How Do You Measure Clean?

We recently started an online discussion about how cleaning companies "measure clean". Someone had made a comment that "people would know the difference between clean and not clean", but as cleaning professionals, we all know that one person's idea of clean may not measure up to another person's idea of clean -- every one has different perceptions.

Here are the original questions:
What does clean mean to you and how do you all measure clean? Is it visual? Do you use an ATP meter? What is your company's standard for clean and how do your employees know they have met that standard?

Responses were varied and many hit on some key points:

1) Expectations must be conveyed to the staff what your interpretation of "clean" is what the customers interpretation of "clean" is, and their training should reflect both of these values. 

Good point. Many employers assume their employees should understand what clean means, but it is your job to explain what it means to you and your clients and make sure you train them to meet your standards.

2) Clean is a complete and professional completion of specifications decided on by a professional discussion between the client and the provider. It may not be "clean" by our professional standards but if it meets all the clients specifications and they are happy then it is clean to them.

This is also a good point, but we must use caution if our clients accept lower standards of clean just so they can save money.

3) A clean building has to look clean, feel clean, and smell clean. Let’s start with "Looking" clean. If you clean a conference room top to bottom, and don't push in the chairs then it will not "Look" clean. Feeling clean describes the initial feeling that you get when first walking into a building or a room. You can walk into a clean bathroom but it will not "Feel" clean if the floors look dingy. Poor lighting, and/or burnt out lights can also contribute to this variable. Last but not least, the smell. The fragrant smell that a cleaner has usually dissipates before the customer enters the building. So what may be causing odors need to be addressed. Urine must be cleaned up if we are talking about restrooms. Floors drains need to be treated on a regular basis.

This is an excellent description of just what clean is. "Clean" involved the senses - sight, touch and smell. Train your employees on how to observe the space, how to "feel" the space and how to use their sense of smell to determine if the space is clean (and remember that "clean" doesn't have a scent).

4) We use a quality control book in all locations that asks for proactive responses.

Not everyone was in agreement in using a quality control book. "In today's environment where we have gotten our customers used to instant communication I would hate to have my customer write in the book and not get a quick response." These days, most cleaning contractors are using telephone, email and private customer areas on their websites to communicate quickly with their customers.

How do YOU measure clean? Post your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below.

Comments

[Phyllis]

I have a unique job that involves "special needs / mentally handicap adults." The job possess difficult challenges to clean to all expectations. We deal with urine, diapers, fecal matter on floors, toilets and sometimes door frames. Lunch time, there is food on the floor, spills and liquids in trash cans. Bottom line its down right disgusting! Now since its a handicap environment we do anticipate a difference, but we find that the staff does very little to pick up. Garbage remains on the floors, restrooms are a mess. So how do you deal with the attitude, "let the cleaning people do it." Its been difficult keeping these jobs staff because it wears them out. Any suggestions?

[Jean Hanson]

Hi Phyllis,
Is there a management contact you can talk to about this? Perhaps they publish an employee newsletter or have a bulletin board or conduct meetings where they could address this issue. I wouldn't present it as "help out the cleaners" - they will resent this and say "it's their job". Rather, I'd have them present it as something like "it's up to all of us to keep the facility safe and sanitary, etc." Maybe offer tips, like using the blue labeled trash cans for recyclables and the green labeled trash cans for all other trash, and if you find trash on the floor, pick it up and throw it away so patients don't trip over it, etc.

[nomi]

This sounds like a poorly managed staff. I wonder if they ever get inspectors coming in?
It is important to have that discussion with your customer contact person but you need to be careful that you do not alienate them with what may sound like a complaint against their employees. And their employees can make life really hard for your employees if this comes across wrong.
I have had to learn that you can rarely change your customer's habits. You can only control your own attitude toward the work.

[James Hahn]

Everyone does indeed have different perceptions of clean. That was evident by the discussion that you quoted above. I posted one of the above points to that discussion. I was actually surprised by the varied opinions received off your original question. It was certainly an educational discussion I think for everybody involved. As professionals I think over time we hone in our perception of clean based on so many variables. I think that is why the discussion went in so many different directions.

[StainTalk]

We think that 'clean' is defined by attention to detail. Say a living room has hardwood floors with an area rug, obviously a hired house cleaner is going vacuum the rug. To really clean though, the maid should lift or roll up the rug and mop the floors underneath them. Same goes for a kitchen. When cleaning the floors make sure all chairs and barstools are off the ground to ensure a thorough clean. We find the best way to do this is to lift the chairs, turn them upside down and rest the seat of the chair on the edge of the kitchen table. Barstools can just be flipped over and rested on the bar counter.

This type of consciousness is relatively low effort and extremely high impact. It's little things that really impress customers and keep them coming back.

[StainTalk]

P.S. loving this blog. Low on the self promotion end, thought-provoking, insightful, and (most importantly) helpful.

[Jean Hanson]

Thanks, I appreciate that!

[J&J Cleaning]

Our services includes the use of commercial grade steam cleaning equipment which uses tap water converted into 250 degree steam. Most germs are killed within 2 seconds at 180 degree heat. We also use green cleaning products, which we call "accelerants", if they will speed up the job. Some of the work we do includes rental property preparations so our standard of clean follows with the question: when you finish the job are willing to spend the night or move in yourself? Our standards of clean generally exceed what's considered clean to our customer, also because we have a "niche" market using the steamers. The steamers offer services to persons with breathing problems, allergies, asthma, eliminate dust, pollens, molds, mildews, and more. They can be used effectively sanitizing better and more effective than most chemicals as well so if you have chemical sensitive customers steamers are the answer. We do use a fragrance (for customers who prefer/some do not and like the natural smell that comes from sanitizing and cleaning with the pure heat). We also have a niche as the go-to service where the conditions are similar to the service that works in the rehabilitation/nursing facility, i.e. we encounter feces, urine and other potentially hazardous pathogens. We are comfortable tackling these jobs primarily because we are ARMED with the steam cleaning equipment, in addition to using specialized bio-pathogen disinfectants. We are careful to obtain the "specs" per job so that we have the proper chemicals to properly treat the areas and surfaces to be cleaned, which leads to an end result beyond the expectations of the customer initally and hence repeat and referred business. J

[Billy T]

My standards for clean are simple. As long as the customer is happy we are happy. After we are finished with a job we walk around with the customer to make sure everything is to there liking. If its not we fix it. We also have a 100% satisfaction guarantee and a 3 day rain guarantee. My business is huge with refferals so if one customer is unhappy it will create a trickle effect of potential customers they touch that would not be promoters of my company. My goal is to make sure that doesn't happen.