I have done new construction homes (residential)only.
I was thinking about the commerical sites would probaly
be some good money there too. Does anyone do these such
as new banks, stores, resturants, etc. I don't have a buffer
and don't know how to use one either. Would they require most
of the time buffing floors? Also would you charge like you are
doing for the homes or would you do it for more or less?
Thanks for your help!

i think for the commercial construction clean.
there would be a lot more involved.
Drew would know a lot in this area...

Thanks for the recommendation RJ, I like your post on the Manager Hiring topic.

Amy I strongly think someone should have a solid three years of residential cleaning under their belt before taking on commercial. So much more involved and liabilities at stake. I could write for an hour on the differences between the two. We are involved in both residential and commercial and have separate crews for each.

You will need help,
1. someone to do VCT floors
2. someone to run a boom lift
3. a walkbehind scrubber
4. extra insurance
5. extra safety and fall protection training
6. hard hats and steal toed boots
7. drug testing
8. a pressure washer
9. a new contract for every job, how are you with paper work?
10. You might have to summit a bid solely based on looking at architectural blue prints, how are you at reading blue prints?
11. paper work and pay applications done on standard AIA documents
12. 30 to 60 days to get paid, and a 10% retainer withheld on all checks for about six months
13. its much harder to work for commercial contractors than small residential builders, they are less forgiving and want it now.

The list goes on and on…..

The way I run my company is the revenue from residential I use for payroll and operational costs. Commercial revenue I put it all in the Bank and for retirement programs. Remember it may take 30 to 60 days to be paid even if you take a draw against completed work.

If it’s more business you need and want, I suggest concentrating on your quality and customer service. Once that’s flawless you won’t need to solicit new business or advertise. All new work will come via recommendations, more than you can accept or take on. It always works that way.

Your name and reputation will help you grow your business based on a solid track record. You would not believe how many builders and contractors call each other for recommendations. No one wants to make a mistake by hiring a company that’s unable to deliver uncompromising quality and service.

Good Luck

And then there are those contractors that have been working on a building for the past year and decide to call you on a tuesday and insist that the final clean be done by saturday.(you have to wonder)We had a few out of state contractors do this to us and we made them have check on site so i would not have to tract them down.

BTW...it does not usually go over that well.LOL

Also on commercial cleaning you need to either have someone working for you experienced in window cleaning and not afraid of heights, or get ready to lose more than half the money and sub out windows, usually commercial jobs have huge windows in high places (warehouses, showrooms, etc...). Boom lifts are great, they also can take out the corner of a building if you don't know what you are doing.

Also on the commercial jobs you will need lots of water hoses, good shop vacs, flood pumps, lots of power cords, ladders, Temp Lights, at least 2 good pressure washers and surface cleaners, cleaning chems, backpac blower, walk behind autoscrubber, floor buffer, floor & window scrapers, and ect. I could go on for days about all the different tool we use daily but you get the picture.

Hello Chaffman long time sence we talked. How are you well I hope? I talk to Tim every so often.

Whats up Anthony???It has been a while...All is well ,,,just been real busy.

Are ya doing final construction cleaning now??

Tom C

And to think...if needed in regular residential cleaning I could get by with a full sized vacuum, a bottle of window cleaner and 8 rags for a whole house if needed. lol I do carry more but I could do a house with just that. So much more involved in this type of work that I ever thought.

Len I have a pre-construction bid I need to do. Its for a multi-story, multi-wing hospital. The plans alone are rolled up and are 10 inches in diameter, stand about 45 inches off the floor and weigh about 45 to 60 pounds, Im not kidding.

So every time I walk by the conference room and see the plans on the table, I avoid working on them. The contractor has e-mailed me and asked how is the bid going. Thats a lot to take into consideration without seeing and walking through a physical building. Windows with 120 foot boom lifts, VCT flooring, all of the different types of rooms, pressure washing all of the side walks, parking garages. The list goes on and on. This is a 3 to 4 month project with all the different phases and starts and stops involved.

We are lucky that we have worked for this project manger before on another hospital, it was half way completed so we could walk through it.

I tell my wife, we just have to eat the elephant one bite at a time.