Attention To Detail

Terry Campbell

Terry Campbell

Member
While I was out working last night I was thinking about Attention To Detail and what you guys do to make your jobs Stand Out from others in the cleaning industry?

I know this is what has helped me on my way to becoming successful are the little things I do extra for the Customers with both washing and my sweeping and I know a few are new to the business Like Me, well at least on my own. I have been Washing and Sweeping part Time for about 15 years before I started my own business up. I worked as a Printer for 30 years full time and ran printing presses where everything I did was looked at very close by Customers, from the Colors that I had to Mix to the way things lined up and registered and the shade they had to be PERFECT and I mean I had customers that would pick apart everything so you had to be on your game all the time. So I guess thats why I'm so picky about my own Work that I do now, Just habit I guess but it does pay off in the long run and helps getting new work.

There are things I do that I see a lot around here don't do and it shows too, Like I wash the garbage cans down from top to bottom, rinse the columns down of dirt, gum, spit all the good stuff and wash the out side of the curbs down if needed. I also Blow my side walks off with a blower to get all the dirt I can off, so when I wash I have less muddy run off, the less the better I think and of coarse most of the time there is lots of paper, cig butts and just plain sand and dirt in the cracks, With this gone and out of the way it seems to turn out better for me and I don't have as much of a muddy mess left behind. But I think these little things have helped me gain new business and keep my customers very happy along the way and most of the guys here seem to want to rinse as fast as they can with cold water to save gas I guess and run off to the next job and not put any effort into their work

I was wondering if there are any tips or little things you do that helps your work stand out and if you could share what has helped you become successful.
 
We blow everything off with a back pack blower first too. We move all the shopping carts, store displays, signs, trash cans, etc. We work at night when the stores are closed. I also look at columns and lower parts of the walls and clean where necessary. I know some of the contarcts I receieved this year was directly related to other companies washing around the things we move and some of them were doing the washing during the day when the stores were open. I'm talking 4 or 5 in the afternoon. One center I now do also has a lot of damage from the previous company where they removed gum with a zero tip and left surface cleaners running in the same place with too much pressure. It was bad from one end to the other.
 
I move cans and carts around too thanks for bring them up. I work only at night here too and it's funny you seem to find a lot of the same things Pm's don't like and one you talk about is washing during store hours, I had one shopping center I picked up last year that they were washing at lunch time and this place has fast food in it, like port of subs and the owner was real pissed that they were blowing water all over everybody and all over his windows. I call him ahead of time now to let this guy know what night I'm going to wash so he can arrange for his window cleaner to come wash after we are done and I try to keep splatter to a min, He has a guy he uses 1 time a month so a simple phone call keeps him happy along with not washing during lunch hour LOL

Another I find that they like, NO Water Under Doors, I have one center that they drop the mail in door slots and it lays on the floor on weekends and Wet Mail is a NO NO :D
 
I will try to leave the place as clean as possible, if there is something that is dirty that is not on the cleaning list and only takes a minute or so, I will go ahead and clean it too, no problem.

Piles of trash, cups, cans, etc... I will have a helper go and pick it up and put it into trash cans so it will be less of a mess later.





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Wet Mail, yes that does suck!

I have an idea for keeping more water out from those doors, but when cleaning gum sometimes the gum is very close to the door and I have never seen good seals on those doors.

Maybe a piece of metal with a rubber seal or squeegee on the bottom and have it against the door to block and keep the water out?

What do some of you guys do to keep the water out?





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Superior Power Washing<O:p</O:p
Chris Chappell<O:p</O:p
361-853-2513<O:p</O:p
Exterior House Cleaning in Corpus Christi Texas<O:p</O:p
Cleaning Concrete Driveways Sidewalks and Walkways in Corpus Christi Texas
 
while we're on the subject of attention to detail... how does everyone approach keeping splatter to a minimum and actual cleaning of windows. Are you guys 'cleaning' windows or do you just give them a good rinse?

When I finished washing last night, I went back to check storefronts where I started, and noticed that there was a little spotting from where water had dried in... I washed and squeegeed the worst ones... truth is, I don't really want to have to clean all the storefront windows, take too much time.

Anyone got any ideas/tips on how best to approach this/avoid this problem. Terry, I like the idea of calling the PM before you wash to arrange window cleaner.
 
I will wipe windows down if it is too bad, but most of the Pm's I deal with know I charge extra for windows washing and don't expect me to clean them.

but make sure you at least rinse the splatter off of the windows. Using the surface cleaner I have seems to keep it to a minimum so if it is just rinsing the debris away it is much easier.

Steve it saves a lot of trouble letting them know what Night I'm going to be there if they are picky about the windows, most are not, but I do run into the ones that like to know so they can get them cleaned up.
 
Consistent

I forgot to add the most important thing, Consistency, if you don't have that, it does not matter how your work was the last time you did the job.

Your work is only as good as the work you just did, they will forget how it was last time.
 
The water is terrible here in Phoenix, very hard and full of minerals. We hand wash all affected windows immediately when done rinsing. Built into contract price, but really amounts to very little labor.
 
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