[Tim Downer]

Just a question people...

...I have just completed (for my information) my own version of a cleaning management audit thingy.....

I have pictured in my head one of my Office buildings that we clean. As i have walked round, i have written every thing down that i can think of that gets or needs cleaning. On the same line as each action / item to be cleaned on this form, i have 2 boxes - a pass box to tick, or a fail box to tick.

I have then with this information, compiled an Audit where i can walk round and check everything, and either pass it as being cleaned properly by my staff, or if not, it will be a fail.......

     .......you with me so far?? (It is getting late and i would like to go home now!!)......

       .......I have found myself with 20 chuffing sheets of paper with around 25 lines on each page     

I have really enjoyed doing this excercise, and will use it for the first time tomorrow afternoon and see if it works.

What i would like to know, is what do you guys do??

Do you just walk round the site and make notes of what is not cleaned??

Do you have a different system or what works for you??

Or do you not bother......until possibly the client complains about an area??

I have worked hard on this form......even if 20 pages long, and i will be able to adapt it for other sites, current and future.....but am i really wasting my time??

Thanks Chaps and Chapess's

Tim

[dustycorner]

Hi Tim,

 I think your right to do cleaning audits in a structured fashion, not sure about 20 pages though lol.

Cheers Mark.

[Tim Downer]

Well, for example, i have made a list of what to check in one office.....and duplicated it for each of the 10 offices there in my clients place, plus there are two toilets downstairs and two toilets upstairs.....plus two kitchens, corridors etc......and when i stopped.....it was 20 pages later 

However, i have done it this way.....so that for example there was cobwebs in office 3 and the bins had not been emptied in kitchen 2 for some days, i would be able to write this down in the comments box FOR THAT DEPARTMENT. Otherwise, i might forget which office / kitchen had the problem.

With everything written down.....at least i am not very likely to forget anything, plus at some future date, a supervisor could do it.

That was the idea, anyway. Saw something very similar at the cleaning show last week at excel ....... but they wanted me to part with £3,500. So have done my own version    

Kind regards

Tim

[PHILC]

i use a simple check sheet with the the items to be cleaned and 2 boxes after it 1 to be signed by the person who cleaned it and the other box to be signed by a supervisor and at the bottom of the page a section for notes or extras /defects which is ideal for doing builders cleans as it doubles up as a snag list for the builder  it shows to the client good att to detail

[martin19842]

hi there

tim

one method is to call it a customer satisfaction survey.

the reason why, is there may be a point wher you cant get round to all your clients to personally do the walk round.

therefroe if they have a simple form

dusting
vacuuming
high levels
kitchens
toilets
etc

then they will either tick or cross, if they cross then there is a SMALL spave for their comments.

the other thing that this does,

is that it protects you, in the case of termination of the cleaning contract for poor cleaning.  ie the person who is in charge of the clenaing leaves the company and another poerson takes over and instantly isnt happy, and tries to terminate.

you will have these survey sheets, signed by the client as evidence, VERY POWERFUL

i'll see if i can dig out what i have used in the past.

changing the subject

we got awarded our first reinstatement contract yesterday, so we have dried out the property, and now we are putting it back together, new ceilings, plastering, decoration, kitchen, carpets, and blinds, and then hand it back to the client, just waiting on a decision for another 3 properties, SO ITS ALLL FUN.

regards

martin

[marts - Martin Reed]

Tim, u need a holiday mate.. take some time off 

u could always spend £3500 on one of those computer thingys that we saw at carpex.... my check list is in my head but good idea for supervisors.... a simple checklist would do

martino

[www.crawleycarpetc]

I Think it sounds good Tim as we all need to remind ourselves of the little things that do so easily get unnoticed for months and then look awful once exposed.
 An observation i have made is most cleaners only work with there heads bowed lol

rob.

[Tim Downer]

Yes, i do need a holiday......and i also do not trust people as yet, to remember and look at all the cleaning (including myself!!) So have written all the detailed stuff down.
Will try it out "live" this afternoon, and like i said yesterday, if it works out well, then it will be a detailed "template" for other contracts.
There is a box at the end for manager to sign and also one for the customer to sign too afterwards.
Will let you know how well it works......or if it is too much bother!!

Regards

Tim

[marts - Martin Reed]

hey tim,

look on prochem.com and they have more powerful machines in the us... still do the cheyanne but with 250psi

guess its eu regs that they can't do in uk

martino

[martin19842]

tim

the customer will love it, and nothing is ever too much bother.  cuase if it is then what s the point really of doing it.

the difficulty comes when your staff let you down, and then when you walk round with the client you get pulled to pieces.

therefore we would always let the client survey themsleves, and then follow up with a visit to clarify if required.

dont make a rod for your own back, there is a careful balance between customer care, and shooting yourslef in the foot.

regards

martin

[Tim Downer]

Interesting thought Martin, however, why would the customer want to go round and check our work??
If it is not done properly, yes, they will be the first to tell me.
However, today's excercise went well, although i think i will cut down SOME of the paperwork.....but i went through my findings with the client and they were very happy and signed it.....even when i had written in the report the areas that were not up to standard!! and when to expect them to be rectified.
Personally, i think i prefere this approach than letting the client do it.....will they do it properly anyway??

Regards
Tim

[clifford]

hi tim dont suppose u would like to give me a copy of this save me taking hours to do my own twenty pages?

[dustycorner]

Hi Tim,

Think your going about it the right way, if the customer was doing the checking  instead of you they might question why they weren't employing cleaners direct. To my mind client allow companies like ours to provide their cleaning services so they can concentrate on running their business.

Cheers Mark. 

[clifford]

i totaly agree with u dusty!!!!

our company slogan is 'we take the stress out of cleaning'



cliff

[Fox]

We carry out a 'quality control audit' on a 4 to 6 weekly basis but only for bigger contracts.  The sheet we use is only 1 page and has everything on it with a space next to it for comments (you can fill in areas in this space also).  Each task is graded as either - a: good b: satisfactory c: needs attention

Some clients choose to 'walk' the building with us, others leave us to it.  The sheet always gets signed by the client.  It doesn't matter that this sheet can get messy with all the scribble etc as it is always transfered to the pc and a copy emailed to the client.

Tim, you really don't need a long document to carry out a qc, where on earth will you get the time to complete a 20 pager? 

Fox