Performance vs. Task and Frequency Cleaning Contracts

Which type of contract is right for your cleaning contract? The answer is that both are right and combinations of both are necessary for a truly effective cleaning specification.

The cleaning specification should always start out with the goal of the cleaning program – the performance portion of the contract. This goal may be a simple statement such as ‘keep the building clean at all times’ or be much more detailed in that it may define the desired goal of each task or appearance level for every surface in the building.

Task and frequencies become necessary because they identify the amount of soil that may be acceptable and, at a minimum, the frequency of cleaning necessary to achieve that level of appearance or soil. They also provide a measurement tool against which inspections may be performed and through which future opportunities for program improvement may be made.

Pure performance contracts have been around since the early 1990s and, through various studies, have shown to cost about 15 per cent more than other types of contracts. This has been largely because it is the definition of clean that becomes difficult even with a well worded description.

We all know that dust falls everyday and not just the once per month or once per week the actual task may be performed to remove it. It is between the times that it is removed that there is going to be some accumulation of dust and so some level of dust is normally going to be evident on any surface.

The same observation can be applied to floor care tasks in that some amount of light scuffing may always be visible in a low traffic area because the floor is not burnished or buffed every day. The cost of performing many tasks on a daily basis to make sure a surface appears clean is simply prohibitive in today’s competitive market and what most building owners are prepared to pay.

The additional costs in performance contracts arise because of this definition of what is clean and often the building owner will simply throw more money at the problem in order to make it go away. If both the contractor and the owner know that high dusting is only going to be performed once per month or that floor polishing is only being performed once per week, then it helps to establish what the level of cleaning should be.

Tasks and frequencies specifications help to define the cost of the cleaning program because, when combined with time standards, they help determine the amount of labour required to clean a building. Because labour makes up almost 90 per cent of the cleaning cost, this tool is very important in determining how much the program should cost. It also becomes a very important evaluation tool in determining if a contractor can perform the work or not.

There is not much sense writing a specification for something unless you know how much it is going to cost when you go to buy it. This has been one of the oldest problems in our industry in that specifications are often overwritten and are not financially feasible with unrealistic expectations.

Consultants, such as our firm, prefer performance contracts as it is the lack of true definition that often makes our services necessary. Often we are written into contracts so that any impartial party can judge whether the building is clean or not.

Other tools that may be used in the evaluation include tenant surveys and management inspections. It is easy to see that these types of contracts have been most popular in the public sector and large corporate contracts because they require a large amount of overhead to administer.

The ideal specification is a combination of both, in that it covers what we at Daniels Associates call a VISION and RESULT contract. The VISION is the expected outcome of the specification. In the case of washrooms,  the contract may read like this:

“Vision: All washroom areas must LOOK, SMELL and BE clean for as much of the day as possible. For this reason, there should be no reduction in the restroom cleaning program and for this reason, restrooms should be policed continually. Dispensers are to be full, fixtures clean and bright, partitions dust free, counters soil free and dry, and the floors litter free, spot free and dry.”

From this vision, tasks and frequencies are assigned to establish how this vision is to be achieved and against which inspections and costs can be measured.

The RESULT portion is the actual result that is expected. For example one of the tasks in the above VISION may be to: “Machine scrub all restroom floors using germicidal detergent.”

The actual RESULT might read as such:

“Hard surface floors will have a deep clean look and a crisp, even shine free of scrapes and marks. The aim of this task is to clean the surface so that it is free of soil, stains and bacteria.”

It is also important to note that the same contract or cleaning specification must be adjusted for the type of cleaning and the level of cleaning expected. Different classes of office buildings will have different standards just as hospitals, schools and industrial facilities have different standards.

I heartily believe that tasks should be performed at the minimum frequency possible to provide an acceptable level of cleaning and this is one of the basics of a green cleaning program however, it is a well written combination of the two types that is the most effective.