Even though summer has just started, cleaners can learn to plan ahead and create a winning fall strategy by taking a look at some of the school janitors and how they expertly manage scheduling and execution. As they start to prepare for back to school a little later in the season, janitorial staff maximize productivity, safety, and user satisfaction – practices commercial cleaners can use to better manage and scale the business.

Here are some of the back-to-school practices cleaners can adapt to work for their summer clients:

• Taking the time to reset or deep clean can be effective in the summer. Before the messier weather arrives, sell services like stripping or waxing hard floors, stain extraction, dusting those hard-to-reach areas, cleaning fabrics and upholstery, and thoroughly sanitizing neglected spaces. This can be sold as an annual or semi-annual service to clients.
• Improve your operations and safety with a colour coded system for cleaning. Custodians often use a system that limits tools to certain areas (bathrooms, kitchens, and more) to avoid cross-contamination when covering large areas.
• To optimize efficiency, many school custodians have a system where they start at the top with vents and light fixtures and work down to the baseboards, from one side of the room to another. This kind of system helps to standardize cleaning protocols as well as only focusing on each surface once.
• Documentation is a common part of the janitorial process, and it can also help cleaners provide transparency and improve communication with clients. Create logs to document work in progress and leverage software to track task completion, provide inspection results, and send time-stamped photos to your clients.
• Auditing inventory annually is an important part of the custodial process throughout the year, as they are constantly mid-project. Implement this for your business and your clients with routine assessments, comprehensive inventory management, and efficient storage. Using supply-tracking software can help to ensure you never run out of chemicals, microfiber cloths, or PPE, and that you follow manufacturer’s instruction and discard expired materials on time.

Janitorial staff work hard throughout the year to maximize results and optimize operations. While they have a period in the summer without occupancy, their techniques can help commercial cleaners adopt practices to help improve efficiency and provide improved service.