By: Jim Flieler – VP Sales Canada Charlotte Products Ltd.
Floors can make or break a facility’s first impression, and have a huge impact on the health and safety of building occupants. We don’t just clean our floors to make them shiny. We keep clean, shining floors to improve and enhance the image of our facilities but also to increase foot traction, preventing slip and falls. And when we follow a regular floor care schedule we also protect flooring substrates, an important investment in our facilities.
Did you realize that 67% of your total cleaning budget reflects floor care? A well-rounded floor care program will include chemicals, equipment, mops, matting and labor. If you break down that amount even further, you’ll notice that the overwhelming amount of money you spend within your floor care program, up to 90% of the entire budget, is on labor.
Following these simple steps can boost your floor care ROI and seriously cut back on your labor costs.
- Frequent dust mopping. Dust mopping is considered the least labor intensive floor care task, with less strain or fatigue on your workforce than any other floor care task. In fact, dust mopping is an accepted form of light or modified work for some team members. We recommend frequent dust mopping, which means daily or even a few times daily in the highest traffic areas. This will provide your facility with the best return on investment. Dust mopping will extend the life of your current floor care program, too. That means more time in between the more labor-intensive—and costly—elements of your floor care program like re-coating, deep stripping and finishing. Dust mopping also reduces airborne debris and allergic reactions, promoting better indoor air quality and protecting the health of your staff and building occupants.
- Consider efficiencies whenever possible. Whenever you are looking to purchase new equipment and tools for your floor care program, you should include a line of questioning that focuses on performance, asking about ergonomics. For example, there are many exceptional microfiber flat mop programs available to make dust mopping even easier for your team. Vacuum systems are moving well beyond the standard backpack design to promote even greater efficiencies and comfort for end users. Easier to use equipment means faster, more efficient cleaning, and less labor cost. But also, when you can show your team you care about their comfort, you increase worker morale, an added bonus that pays dividends when it comes to the costs associated with turnover rates.
- Stop dirt at the door with strategic matting. A properly maintained entrance matting system will be one of your best weapons in your floor care program, cutting way back on labor costs associated with the rest of the program. The simple reason? Entrance matting can reduce the amount of soil that enters your building by as much as 85%. With the right system, you are literally stopping dirt at the door. You’ll want to strategically place your mats, choosing the right size and material for the needs of each entrance way. Matting inside and outside of doorways is imperative. Spending the extra time to plan a strategic matting system will do wonders for your bottom line. Preventive matting is also one investment in a cleaning program that can begin to reduce costs rather quickly, within just a few months in some cases. If you want to reduce the amount of soil that enters your buildings by even more, you’ll develop a plan to sweep your sidewalks and parking lots regularly, too.
- Use a sealer when the time comes. Many facilities choose to skip sealers when they are refinishing their floors in order to save cost and time. What these facilities are overlooking is that the use of sealers one time can significantly reduce the need to deep strip and refinish those floors for years to come. A sealer should be applied after deep stripping and before applying your finish. A sealer will prevent most common stains from penetrating. It also provides superior adhesion for your floor finish. And here’s the cost-savings part: You will seldom need to strip or refinish once you’ve applied your sealer. It’s true that the process is a bit more labor intensive and the chemicals can be more complex; however, you will be able to greatly extend the life of that finish sometimes for up to five years, significantly reducing costs later on.
In today’s market, cost is a constant pressure. For BSCs, facilities expect high levels of service and lower costs. The same is true for in-house programs in strapped school districts and healthcare systems. End users are always asking our experts and distributors how they can do more with less, and we understand that need. These are just four simple steps that can have significant impact on the most costly portion of your cleaning program. Try incorporating them for 2019 and see what we mean.
For more information on how to cut your floor care costs, contact Charlotte Products at experts@charlotteproducts.com