Having been in this industry for a number of years, I’m still never going to call myself an expert. I will absolutely refer to myself as an excellent observer and like to study the masters. One might consider the #1 problem in this industry to be consistency, but I believe it is much simpler than that. DUSTING. In all the facility walkthroughs I’ve done, prospects have gone with our company because they believed we could help their Janitorial needs and exhibit a sincere level of care. We vacuum, mop, disinfect, clean restrooms and dump trash, but it is so much more than that. We routinely rid facilities of dust from vents, shelves, bookcases, and hard to reach areas.

“Good enough” shows after a while

One of my weird sayings that our managers hear from me is “Good enough shows after a while,” and that’s because it is true. If we keep up with a facility’s floors every day by sticking to their floor-work plan, then their tile won’t become dull or retain dirt. But if the cleaner skips sweeping that day or doesn’t mop every time because it’s “good enough,” then the floors become grubby. Most companies should be able to stay consistent with floors, trash, and restrooms, but it is rare to find any who are consistent with their dusting.

For instance, imagine a customer walking in on Monday morning to a clean carpet, clean floors, and an empty trash receptacle but can’t get past the negligence of his monitors, shelves, and office blinds. They’re caked with dust. The friction from his shirt and the upholstery seat create dust bunnies at the crevice of his chair. It’s the little things that get noticed. What does dust tell a customer? It tells them that we don’t care, or that attention to details isn’t in the cards, or that health is of no great concern. We want our customers to breathe comfortably, and that means dusting those areas every time to avoid buildup. 

Dusting Wednesday’s

Instead of arbitrarily stating that we need everyone to dust their facilities, we implemented a special day that everyone company-wide takes forty-five minutes to dust. Before ever picking up a mop or vacuum, the very first thing we have them do is dust on Wednesdays. Tops of cubicles, restroom stalls, dispensers, shelves, back of furniture, vents, (exterior only) light fixtures, blinds, door levers, and window ledges all get dusted. Monitors and screens are also a great thing we do to help make customer’s workday better. If you notice these issues in your facility and you’re a customer of ours, please let us know and we will correct it. Every Thursday morning, we expect these places to be dust-free.

Merriam Webster’s Definition of Dust & I agree

According to their online dictionary, Dust is “fine dry powder that builds up inside buildings on surfaces that have not recently been cleaned.”  There you have it. No matter what your cleaners clean, if there’s dust, it’s not clean.

Dust is made up of mostly dead-skin cells, soil, hair, pollen, fur, and other materials made up from the environment around us. Everything sheds matter, and it is important to our respiratory health to clean it off of surfaces. Some facilities may need it done daily, and we have found that weekly seems to do the trick.

Thanks for reading! To learn more about how our company can help your office or facility, click here.

Mickey Dayton
Chairman & CEO
Priority Clean LLC
(406) 590-1987

“Bringing Value Back to the Cleaning Industry“

Posted in Priority Clean LLC Blog