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Choosing Qualified Bidders can be Tough! Here are a few questions you can ask:
1. Are They Fully Licensed and Insured?
Every bidder should be able to furnish you with a copy of their business license, proof of insurance, fidelity bond (if you require it), and a Labor & Industries letter of compliance. This letter of compliance might be called something different depending upon your state.
2. Do They Subcontract, Sell, or Transfer Their Contracts in Any Way?
Some "janitorial services" don't actually do any cleaning. They secure contracts and then they sell them to people who want to own their own businesses. This arrangement can be a real minefield - often the buyer of the c ontract finds out that the salesman bid too low and made unrealistic promises to the Customer, and after he pays the "mortgage", and the management fees, and buys his supplies and tools, he realizes he's making about $5 an hour and he gets out of the business, and the result can be constant owner turnover in your facility without your even knowing it’s happening.
3. What is Their Labor & Industries Experience Factor?
You can get a pretty good idea of how safely a company conducts its work by its Labor & Industries Experience Factor, or EF, which reflects the L&I claims the company has had. You should be able to investigate this through your state’s L&I website, using the contractor’s business identifier number.
4. How Much Actual Experience Does the Salesperson Have?
If the salesman has never actually "swung a mop" for at least a couple of years, how accurate do you think his bid will be? Without going over how many janitorial salesmen we have met over the years with no cleaning experience whatsoever, we don't just plug your square footage and number of employees into a preset formula to come up with a price. We're much more professional maintenance people than we are professional salespeople, we know how long things take, and our bids are very accurate.
5. How Do They Select and Train Employees?
Finding the right people means everything in this business, and yet, if a job seeker knows what to say, he can actually get hired on with many janitorial companies over the phone. Not a very sophisticated selection process, and much different from our interviewing and hiring policy. Be sure to click on the " How We Find Our Employees" page to find out more about our employee selection process.
6. How easy (or difficult) are they to reach when there's a problem?
Have you ever played the game where one person tells a story to the next person, and by the time it gets passed around the room it's a completely different story? With some companies you have to first speak to the receptionist, who would connect you to your account rep, who may or may not be in the office, who would write a memo to the service manager, who may or may not get the same message you want conveyed to your janitor. On the other hand, when you call a JaniQuest company, it's quite likely that the owner will answer the phone.
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