Quality time, quality performance, quality service. Customers of janitorial services want and expect a certain standard of excellence. Service providers advertise that they can provide just that. As a result, good cleaning and maintenance companies are developing new and innovative ways to monitor and ensure that high quality job performance is not only implemented but is successfully maintained.
For example, First Quality Maintenance (FQM), a division of Alliance Building Services that provides cleaning and maintenance services, employs a quality control expert to meticulously and consistently monitor a variety of its properties throughout the New York metropolitan area. This FQM quality control expert makes unexpected visits to examine and measure the quality of the janitorial services. From the highly visible windows to the obscure base of a light fixture, a careful assessment of every aspect of a building's hygiene and cleanliness is meticulously recorded.
Quality control efforts administered through routine inspections ensure over time that cleaning inconsistencies are not ignored. In fact, the quality of cleaning and janitorial services plays a major role in the creation of an efficiently productive environment for building owners and tenants. Simple and routine maintenance procedures that are not consistently executed can easily morph into more complex and cumbersome problems. For instance, the effects of neglecting cleaning maintenance duties such as vacuuming, dusting of furniture and heating vents can lead to asthma, allergies, and other health and safety related risks. Additionally, an unattended routine maintenance task can grow to require a higher level of service that is more time consuming and costly to the building owner.
Through the use of checklists, logbooks and digital photos, a quality control expert is able to accurately and consistently measure, record and communicate results to both maintenance staff and building management. Detailed reports highlighting the status of a building include both positive and negative observations as well as instructions and suggestions for improvement. For example, a typical report might suggest anything from reminding the porter to use a clean rag to noting that two light bulbs are out in the conference room.
Implementing this form of quality control also allows for the establishment of an effective working relationship between the service provider and the client. By expanding the line of communication, the customization of the building owner's needs is made clear and attainable.
As cleaning and maintenance continues to play an important role in our daily lives, the utilization of creative methods to maintain quality control standards by maintenance service providers is essential to the vitality of a building. There will always be cleaning and maintenance tasks at hand and if quality standards are not properly maintained, that job could become harmful to the property and its tenants.
Michael Rodriguez is the
president of Alliance Building Services, New York, N.Y. Tags: