The Cost of Cleaning

I am writing about this, as it is an important factor and often although known overlooked. I just ran again into a customer who calculated his chemical products by canisters, not by application and the typical feedback was, you are too expensive. I started then to look at his products/processes and I had the chance for a long chat, as he was interested. What he used was a simple alcohol cleaner, which we also still have in our range (more sophisticated, but an alcohol cleaner), he used it since many years and on porous surfaces. So he had huge problems with film layers building up and needed to use higher and higher dilutions at least to clean half way good. After he gave me the chance to test one of our top all purpose cleaners (Blue Star Ocean and Quin Tab Clean) at much lower dilution compared, he saw the films coming off the floor, actually since years he saw how the floor really looked. We went into the calculation then and suddently he saw what he actually somehow knew, it was not more expensive if you integrate the dilution into your calculation, if you see that the mop and cloth clean faster over the surfaces as there is no abrasive film on the surface anymore, as he needed to do less basic cleaning cycles. So that is actually the reason why I write this article again and just make the obvious visible again to remind on this.

A cleaning job calculation is devided by approx. more or less 85 % in costs by the staff, 10-12 % by the costs of machinery and energy and tools and ONLY 3-5 % by the costs of chemicals in the process. In Germany it is even 2-3 % only.

So where is the sense in cutting the costs in chemicals, in quality machinery, in mops or cloth quality ? You want and need to take down the costs of staff, the 85 % !

Our partner Crohill for example in Holland sells more expensive mops compared to the cheap versions you can buy already for 2-3 Euro, but the quality of the cleaning is much higher of his solutions, its a steady even cleaning result for up to 700 and more washes of the mop and it cleans much deeper and faster then many compared products. So in this time you will have less good cleaning results with the cheap mop, the results will turn down pretty fast (after 100 or 140 washes) and you need to buy in the same time multiple of this cheap mops, so in the end your cheap is the expensive.

In machinery it is the same, in dosing units and everywhere in this processes where tools or chemicals are involved. If you pay more, there is simply more in (to be fair mostly, some exclusions are everywhere).

So let`s come back to some short facts. Simple acohol cleaners are still so popular as they are in the history of cleaning after soap the second revolution in cleaning, used for many years and also still big in use at home. They are simple and cheaper, a bit of alcohol, tensides , some frangrance and color, no big deal. But for many years we had no alternatives until the cleaning chemical business developed with new possibilities in raw materials and science. A simple aclohol cleaner still has its validity, you use it very efficient on glazed and non porous surfaces, it even has benefits of drying fast and streak free. But this benefit is the lack on using this products on porous surfaces (which are mostly the reality today), where the drying process is to fast to wetten also the pores properly and be active in dissolving the dirt here. It is limited when you face harder water and much more heavier dirt levels. For this you need REAL (I mention real as a lot of alcohol cleaners are simply labeled all purpose, which is not totally wrong) all purpose cleaners, which are build up much more complex compared to a simple alcohol cleaner, also of course more expensive. So you will end up by using higher and higher dilutions of an alcohol cleaner and still end up with building dirt films. This is ineffecient and expensive.

Imagine you clean a floor in a school and due to the film on the floor the mop is heavier to push over it and needs more time compared to a film free properly cleaned floor, let`s predict you need only 3-4 minutes longer for a long floor. Not much ? But if you need to clean 10 floors, then it is already 30-40 minutes longer. If you need in rooms only 2 minutes longer, but have to clean 30 rooms, then it means 60 minutes longer. Remember where the costs are in your process ?

So where is the sense of cutting costs on the side of 3-5 % in your cleaning job calculation and spending more time on the 85% costs in your calculation ? Next to the dilution you most probably might need higher.

A simple example is our Gastro Kleen, food contact cleaner with No Rinse. On food contact areas you need to clean and rinse by law, that is a two step process. With Gastro Kleen you just clean the surface and go, no Rinse or Wipe Off ! Can you guess what is cheaper and besides increases the hygiene safety, as there are no critical left overs of the chemicals, which can always happen when you rinse inproperly ?

So in todays environment where costs are cut, we intend to look at the simpel side of reducing those costs and the first thing which comes into our mind is the costs of products. The competition is tough and the customers wants a Ferrari for the price of a Lada. But going this road is mostly in the end more expensive and the quality is suffering quickly.

So the next time you buy products as a cleaning service operator or an object owner, think about the process costs, not just the cost of a cleaning chemical, a mop or a machine. Start to calculate again. I even don`t come back of the issues of packaging waste, environmental issues, ecological cleaning processes and products, let`s keep this aside for now.

A last factor is sutainability towards your cleaning processes and surfaces, floors. It is a responsibility we have also towards owners of the places we clean. I have seen to many hotels/objects cleaned inproperly, that they look after even 1-2 years like being 10 years old. Floors have to be replaced much more often and faster and armatures ruined by wrong cleaning processe need to be replaced. Take the time to discuss this with owners, as it ads hugely to their costs, if they only look at the costs of their cleaning they have to pay. A new floor is much more expensive then a proper cleaning process. Paying or needing much faster and more basic cleaning cycles are much more expensive and any basic cleaning has an impact on surfaces, no matter how sensitive you operate it.

I often hear, we don`t have the time, no one is listening, but my experience is different here mostly, people listen if you explain everything and take your time. If you showcase what you advise to them. That is also our job to give you the right tools, arguments and solutions to have a base for a good open discussion. We don`t just sell chemcials, we sell know how and solutions, which should always be based on facts and results.

An example, one of my customers is operating an animal hospital, he had to tender his cleaning process outsourced, as it was an official tender he had to take the second cheapest cleaning company. He is only allowed to do the basic cleaning himself. He ends up now and he knows this, with a cheaper maintenance cleaning process (not using our products anymore, as the cleaning company doing the job buys cheap), but needs to do so often basic cleaning cycles with our chemicals then, as he knows the quality we deliver, that his costs in the end are much higher then before, when he had a proper maintenance cleaning. But this are different budged departments, so he can`t do anything.

Let me end with a quote displayed at the top from Karl Albrecht : "You seldom improve quality by cutting costs, but you can often cut costs by improving quality"

Thank you for sharing.