Insurance

Before you allow anybody to come into your place of business you need to make sure you can trust them, after all these are the people that will be coming in after hours to clean your facilities. They will have your keys and alarm codes, but the truth is that not many janitorial services run a thorough background check on their employees. The first thing you should ask the representative doing your bid is if each employee is finger printed and background checked, don't be shy to ask questions because it can save you headaches in the future.

The second and most important thing that most companies forget to check is for liability insurance coverage, These days every janitorial service claims to be licensed, bonded, and insured but the truth is that most businesses forget to verify this at the point of signing up for the service. This is very crucial because accidents do happen and if something were to go wrong you would not want to waste your time going to court to collect money from someone that couldn't even afford to pay for general liability insurance. The minimum insurance coverage you should look for is for one million dollars.

The third point is to try stay away from contracts, regardless of how closing a representative is and what a good deal you are offered it is always worth paying a bit extra for the convenience of not being tied into a commitment of a year or more. This gives you scalability, Another word for scalability: flexibility. Outsourcing lets you easily adjust the level of staffing for facility operations on an as-needed basis, helping you control operating costs and easily adjust for changes in staffing and service requirements. Besides that it keeps the janitorial service on their best behavior to prevent the competition from taking their account. If you do decide to sign a contract make sure you have the opportunity adjust the staffing needs as business requires you to.

The fourth point to look out for is more of personal decision, choosing a franchise janitorial service vs. a local janitorial service, Which is better? The truth is that Franchises like any other business is just the name your paying for, on top of that you're not only paying for the labor but you're paying royalties, franchise fees, and franchise businesses normally have a mandatory minimum annual contract for their customers. We've all had bad experiences with contracts haven't we? Cell phones for example after 6 months with the service you realize the service is not what you thought it would be and the customer service is horrible but you still have to finish the contract to avoid penalties. On the other hand Smaller family owned businesses are normally home based and work with businesses on a more personal level. Smaller janitorial services work on referrals which we all now is the most important reason to assure the best work possible. They almost never require contracts to sign because these businesses work on a month to month basis and normally only require a 30 day written notice to terminate the service.

Finally the fifth point is to verify the quality of their work, most janitorial services have websites or a portfolio of their work and current customer accounts. Although for privacy reasons most customers will not allow walk through's of the their facilities for prospective customers but that is another reason why not being tied into a contract is a great way to try out a janitorial service and decide if they are a great company to work with.

There you have it! If you are currently looking for a janitorial service in Southern California I am happy to give you a proposal or just answer some of your questions.