal wear and tear due to usage and cleaning. The goal is to consider refinishing the floor only after the blue or yellow dots become visible, rather than refinishing on a fixed schedule regardless of need.

“Even then, the floor may just need cleaning, scrubbing and another coat of finish,” says Sanchez. “That’s a lot less time consuming and costly than a complete refinishing of the floor with less impact on the environment to boot.”

Floor-Care Equipment

The size and type of equipment selected can also make a big difference in the cost of floor care; this is because the right machine can improve worker productivity, thereby cutting costs.

“With the cost of labor today, this is more important than ever,” says Michael Schaffer, President of Tornado Industries. “In general, when cleaning [floor] areas smaller than 1,500 square feet, a standard floor machine—rotary or cylindrical—is suggested. But in areas larger than 1,500 square feet, a walk-behind scrubber will pay dividends, with even higher savings realized in areas large enough to use ride-on equipment.”

According to Schaffer, depending on floor size, frequency of use and labor charges, a walk-behind or ride-on scrubber will typically pay for itself in less than a year, sometimes in just a few months. “We have studies that show one person using a standard 16-inch buffer can clean 10,000 square feet of flooring in about 10 hours,” he says. “That same area can be cleaned in less than 30 minutes with a 24-inch walk-behind machine.”

Advances in floor-care equipment have also helped reduce costs. For instance Schaffer says many auto scrubbers now use solenoids to control water flow. The operation of a solenoid valve is similar to that of a light switch, but as it applies to floor scrubbers, it serves to control the flow of water or solution. This avoids an old but very common problem: water flowing into the machine or onto the floor if an operator accidentally leaves a valve open.

The new generation of battery-powered machines now available also helps save money, according to Schaffer.  Newer models deliver significantly improved run times before they need to be recharged and compared to electric machines, “Since they do not have to be continually plugged in and unplugged from wall outlets, these [machines] increase worker productivity considerably,” he says.

Finally, Schaffer suggests that BSCs consider an entirely different kind of floor-care technology to reduce the cost and labor of floor care called cylindrical brush technology. Unlike rotary machines, cylindrical floor machines use brushes instead of pads to clean, strip and scrub floors. These brushes are better able to reach deep into grout and porous floor areas.  The result: the machine does more of the work, cutting time and costs.

What Not to Cut

Although the chemicals used to clean, polish and maintain floors are of minor cost, when compared to labor expenses it is not unusual for BSCs and their customers to investigate less expensive products in the hopes of saving money. Unfortunately, in many cases this is not a wise course of action.

“Very often, the more expensive floor-care chemicals are easier to apply and maintain, and they last longer,” says Sanchez. “With proper [floor-care] strategies in place, more expensive, higher-quality chemicals can postpone one or more refinishing cycles--so they more than pay for themselves in the long run.” 

Visit www.tornadovac.com to learn more or call 1.800.VACUUMS today!