A quote and call for tenders tailored to YOUR requirements, YOUR needs, YOUR expectations

Recently, I updated the cleaning quotes for several buildings to meet current standards. I realized that the cleaning quotes were all the same, without really taking into account the building in question. However, each building is unique. Each manager has their own needs, requirements, and expectations. If quality is of little importance to you and you only want a price, make your cleaning quotes less demanding, with no selection criteria other than price. If, on the contrary, you want quality, there's nothing better than adding selection criteria to your call for tenders. Adapt your quote and call for tenders to YOUR requirements, YOUR needs, YOUR expectations.

Example 1: 

You state that you want your floors stripped every year in your household maintenance quote.

BUT: You expect your floors to have a 'Wet-Look' appearance... Don't expect to have a wet-look floor if you only require one polishing per year, it's impossible!

In this case, I would suggest that you scrub the floor twice a year, and strip it once every 3 to 5 years. And, if you want to polish your floors with a jet every month, or more frequently, depending on the traffic in your building. 

Example 2:

You want your building to be of the highest quality. However, your call for tenders contains no selection criteria or follow-up system with the contractor. So, if your bidders don't understand your requirements, they'll bid according to standard practice.

Stand out from the crowd and tailor your call for tenders to your requirements and expectations. 

Example 3:

You have a floor made of marmoleum, ceramic, or terrazzo. These are not floor coverings that should normally receive a floor finish. Suppliers of these floor coverings do not recommend it. 

So if your expectation is that your supplier will still apply floor finish to these floors, you must indicate this. Finally, you will also have to expect that your floors will wear out more and more quickly, that they will no longer have the original appearance they had at the time. Why? It's simple, these are floors that are not designed to receive floor finish! You ask your bidders to respect the rules of the art, but you do not apply this rule.... it's a double message and it's a source of failure.

A clear call for tenders on your expectations and requirements

Unfortunately, building managers don't always respect calls for tenders. So if your goal is to get the lowest price, have a clear call for tenders to that effect. The housekeeping quote must also reflect reality.

I happened to visit a contract, as part of a public call for tenders. The housekeeping quote was solid, as they say in good Quebecois, very well-developed.. There were even mandatory attendance hours that guaranteed quality to building managers. While doing the tour, it was clear to me that these hours and this quality were in no way monitored or even realistic! There was so much dust on the carpet, that there was a cloud of dust above the carpet as we passed! Yet, the carpets had to be vacuumed once a day and washed twice a year in the cleaning quote!! What do you think the bidders did? Some bid very low, not respecting the mandatory attendance hours. Others bid normally and the rest simply withdrew, knowing full well the outcome of this call for tenders. Who was awarded this contract? To the one who had bid the lowest and who did not respect the mandatory attendance hours!

Phew! Don't have time to reshuffle all that? Call a professional. Several of us offer this service, including CF Salubrité Inc.

The best supplier according to YOUR selection criteria at a reasonable price?

It's simple: have selection criteria. Here's a list of criteria you could ask suppliers to answer. Each question should have a point value. Suppliers who don't receive a passing grade will be automatically eliminated.

• The company's key executives, their CVs, their concrete experiences in buildings similar to yours
• Experience and reference of the contractor for the same type of buildings as yours (5 references seems reasonable to me)
• How do they plan to implement maintenance on your building? How long do they expect to be up to speed?
• Method of selecting their employees and selection criteria.
• How do they inform their employees what needs to be done?
• What training do they provide to their employees? (Frequency, number of hours per year, who is the trainer, course syllabus),
• How is the quality of work done by their employees assessed? 
• What equipment are they planning for this project?
• What washing products are planned for this project? (In 2018, I will demand eco-friendly products, it's your right)
• What measures are they implementing to be environmentally responsible?

Mandatory quality control for a good result 

Regardless of the employees or the cleaning contractor, quality control is a basic rule for ensuring respectable quality. Let your contractors know how serious you are in your requests for proposals. The latter must clearly state that there will be a quality control check with a passing grade, as well as a clear correction time based on the grade obtained. I suggest you never notify your supplier of your visit (nor the time or date). 

We don't want to know if our yogurt was made on the day of the audition. We want to be sure that no matter what day it was made, the yogurt we're eating has met all food safety standards! 

It's the same for your building. The goal is to have respectable quality, no matter the day of the year! If you let your contractor know that you conduct regular quality checks, they'll have an incentive to satisfy you. They'll want you to be happy and especially not receive complaints.

Don't have time to do quality control on your buildings?

We understand that some managers don't have the time to conduct quality control inspections on their buildings. CF Salubrité Inc. is happy to provide this service. We even offer employee coaching during this supervision period if you wish. This helps increase quality, and you will receive a detailed quality control report including a score reflecting the quality you receive for each of your buildings. 

Here is an article about quality control in housekeeping if you are interested in the subject:  https://cfsalubrite.com/services/controle-qualite-de-lentretien-menager/

Need help improving the hygiene quality of your buildings? Contact us.