Tag Archive for: white rock
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!
How To Help Your Building Janitorial Company Give You Pricing In A Format So You Can Compare Quotes
Have you ever had a stack of building janitorial company pricing quotes for one facility that look like they are each for completely different buildings?
How do you compare commercial cleaning companies if the wording and descriptions in their quotes don’t seem to have anything in common?
This is a real problem for facility managers when trying to get the best value for their dollar.
Do you go for the lowest price not understanding that it may not cover even the essential cleaning services you need?
Maybe you pick a premium-priced quote thinking you will get a more professional cleaning company… and later you find out that the company doesn’t even have experienced cleaning staff?
This is a common problem when the management doesn’t take care of its employees so there is a lot of employee turnover. They can’t keep good employees, so their costs go up because they have to compensate for the mistakes of beginners.
Commercial Janitorial Company Pricing Factors
- Labor costs
- Insurance
- Taxes
- Employee benefits package
- Direct costs like cleaning supplies, toilet paper
- Equipment costs
- Training costs for employees
- Management fee
- Profit
Janitorial Quotes – Factors You Need To Consider
One of the best things you can do to make the job of comparing quotes easier is to be clear in your own mind what kind of services you are looking for. Here are some idea starters:
- What type of building is it?
- What kind of business you operate?
- What are your building’s traffic and use patterns?
- Where is your facility located?
- What are the labor costs in your area?
- What scope of cleaning do you need?
- Do you have any special requirements?
- Do you need landscaping services?
- Do you need parking lot maintenance?
- Do you need general building maintenance from time to time?
- Do you need a cleaning service that can be available during the day time?
- Do you have special projects or interim needs?
- What frequency of cleaning do you want?
Provide Your Janitorial Service With Solid Information So They Can Give You A Solid Quote
- Tell them the total square footage of your building
- Break the square footage of each flooring type (carpet, hardwood, cement, marble, etc.)
- How many people typically use your building during the day?
- How many people use the building in the evenings?
- Are people using the building on weekends?
- Are there regular “special events” that need to be built into the quote?
- How many washrooms are there?
- How big are the washrooms?
- What did your previous cleaning service miss or failed to do?
This type of information will help commercial janitorial services estimate how much cleaning supplies they will need. They can establish budgets for trashcan liners, toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap. If you have different flooring types, they can budget for time, materials and employees with specific expertise.
Remember to prioritize your “wants” and “must-have’s”. Some companies may be able to give you a price break on services of more value to you. In other cases it might be too expensive to include some services on a regular basis, but becomes affordable on less frequent basis. For example, you may get your hardwood floors waxed every quarter instead of once a month.
Call now for a free, confidential commercial cleaning and building maintenance quote from a commercial janitorial company that provides transparent pricing: 1-888-559-6870 or 250-999-2796
Morning Or Evening Office Cleaning – What’s Best?
Your employees spend a lot of time at the office. Clients come and go, there are meetings, food, lots of things going on that can create an unsanitary situation at work.
In order for people to feel comfortable at work you need to have a clean place. But when is the best time to bring in the commercial cleaning staff?
The first thing you need to decide is if you need daily, weekly or just monthly cleaning. It’s not so much a matter of budget, but it’s more about what’s needed to make your working space comfortable. An unclean office can become a source of stress. Nobody needs that.
Maybe in your office there are certain areas that need cleaning daily and other areas where once a month would be ok.
The other thing to consider is if people often end up working late, at the office. If that’s the case, is it ok to have commercial janitorial staff come in at the end of the day? Or, will it be too much of a disturbance for employees that have already put in a long, hard day.
Cleaning equipment can be quite noisy, so if the type of work people end up doing late in the evening or night requires concentration, then maybe it’s not good to disturb them?
The morning can be a good time to bring in the cleaning crews if people come in at a consistent time and things are generally a little slow in the mornings. You don’t want cleaning crew getting in the way of clients or staff frantically scrambling to meet deadlines.
Another thing to consider is if people in your office often have client or other meetings at night time and the office needs to look clean first thing in the morning.
All things considered, it’s important to have a clean working environment. Your circumstances would determine whether you should have a commercial cleaning crew come in in the morning or evening.
Evergreen maintenance has crews that can do the job at any time of day or night. If you have a special event happening at your office and need us to come in extra, we can do that too.
Give us a call for a free quote. All our services are 100 percent guaranteed.
Is Your Janitorial Company Ready For Your Winter Commercial Cleaning Needs
The cold weather season is in full effect but that doesn’t mean the cleaning season is over! In fact, winter brings with it a host of specific cleaning needs. As a business owner, you know all too well how there’s always tasks left to do. There’s always something that could use some sprucing up — so why not rely on timely, punctual and effective professional commercial cleaning services? Here are some considerations for your winter cleaning regimen.
Keeping the Effects of Snow, Dirt and Salt in Control
Winter brings on an additional need for cleaning professionals across the various industries.
We’ve written a lot about how it’s important to keep businesses clean for the health and safety of employees and customers — particularly when it comes to sanitization and controlling the spread of the flu and common colds. It’s also really important to keep government offices, commercial buildings and retail businesses from the buildup of snow, dirt and debris. This sort of buildup can actually wear at carpeting, discolour it and cause the need for replacements come spring time.
Regular steam cleaning helps to extract trapped salt or dirt that can get tracked indoors from outside. It helps to restore the appearance of entry ways and office carpeting by removing any stain-causing agents. A regular stem clean makes a huge difference to how professional and clean your business will look year-round!
Protect Your Flooring from Salt
Sand and salt that is used to combat ice has a rough texture that can strip protective coats from flooring. This can also make the flooring look messy and worn out and make your flooring slippery which can be hazardous. Even if you do a basic sweep or use entry way mats, the residue of the sand can spread easily to flooring and affect its durability and look. The residue must be cleaned with proper cleaning products in order to combat this issue.
Handling Harmful Liquids and Chemicals
Leftover puddles of chemicals found in ice and snow melts can also be extremely hard on the flooring of your business. They can also cause stains, make wood flooring swell, make laminate curl or present issues of mold and mildew if left unaddressed. A regular clean administered by a professional cleaning service can ensure that these damaging properties do not seep into flooring to cause any unwanted long-term issues.
Take care of your business’ property this winter by choosing Evergreen Building Maintenance. We can work out a schedule, task list and frequency that fit best with your business’s specific objectives. Get in touch with us today to get the process started!
Janitorial Cleaning Services At The Okanagan Correctional Centre
Evergreen Building Maintenance was recently awarded the honour of working with the Okanagan Correctional Centre (OCC), the largest correctional facility in British Columbia, located north of Oliver on the Osoyoos Indian Band Reserve. This is an expansive contract, as the facility spans 300,000 square feet across 14.5 hectares (36 acres).
The 378-cell facility is a $200 million project that is part of BC Corrections’ second-phase of their capital expansion plan. When it’s completed, it will hold double its original capacity in B.C.’s interior. It also requires a deep trust of Evergreen’s trained and educated employees, as it’s a high-risk, high-security area that requires enhanced security clearance for all staff on the grounds.
Project Goals
The goal of the project is to enhance public safety for communities, correctional staff and inmates within the province and to stimulate the economy in the area. It will create up to 1000 new permanent and contractual construction jobs along with 240 full-time correctional job positions for both experienced workers and new recruits. Other contracted staff will include on-site nurses, doctors, dentists, counsellors, food service workers and trades personnel.
Environmental accreditation
The OCC developmental project has been applauded for its environmental efforts and has obtained Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification. The project is also using wood in accordance with the B.C. Building Code, to adhere to the First Wood Act set out by the Government and to maximize energy efficiency.
Evergreen’s Milestone
As a company, we feel we’ve hit a milestone since we’re working on not only a large project, but also one that directly reflects our environmental values. At Evergreen, we continually strive to use eco-friendly measures in our cleaning from using fragrance and scent-free products that are free of toxic chemicals like VOCs, to implementing products that are GREEN SEAL or ECOLOGO certified.
Other green practices we use include:
- Zinc-free floor finishing procedures
- Conducting interior building air quality reports
- Using paperless billing systems
- Using non-fuel powered equipment
- Creating customized disposal and recycling programs
- Hiring employees trained in green cleaning practices
- Low impact solutions to remove graffiti
- Lotus Pro High Capacity Wall Units
Evergreen began in the Okanagan Area over 30 years ago and has expanded to several regions across Canada. Interested in learning more about our work? Get in touch with us if you company or facility is in need of quality commercial cleaning services.
Professional Department Store Cleaning
Professional department store cleaning can make a real difference to your business.
When a customer walks into a department store to look for a specific item or just browse, they are inevitably affected by the environment within the store. If your store is neat, tidy and well organized, this will have a positive influence on the customer and their buying ability. However, if your store is the opposite – dirty, cluttered and unorganized, this is considered a ‘retail turn off’ in marketing circles.
What turns off customers the most?
A recent Harris Poll surveyed U.S customers citing that their biggest turn offs were the following:
- 78% of people said “general bad odour”
- 66% said dirty restrooms
- 60% entryway cleanliness (overflowing trash cans, unkempt and filthy)
- 56% dressing room conditions (lighting issues, dirty floors and mirrors, and broken locks)
In addition to this data, the study found that those who are 65 and older are least likely to return to a store that does not support people with mobility issues.
Why Professional Retail Cleaning is Important
Department stores can range from two or more floors of sectioned off areas that include fitting rooms, washrooms, cash registers, counters and storage rooms. They are designed for a customer to spend time in, sometimes include additional restaurants or cafes and see many people in a day. It’s for these reasons that cleaning initiatives are a crucial aspect of keeping things running smoothly.
A professional department store cleaning service will make a detailed plan of action on what to clean, at what frequency it needs cleaning – as some areas need more attention than others – and will solidify a cleaning method for your business. Once this is established, things will get done like clockwork and become a natural part of a successful store protocol.
First impressions are very important in the retail world and are a huge part of the customer’s loyalty to your store. Effective retail cleaning is one of a few ways you can show your customers that you care about offering quality products, services and a positive customer experience.
Why Fall Janitorial Cleaning Is As Important As Spring Cleaning
Spring cleaning is the best way to prepare your business for the summer season and get rid of all the dirt and environmental debris that can build up during the winter. However, the cleanup that is required at the end of the summer season is as crucial as spring cleaning but often neglected. Here are just a few of the reasons why fall cleaning is as important as spring cleaning.
Get Rid of Summertime Dirt and Pollutants
Many commercial spaces such as recreation centres, restaurants, bars and shopping centres have outdoor facilities that are only open during the summer. Dirt, dust, pollen and other environmental debris can be tracked indoors from these outdoor spaces. If left uncleaned, this summertime debris can collect and accumulate inside your business during the colder months. Once you’ve closed down any patios, outdoor vendors or sports facilities for the season, it’s important to give your indoor spaces a thorough cleaning for the winter. This includes washing all windows, walls, carpeting and furniture.
Prepare Your Business for Winter
It’s important to make your indoor space as clean and comfortable as possible before winter begins, since you’ll be spending more time inside once the snow start to fall. Not only will a fall cleaning make your business a more pleasant space to work, it will also help to attract more customers. If your business uses summer accessories such as patio furniture or sports equipment, you’ll need to find practical storage solutions to house those items during winter. A fall cleanup can help prepare your business for a productive and successful winter.
Fall cleaning is important for any commercial space but it can often be difficult to find the time for such a detailed project. That’s why Evergreen Building Maintenance offers the most comprehensive commercial cleaning services in Western Canada. Our friendly and professional staff has the experience and tools necessary to give your business the kind of deep clean that it needs before winter. Contact us at Evergreen Building Maintenance for more information about our commercial cleaning services and green clean initiatives.
Memberships and Accolades
