10 Steps to profitability: Using floor-cleaning equipment to help you reduce labor and overhead costs
August 26, 2005

Easy-to-use equipment, such as the Kent Razor® Plus automatic scrubber, helps simplify cleaning tasks, which can keep your operating costs low.

Labor costs can be up to 90 percent of your total contracting business budget—and these costs can squeeze your profit margins.  Once you’ve won a building services contract, you can’t increase it if your costs go up.  You have to figure out how to minimize your costs, by making your staff as productive as possible. 

One solution to productivity lies in your choice of floor-cleaning equipment. This equipment has a big impact on your bottom line, and we’re not talking about just the purchase price.  The floor-cleaning equipment you choose directly impacts your staff’s ability to complete a task efficiently and effectively. It also affects overhead costs in terms of downtime, parts and maintenance.  All of these factors can affect your bottom line.

Selecting floor-cleaning equipment for productivity and lowest cost of ownership can help make you profitable.  Here’s how:

1. Choose easy-to-use equipment.  Your employees will feel more confident and even safer using equipment that doesn’t intimidate them with complicated controls or operating methods.  And, if equipment is easy to use, employees spend less time learning how to use it and more time completing cleaning tasks.  Confident employees are less inclined to quit, so this helps retain employees and reduce turn-over.
   
2. Keep it simple.  If you don’t need the “bells and whistles” available on higher-end equipment, don’t buy them.  Value-priced, dependable equipment will generally provide all the features you need and at an affordable price.  Complex machines can also mean higher maintenance and costly downtime—the kind of expenses you need to avoid to improve profits.
   
   
3. Keep it comfortable.  Reduce your turn-over rate and attract qualified employees with equipment that is comfortable to use.  Ergonomic doesn’t have to mean more expensive.  Much of today’s equipment is specifically designed for smaller-frame bodies.  Vacuums feature lightweight handles that can be set at multiple positions so it’s easier on the back and easier to push the machine.  Some vacuums can even be worn on the hip, making them especially popular with employees who don’t like to push vacuums.  And just because equipment is described as light in weight doesn’t mean it’s light in power.  Powerful motors on even the smallest equipment do just as good a job as the heavy-weights, with much less worker fatigue.
   
   
4. Choose quiet equipment that can be operated during the day.  This helps drive down your cost of labor because daytime cleaning rates are usually lower than night time rates.  Most employees prefer daytime hours anyway, and much of today’s equipment is designed for that purpose.  For example, vacuums with low decibel ratings can be used to clean hospital waiting areas, hotel lobbies, stores and restaurants.
   
   
5. Reduce/simplify your equipment inventory.  Choose equipment that can accomplish several jobs.  For example, canister vacuums feature standard commercial toolkits which include a combination hard-floor/carpet tool, round crevice and dusting tool, as well as long wands that dust bookshelves and doorframes.  Some carpet extractors are designed to convert to a hard-floor scrubber by using the tools-free hard floor accessory.  And remember that compact, portable equipment is easier to move between job sites.  With so many options, you can keep your inventory to a minimum, and grow your equipment inventory as you grow your business.
   
   
6. Purchase equipment that will give you the highest productivity, not the lowest purchase price.  Many floor-cleaning machines are designed to improve productivity, specifically to help you reduce your labor costs.  For example, many scrubbers are designed with larger tanks, efficient water flow, or both, so employees spend less time refilling tanks and more time cleaning.  Larger machines also save time, and can pay for themselves with the increased productivity.  For example, a scrubber with a 24-inch cleaning path will clean quicker than a machine with an 18-inch cleaning path.  
   
   
7. Evaluate your cleaning tasks.  Can you increase productivity by changing cleaning routines?  Ask your jansan or equipment dealer to evaluate your current cleaning programs.  Manufacturers often provide software programs that dealers use to calculate productivity and cost savings when comparing cleaning systems.  These comparisons can include the savings in FTE hours and the resulting cost efficiency and productivity of one cleaning system over another.
   
   
8. Keep up-to-date on new cleaning methods and materials.  You’ve always used a mop to scrub the floor, but is it still the most profitable way to clean?  New materials such as microfibers are revolutionizing cleaning tasks.  Microfiber mops, cloths and gloves limit cross-contamination more effectively, are ergonomically superior to their cotton counterparts and can be washed multiple times.
   
   
9. Maintain your equipment so that it works reliably every time your workers need it.  This minimizes downtime and your expenses for repair and replacement.  Again, much of today’s equipment is designed for low maintenance.  Some motors can simply be switched out so you can replace the motor and not the entire machine.  Others are designed with easily replaceable brushes.  Easy access to components, easy maintenance and a local parts and service supplier should be a feature on any new machine you consider.
   
   
10. Work with a knowledgeable dealer who will offer financing options.  Monthly lease payment options let you lower your overhead costs and ease up the cash flow.  Generally these arrangements let you buy the equipment after a certain period of time.  New financing options are the surest way to improve your profits.  Ask your dealer what payment options he offers.

Floor-cleaning equipment manufacturers understand the challenges you face, and today’s equipment and payment options are designed to help you run your business smoothly and profitably.  You can find many answers to the question of improved profitability in your choice of the right floor-cleaning equipment.

Kent floor care equipment is easy to use and offers a combination of innovative features for industry-leading value.  The complete line includes automatic scrubbers, vacuums, burnishers, floor machines, carpet extractors, wet/dry vacuums, and pressure washers.  For more information, please contact Kent at 1-800-545-4372.