Are your subcontractors profitable? Should you care? And 5 Reasons Why Many Cleaning Organisations Don’t Do Builders Cleans any More.

Many Principal Contractors (Main Contractors) in the Construction probably aren’t concerned whether their subcontractors make or lose money on their construction project.

Why should it impact them? It would after all seem to be an anomaly, because if a subcontractor is making money it’s probably at the project’s expense?

But no! 

In fact some Principal Contractors’s make a habit of squeezing their subcontractors so they can be more profitable.


Why it’s helpful when your subcontractor is profitable

A subcontractor who is profitable is usually a happy subcontractor, and a happy subcontractor is:

1.    more likely to treat your project with the importance it deserves, allocating their time and resources when needed

2.    more willing to assist and accommodate the contractor when required

3.    of course a subcontractor who makes money on your project and is looked after will usually want to work for your company again, possibly even giving you a better price than they provide your competitors on your next project, which could give you a competitive advantage

But a subcontractor who loses money:

1.    may cut staff and equipment on the project to save costs, which may jeopardise the project’s safety, quality and schedule

2.    could take short cuts which could endanger safety and affect quality

3.    might use inferior, cheaper products, and take short cuts affecting others

4.    often go to any lengths to lodge claims for additional costs and additional time, which if justified will cost the project money, however many might be spurious and merely an attempt to claw back some of the subcontractor’s losses, yet these claims will still tie-up the contractor’s staff and cost money to evaluate and refute them

5.    may become bankrupt on the project, meaning you will have to engage another contractor at additional costs and delays to finish the outstanding work

6.    won’t want to price your next project, or will add a premium to their price knowing that you are a difficult customer

5 REASONS WHY MANY CLEANING ORGANISATIONS DON’T DO POST CONSTRUCTION CLEANING ANYMORE

It’s well known over the years is that Cleaning Companies aggressively seeking out and doing construction cleanup work can place them in position that works directly opposite of the three essential business goals in the areas of profitability, smooth running operations and a stable, high performing staff of cleaners.

1 Profitability: While the pricing initially makes construction clean-up seem like a great profit margin booster, a large portion of the profit can get eaten up in delays, lost opportunity costs, administrative headaches, excessive spillages by other trades and the like.

2 Smooth running operations: Because each construction job is uniquely different, it’s difficult to put into place the kinds of systems and processes which make performing a 5 nights per week on a  commercial cleaning job more easier to be able to standardize.

3.Consistently high quality performance by staff: Because of the volume of people frequently required (all at the same time) it’s been difficult for some to be sure they can have enough well trained people on hand, right when the project requires them.

There are times though when doing construction clean-up for a new client can make sense to some ; primarily when they could be taking on the daily cleaning after the final clean is completed.

Here are the five reasons why many cleaners avoid focusing on construction cleaning:

1.Demands lots of administrative and management time 2. Timing of projects is subject to frequent changes 3. Requires lots of duplication (staff & equipment) 4. Possibility of re-dos

5.The Rush at the end and other trades creating unplanned extra work 6. Difficulties and uncertainty around getting paid on time to match Cash Flow necessities

Any one of the above reason would make many seriously question whether a particular type of ordinary commercial cleaning was one they wanted to pursue instead. When taken all together, they pose so many problem areas and potentially (frequently realized) for trouble that they decide construction cleanup isn’t worth the trouble.

HOWEVER at SUPPLIED and Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Builders Cleans we are a solid company steadily growing every year with ability to provide steady work for good employees, efficient processes, high safety standards through the Pegasus On Site Contractor Audits, consistently high quality service to our customers, scheduled supervision and routine internal quality control processes. Through Business Research, trial and error and continuous improvement we’ve created a win-win-win-win combination. It’s a win for our staff, our clients, their clients and our company