How to Optimize Janitorial Services for Cost Savings in CA Businesses

As a janitorial or cleaning business, you’re likely always looking for new ways to cut operating costs. While some in the industry regularly analyze procedures and operations to check where changes can have the greatest effect, other businesses are just too busy with day-to-day operations to explore the various ways of reducing operating expenses. Unfortunately, you may be wasting tons of money if you slack on optimizing your janitorial services, so this isn’t something you can ignore for too long.

If you’re struggling to regularly analyze and optimize your janitorial or cleaning business, there’s a simple way to cut some costs — with this list. Take a look at some of these cost-saving suggestions and decide if any of them are right for you.

1. Automated Cleaning

Studies show that it can take one person about two hours to mop a 5,000 sq. ft. space. This cleaning method is labor intensive and very expensive since you need to pay an employee by the hour to get the job done. Instead of having a person do the job, you can employ an automatic scrubber to mop and clean floors. This tool takes 15 - 30 minutes to do the same amount of work, provides better sanitation, and uses less product.

There are also automations for sanitizing and disinfecting various spaces and tools of the trade. Find those that you would use more often and invest in them to cut costs.

2. Purchase Supplies in Bulk

Even if you’re just a two-person house cleaning operation, buying your janitorial supplies in bulk can make a big difference. In most cases, even just upgrading to five-gallon sizes is cheaper ounce per ounce than purchasing smaller amounts.

You may want to inventory your supplies to see which you use most often and set alerts and reminders for when it’s time to buy a new product. With a system like this in place, you’re less likely to overbuy, and you’ll be organized no matter how big your operation gets.

3. Use Auto-Dilution

If you’re still using dilution calculators to manually mix chemicals, you’re likely wasting tons of supplies in the process. Using an auto-dilution system can prevent product waste and save you money, but it can also protect yourself and your team from dangerous chemicals, eliminate chemical residue, and professionalize your janitorial services.

4. Upgrading Equipment

Equipment upgrades are not a waste of money. They can help you find technologies that improve cleaning results, operate faster than your current equipment, and reduce labor expenses. For example, working with an older automatic scrubber means you could be spending double the time cleaning floors than with a newer version.

Compare specs on old versus new equipment to see how much of an upgrade you’re getting and make sure the cost is worth it. Some gear can last a little longer, while other pieces should be replaced as soon as possible.

5. Invest in New Tech

Innovation is the key to success in every industry, even commercial cleaning and janitorial services. You may have been skipping out on conferences the last few years in favor of taking care of business, but it might be time to see what new machines and chemicals are out there. Most professional expos showcase innovations that reduce cleaning time, costs, and labor.

Companies who showcase at expos and conferences are doing the innovation work for you. All you have to do is choose the right new tech for your business.

6. Create Rigorous Training Programs

Many businesses underestimate the expense of badly trained or constantly rotating employees. Without proper training, your employees may be using too many materials or wasting time on incorrect cleaning procedures. With a properly trained team, you can maximize efficiency, optimize product usage, prevent the spread of disease, and ensure everyone is up to date on cleaning standards to improve customer satisfaction.

Whenever you get a new tool or piece of equipment, you don’t have to do all the work alone. Many manufacturers and distributors provide free training tools to help people learn their tech. Utilize all the resources at your disposal to improve your team and operate more effectively.

7. Promote Work Safety

A safer work environment goes a long way toward protecting employees and preventing injury, so you can reduce the chance of workers’ compensation claims. With appropriate safety measures, you can keep insurance expenses down and prevent the need to reimburse expensive medical claims.

8. Schedule Accounts Based On Location

You might not have thought about it, but running around town to different cleaning locations can waste a ton of time and resources. When you can, schedule clients in the same area at the same time so your employees can reduce their drive time, lower fuel expenses, and streamline their day-to-day activities. You might even be surprised at how many more clients you can fit in per day when you don’t need to drive as far between appointments.

Which Tips Work For You?

While not all of these may work for your business, you can still make some headway in optimizing your operations by utilizing just one or two line items from this list. Every few months, take another look at how your business is performing and decide where else you can tighten procedures and improve efficiency.