Tag Archive for: government cleaning

Commercial Cleaning Company - The College Of The Rockies

Commercial Cleaning Company Gets An A-Ok At Prestigious College Of The Rockies!

Evergreen Building Maintenance Inc. was awarded the commercial cleaning company contract this summer for the College Of The Rockies in Cranbrook BC.

“It was a tough bidding process against some of the top commercial cleaning companies in BC” says Ranjit Takhar President of Evergreen Building Maintenance.

The contract for cleaning College Of The Rockies is considered quite prestigious since it is the main college serving 6 or 7 cities in the Kootenays and is also one of the primary attractions of Cranbrook, BC.

Approximately 2,500 busy full time busy students use 200,000 sq. ft. of high traffic space including classrooms, indoor and outdoor recreational areas, parking lots, food courts and medical training facilities.  This is quite a challenge considering the College requires a wide variety of expertise from its commercial cleaning company 365 days a year.

Takhar says “This contract proves we are ready to take on larger federal / educational institutions that require full-time day porters and consistent high volume service.”

The RFP from the College was clear that it only wanted to deal with companies that could guarantee that “the work shall be performed by fully trained persons, competent in the particular operation assigned to them.”

Not An Easy Job For Any Commercial Cleaning Company

This is a busy college campus.  They don’t have time for small companies that can’t provide “fully trained” staff for all aspects of the commercial cleaning duties.

Right from the start it was clear that the College Of The Rockies wanted competent who can clean according to “specifications” using the “best techniques of the trade”.

Meeting the “specifications” would require a mature commercial cleaning company that can consistently supply:

  • All labour needed to do the job, at all times. If someone gets sick, they must be able to provide a replacement worker instantly, including another supervisor, if needed.
  • All cleaning supplies, chemicals and materials like sealers, waxes, plastic garbage bags, liners, tampons, sanitary napkins and disposal bags must be of good quality.
  • The commercial cleaning company must have all necessary equipment like polishers, commercial grade vacuums, auto scrubbers, buffers, carpet extractors, etc. and they have to be less than five years old.
  • All materials and chemicals must meet Canada Standards of Safety.

Using the “best techniques of the trade” means each and every person on the job must be thoroughly trained and have experience.  The College would not tolerate amateur “mistakes” commonly made by newbies.  A thorough cleaning and sanitizing of high priority areas would be required every day including:

  • Healthcare facilities such as dental labs, nursing labs and first aid classrooms.
  • Cafeteria and chef’s training classrooms and kitchens.
  • Daycare areas.
  • Aboriginal Gathering Place

“Extras” Are Included In The Contract

In addition to all scheduled cleaning, the commercial cleaning company is expected to

  • wash walls, ceilings, doors and window frames
  • floor stripping and refinishing
  • window cleaning inside and outside the building
  • clean the atrium and glass walls
  • clean light fixtures, lens and interior of fixtures
  • clean dust from ceiling

All tasks must be performed without breaching security measures and in accordance with fire and emergency regulations.

Since the College Of The Rockies is a public institution they also wanted to make sure the commercial cleaning company treats its workers properly.  The contract would only be awarded to a company that could prove that it pays its workers properly and on time.  All workers must be covered by Workers Compensation.

Comprehensive general liability insurance would be required by the company and all employees must have a Commercial Fidelity Bond in order to protect the College, its agents and “servants”.

When you look at all the requirements and scope of service, only an established company would be able to handle the job…new companies and small companies need not apply.

Fortunately, Evergreen Building Maintenance was able to provide proof that they could meet and exceed all the requirements of the College Of The Rockies at a great price!

Congratulations to all the local people that will be working to keep the College Of The Rockies looking beautiful!

If you have a local business, whether it’s small or large, Evergreen Building Maintenance has the in-house resources to keep your premises clean all year long.

Call now for a commercial cleaning company quote 1-855-824-8450 or 250-869-5165.

We’ll do a walkthrough of your building and build a custom strategy to get the best clean every day you come to work!

commercial cleaning services security

Commercial Cleaning Service Security – Can You Trust Them To Be In Your Building At Night?

Your commercial cleaning service company will often need to get into your building after business hours.  You don’t necessarily want someone vacuuming or mopping in the presence of your clients and busy staff.

Sometimes the nature of your work demands a great deal of security.  You can’t let just anyone wander around completely unsupervised.

Banks have that problem.  So do police stations and jails.  In fact, because of our privacy laws and customer confidentiality, a lot of businesses would lose the confidence of their clients if there was a security leak.

Here are a few things your commercial cleaning service should be doing to make sure your interests are secured:

  1. All Commercial Cleaning Staff Members Must Have Background Checks

    You don’t want people with criminal records in your building at night. Your commercial janitorial service must provide assurance that they do a thorough background check of their employees including getting police reports.

  2. Commercial Cleaning Service Security Requires Mandatory Drug Testing

    A reputable commercial cleaning service must be able to provide some sort of evidence that they do drug testing on ALL employees. Even though privacy laws may prohibit providing information on specific employees, ask for evidence of drug testing procedures including names of the drug testing companies they use.

  3. Communication With Non-English Speaking Staff

    Commercial cleaning companies often employ non-English speaking staff. When you want to communicate information about hazards and sensitive areas you need to make sure everyone clearly understands.  It is important for your janitorial company to provide someone on the cleaning team that is fluent in English and is smart enough to understand what you are saying.  They must also be able to communicate that information to the rest of the staff.

  4. Fully Bonded And Insured

    Things can go wrong. Employees can make mistakes.  Sometimes the wrong person can get the job on the cleaning company’s team.  Make sure your cleaning company is fully bonded and insured.  If something goes wrong, including theft, you don’t want to end up with the bill.

  5. Check References

    In addition to all of the above make sure you get several references. Check to see if your cleaning company has consistently held long-term contracts with several of their clients.  Find out how long the employees have been with the company on the team that will be handling your contract.  Ask around among other facilities managers about what they have heard about the company you are considering hiring.  Do a check on the Internet to see if there are reviews or media reports about the company.

Screening a commercial cleaning company for trustworthiness can never be perfect, but you can get a good “feel” for the attitude of the management from the consultant you are working with.  Keep good communication lines open with that person to address any concerns and adjust practices to suit your business.

Evergreen Building Maintenance has long-term experience working with banks and government offices.  They have provided commercial cleaning staff for police services and criminal detention centres.  Sometimes it can take six to eight months to go through the enhanced security clearance.

Whatever your needs, Evergreen Building Maintenance can provide the commercial cleaning service security cleared staff to look after your building responsibly.

Call now for a free, confidential quote:   1-855-824-8450 or 250-869-5165.

Evergreen Building Maintenance hires and trains people you can trust.