September 12, 2022

Strata Cleaning News – Sept

This Month’s News………….

It’s Roof Cleaning Month
Gutter Cleaning Programs “Most Popular”
Snow Removal and De-Icing  – Select a Contractor
IREM Golf Tourney

It’s September! Which means for residential buildings it is a transition and planning month.  It’s also a great time to soft wash roofs, build a plan for your gutter cleaning and select the right contractor for your Cold Weather Service.

Hey Amazing Strata Manager how do the roofs of your sites look?  Roof cleaning by far provides the most immediate and long-term value.  Click Here for more information

Gutter Cleaning Dilemma? Gutter Cleaning is not a once-a-year event in the lower mainland.  Our Popular cleaning programs help solve this problem with their unlimited service calls after the initial cleaning.  Click Here to see how they function………

Cold Weather Service make sure to select the right Contractor !!!  Removing snow and providing de-icing services for Stratas is a responsible business.  When selecting a contractor make sure everyone is on the same page from triggers, scope of work, frequency.  Check out this Webinar with Slavko, regarding best thoughts when selecting a contractor……….

IREM BC Chapter Golf Tourney– We have always understood that as a business you carry the responsibility to strongly support the local associations you drive your revenue from.

20 + years of supporting IREM BC Chapter……….

August 22, 2022

Having Trouble Getting Quotes ?

I recently met with 55 customers and asked them about their current experiences in the Strata cleaning world. The most common stress point was the slow turn around on, or complete lack of, quotes.

We get it, it’s a different market with inflation and labour pressures. Part of our customer experience strategy is to work in real time and turn around quotes within days. We don’t always make that threshold, but we’re pretty good. Understanding our process for turning around quotes is useful for explaining where the issues are and how to navigate it successfully. We instantly enter every request in our system and track how many days until it is sent to the customer.

Most busy months we are sending out more than three hundred estimates. Some are simple – we may have already cleaned the site, or can easily estimate the scope due to the type of work that needs to completed. For something like carpet cleaning – a few pieces of information (total square footage, flooring material, and number of stairs), can help to expedite a quote significantly. Other quotes may take longer than week – if there’s added levels of complexity, or if a site visit is required.

With all of this in mind, here’s a few suggestions:

  1. Try to avoid asking for more than three quotes at one time. Its costs resources to do a free quote and vendors will prioritize ones that they can complete quickly.
  2. Also providing a clear scope of work, will expedite the process. A few minutes of extra care in its preparation can save days for getting a response.
  3. Finally, treat the relationship with your preferred contractors as a partnership and you’ll achieve better outcomes. Being open to suggestions to the original scope of work the vendor experience could offer a better game plan and cost.

 

August 15, 2022

The roof over your head

Your roof is arguably your home’s most important feature. Without a roof, you wouldn’t have a home at all, just a yard with walls and a floor. Your home’s roof keeps the rain and snow out. In the winter it keeps the heat in and in the summer it provides shade. It also protects your walls, floor, foundation, and whatever valuables you keep inside. Your home’s roof is so important, that people often refer to their home simply as “the roof over their head.”

The roof over your head protects your most valuable assets from the elements, so it only makes sense to protect your roof. Depending on the type of roof system you have, it could last forty years with proper care, but without it, it could fail in as little as fifteen. Leaves, pine needles, moss and other organic accumulations on your roof can trap moisture allowing mould, fungus, and bacteria to grow, leading to rot and leaks. Excessive debris can also divert water, causing it run where it’s not supposed to, such as under flashing and shingles. A clean roof is less likely to develop leaks which means it will last longer.

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June 22, 2022

About SMC

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Does ServiceMaster offer Carpet Cleaning Programs? 

 
 

Floor Care, Gutter Cleaning, Window Cleaning

 

What exterior cleaning services does ServiceMaster Clean Property Services offer?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Do ServiceMaster clean Gutter Maintenance Programs include unlimited service calls?

 
 

Does ServiceMaster Clean provide restorative cleaning for hard floors?

 

 
 

 

What Janitorial Services does ServiceMaster Clean provide?

 
 
 
 
 


March 10, 2022

Floor Cleaning – Selecting A Contractor – Top Items

 Carpet cleaning and maintenance has a dramatic effect on the image and life capital assets of a strata and residential building. Carpet and Hard Surface Floor Cleaning is a specialty cleaning service that is above your daily or weekly janitorial service. it is important to carefully select an experienced contractor that knows which methods are the safest and most efficient for your floors. 

  1. Certifications – There are several industry-wide certifications, but the best one IICRC Spending time and effort on certifications show a care to the craft.  
  2. Track Record – Do they specialize in cleaning Strata Flooring 
  3. Warranty – Obviously – Can be be voided without proper maintenance records. 
  4. Maintenance Plans – Do they offer ongoing Cleaning Programs ?
  5. Chemistry – Do they know the Chemistry of Cleaning ?

ServiceMaster Clean Property Services is a leader in floor care cleaning services with a deep rich history of over 65 years. We hope this information helps. If you have a building that needs floor cleaning, please reach out and your account manager can swing by and start the process.

Please Click Here for more information and resources.

March 8, 2022

Roof Cleaning – Selecting A Contractor – Top Items – #Soft Washing

Roof Cleaning, when done correctly, provides immediate benefits to residential buildings, including remarkably improving the building’s appearance and making the roof last longer.

You should carefully consider what cleaning methods you use when cleaning your roof because failure to clean it properly will result in damage.

Here are the Top Items to consider when selecting a roof cleaning contractor:

  1. Methods to be used – Soft Washing is the safest and most effective method.
  2. Chemistry – What products are they going to use ? Check out this project that went sideways because they used “Tide Laundry Detergent”  https://www.macleans.ca/news/tide-roof-moss-abbotsford-bc/
  3. Health and Safety – Company culture is important
  4. Track Record – Have they successfully completed Roof Cleaning Projects
  5. Site Management – Roof cleaning is done at height and a complete site specific fall protection plan needs to be in place

We hope these items help also please check out below for some more resources. If you have a building that needs some roof cleaning please reach out and your account manager can swing by and start the process.

Resources

General Roof Cleaning Information https://smcleanlowermainland.ca/services-main/exterior/roof-cleaning-and-treatment/

Soft Washing Chemistry https://smcleanlowermainland.ca/2021/03/10/soft-washing-chemistry/

Video Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WM5qbIC1g

February 23, 2022

Top 5 Items to Weigh when Selecting A Strata Cleaning Contractor – Beyond WorkSafeBC and Liability Insurance……………

Here are the top items to be diligent of:

  1. Health and Safety Culture and Program– While its just good business, there’s reasons why Stratas and Property Management firms should be concerned for their own sake: they can be identified as prime contractors and be fined in certain circumstances – so ensuring this area is iron clad is a way to protect yourself. Vetting a companies safety program prior to them starting work can help avoid this ugly situation.
  2. Work Scopes – Often when asking for a cleaning quote the contractor will provide a detailed work scope and specifications. The challenge is that this is a largely un regulated industry and works scopes, task lists can greatly vary. The old expression when you comparing quotes you want to compare apples to apples etc, so look for specific industry experience and ask questions.
  3. Track Record Working with Stratas and Residential Buildings – Working for a Strata is an entirely different universe than working for a commercial site or a home – and we’ve seen a number of times where it has not worked out well for a location. The dynamics of having a strata management company, strata agent, building manager, site contacts, strata council, owners and tenants is a different value chain that having experience with is a major asset. Look for that track record of an ability to perform.
  4. Field Management and Record Keeping System – Usually when our field teams are on site they work with no direction other than a work order. It’s an invaluable asset to have notes, photos, time logs, which can also aid in maintenance record keeping. Warranties for insurance life cycle of hard assets like carpet require these documentation in the event of premature failure.
  5. Certifications & Strength of Field Team – Look for industry certifications and the experience of their front line staff. Often that is an important tell about how much a company values the skill of their staff and their commitment to performing at a high level.

If you ever need help sourcing the right fit in a contractor or specifications for a cleaning contract never hesitate to contact us – even if we are not the selected.

David

25 year of Strata Cleaning Experience

March 10, 2021

Soft Washing Chemistry

Soft washing is a cleaning method that uses a liquid cleaning solution to remove dirt, algae and other organic material from a building’s facade. The liquid cleaning solution is sprayed on the building using low-pressure pumps and then left to react. After several minutes the solution breaks up any contaminants on the building and is later washed off using water and mechanical agitation (aka brushes). The entire process uses low-pressure and thus avoids many of the problems associated with pressure washing.

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