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I wanted to do a quick blog to update everyone on the new corporate address for our company. The Boston’s Best Commercial Cleaning team opened a commercial cleaning division in West Palm Beach, FL. The company services clients from Boynton to Jupiter area.

The Boston commercial division is growing strongly at a fast rate with a very high retention rate of 97% of clients year over year.

Most recently we were awarded by Icic.org for our tremendous growth in the Boston area. We are grateful for all the great clients we continue to renew service over the years and hope to continue to be of service for years to come.

Our corporate office is now located in West Palm Beach FL in order to streamline administrative tasks. All accounts payable and accounts receivables should be mailed to 538 Northwood Rd. West Palm Beach FL 33407.

Looking forward to the spring 😉
Warmly,
Victoria

Whether you are a large company or a one-man business Commercial Cleaning is something you cannot ignore. For big business not having a clean environment for your staff to work in is one of the worst economies you can make. A dirty work area is bad for moral, wastes valuable work time and can be detrimental to the health of your staff.

As a worker if you work in a dirty environment there is only so much you can take, so after a while you have to stop your paid work to clean up. Emptying bins, washing cups or just generally dusting machinery and work surfaces, has to be done sometimes. No one enjoys picking up a dirty phone or dialling on a grease covered keypad. These are the sort of things that build up when proper cleaning services are not used. As a worker it distracts you from what you are paid to do and as a boss, why are you paying trained or qualified staff to empty bins? If you are the boss cleaning your own work space, then this is an unproductive waste of your time.

When you are on a tight budget as everyone is nowadays, cleaning may seem to be a big outlay for no return, but the actual return you gain is more productivity from your staff, more focussed work and direct action. Everyone needs to drink liquids through the day, so eventually the cups have to be washed and someone has to do it. So what you need to consider is exactly what you need cleaners to do. This may seem obvious but when you start to look at cleaning companies in the area you start to realise not every corporate cleaning company is the same.

First what needs doing to keep your offices clean and tidy? Do the bins need emptying daily or twice weekly? Do you need the carpet hoovering and the floor moped in the kitchens or dining areas, and how often? Who washes the mugs, or do you use vending machine cups and if so does this cause a need for more bins to be emptied. Do your kitchens stay fairly clean or do people leave them in a mess? If they are in a mess they can definitely be a health hazard if not cleaned daily. The toilets are another area that really need cleaning daily in a big company. This is an area that should not be left to chance and if you are a really big company or in the food business then more than once a day may be necessary.

Once you have found what you need then you should talk to a few companies, many will give you quotes for their services, but how many will discuss your needs and tailor their services to fit. That is why, here at Boston’s Best Commercial Cleaning Company we build our services around you. We will happily discuss your needs and we will build the right cleaning package around your needs and within your budget so that you can have happy workers in a clean environment

When people come to work they need to have a clean environment to work in. If the place is dirty no one really wants to be there. This not only makes them miserable it can cause stress and ill health. Regular cleaning is important to maintain a germ free environment and a dirty environment encourages germs to grow and spread from person to person. This can lead to more absenteeism through coughs colds and viruses, which can be more widely spread generally across the workplace.

The work place is a common source of stress in our lives and working in a dirty environment can contribute to the stress of the job, making the employee less likely to want to be at work. If you visit someone who’s house is untidy and dirty it is human nature not to want to stay too long. You get out of there as fast as possible and this is how people feel about a dirty workplace.

A clean environment with a fresh atmosphere makes people feel happier. Happier staff are much more productive and inventive, than unhappy staff. Happy staff will also give a better image to your clients and suppliers when they communicate with them, their happiness shows. Just as unhappy staff are likely to be more sharp and matter of fact, making them feel unapproachable and not easy to communicate with. Basically a good work environment has been proved to raise efficiency, cooperation, initiative, and moral which results in people being more focussed achieving results faster and generally being more productive.

If people feel they have to come to work even if they are unwell, this can also have an adverse effect on other staff moral and hence your bottom line. A study has shown that ill worker can be more of a distraction to the staff than a benefit, as no one can fail to notice them coughing and sneezing and this can be disruptive in meetings and also spreads the germs to other staff, causing a whole department to become ill. These germs will also spread so much more easily if the workplace is not properly cleaned

If you are not sure how well your cleaning program is affecting your staff, then it is time to find out. If you are a small company talk to them, if you are a large company then maybe an email survey with room for suggestions. It is important you get the right answers not the ones you want to hear so make sure your contact is in a way that your staff feel they can be honest. They may have been complaining to their managers for some time about the state of the place but if the managers are also of the mind that cleaning is an unimportant cost, then the complaints, suggestions and ideas may have gone unnoticed. Walk around the offices unannounced and observe for yourself how clean the workplace and how happy the staff are. Then you can see with your own eyes if your cleaning regime needs revamping to make your productivity improve, or whether you think you have it right

 

As studies show that a clean workplace can improve moral and increase productivity of the workers, it is important to know that your workplace is as effective as it can be in this regard. An office can seem to be busing along at full efficiency on the surface, people are sat nose to the grindstone working hard and “getting on with it”, but is that actually what is going on or is this image just what is expected?

If people are not happy in their workplace they often hunker down and look very busy, but the truth may be totally different. If the person who is hunkered down is suffering from low morale, feeling unappreciated and does not want to be there, how would you tell and would it really matter if they are getting on with their job? Well actually yes it does matter, it matters a lot.

You see someone who is feeling like that is working hard but they are not being as productive as they could be. Their mind is distracted. They would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else but here, and that is ticking along in the back of their mind. They are robotically carrying out procedures and completing tasks but there is no flair, no imagination and most importantly no incentive. To be honest they do not really care whether what they do is constructive or not. You see people who have to work in a dirty environment feel that the bosses do not care. They feel like numbers not people and as such they have no real loyalty to the business or drive to excel.

If this was true of your sales office you would not be making many sales. Sales people need to have energy and drive, they need to have a desire to pull in the customers and to seal that deal. They can only do this in a clean fresh environment. Even if they come in first thing in the morning all rearing to go, a dirty environment will gradually bring them down. Not even consciously, but by mid-morning or lunch time they will be feeling deflated as they look for things behind and around yesterday’s dirty mugs, or paper cups that will not fit in the recycling bin.

So it is very important that your employees have a clean workplace, clean toilets and clean rest areas and kitchens. This will not only improve their moral, lift their energy and make them feel pleased to work here, it will also keep germs at bay so that people are working in a much healthier environment and this will show by less absenteeism.

Having seen the detriment, it can do to a business to not have a clean and healthy workplace. Then it makes so much sense to have a good cleaning regime. If you think your cleaning regime is not doing the job, then we are happy to talk to you about what could be done to improve the working environment of your staff.

Bed bugs were something our parents joked about, but surely with our clean and fresh homes they must have gone. They should not be able to survive in clean homes and clean mattresses. Unfortunately, they do not live in the mattress itself, they are very small and hide in cracks and crevices and they are not initially easy to discover.

The first signs you may have them are noticing small red spots on the bedding waking up with itchy welts. The bites themselves can leave no marks at all and unless you are irritated by the bite or have a slight allergic reaction to them you may not notice them at all. Although the bugs do not carry anything infectious to humans they can become a problem in apartment buildings and they may move through the building from apartment to apartment.

If you think you may have them in your home, then you need to look for small dark patches and stains where they congregate there may also be a slight sweetish smell. If you think you see one, then it is useful to put it in a container to show your apartment manager. If you cannot find one but still suspect that they are in your home, then you need to tell your apartment manager in any case.

Bedbugs are once again a regular pest especially in apartment buildings and if you have bed bugs neighbouring apartments need to be checked and possibly treated at the same time as yours. These small insects can easily move from apartment to apartment and if they are not all treated and every insect killed the infestation can start again.

It is important that apartment managers and landlords recognise the importance of eradication of these insects because although they are not really harmful to humans, they can just keep spreading if not controlled. They are seen as disgusting by the general populous and their mere presence in some one’s home can cause them anxiety.

If you live in an apartment or multi-family housing and have bedbugs it is essential that the housing manager or landlord is advised of the situation straight away. Your area and all surrounding areas need to be checked and treated. It is not probably possible for you to get rid of them on your own. The insects move easily between rooms and apartments, and is likely that other areas are also infected whether the tenants are aware of it or not.

It depends what county you are in as to whether the extermination can be carried out by a normal janitor or needs to be done by a registered company when tenants are involved, so it may just be wise for the landlord or apartment manager to arrange for a certified company to carry out the work as the apartments all need to be treated at the same time to be sure that all the insects are found and none are left to breed and re-infest the building.

 

Boston’s Best Commercial Cleaning started on one dream. We wanted to have a cleaning company that provided a better way of life and opportunity not only for ourselves but also for our employees. Just like every dream, it took a strong set of values to make it happen.

• Perseverance
• Commitment
• Loyalty

We knew that if we were to grow the business and continually succeed, we needed to stay in the present moment to attend to our clients, always look ahead to discover where we want to go, and remember where we came from, to recognize our strength in gratitude.

Our Business Is Strong Because Our Foundation Is Strong

Our business is strong because our every business action is rooted in our values system foundation. It’s what formed the business, it’s what drives the business, and it sets us apart from all the competition out there. We succeed because we put our whole hearts into what we do. Holding to our values system ensures we will always work toward actively uplifting our employees and meeting the unique needs of our clients.

Perseverance Supports and Drives Our Workday

When we started, we worked really long hours, made mistakes, pushed ourselves hard, and deeply felt the growing pains every business feels. We use the same perseverance it took to get through those times to navigate our business every day. Our work is never just a paycheck for us. We’re invested, and one way you see that is in our round-the-clock service. We know that whether it’s noon, or 3 AM, if a critical issue comes up for our customers, we want to be there, and we know how to do that.

Commitment Makes Our Employees Stronger

Commitment plays a core role in our story. It’s the thread that holds everything together. Just as our employees give so much of themselves to us, we’re committed to them by providing healthy, above-standard wages, literacy classes, professional growth opportunities, health benefits and retirement options. We host gatherings and functions that include family to make their work with us more than just a job.

Commitment Ensures We Meet Our Clients’ Needs

Further, by tailoring our services to client requirements, we’re committed to you. We have staff whose only job is to attend to our customer needs, so you always receive the same excellent service that began our journey together. We want more than just a contract and a check for our service. We want your trust, and for you to take comfort in knowing that our priorities are driven by what you need.

Loyalty Keeps Us Focused On Priorities – Our Employees and Our Clients

Because we always remember that where we come from got us to where we are, this loyalty keeps us focused on what’s important. We built this dream from strength of character, but couldn’t have succeeded without our employees and our customers. Everyone helps this dream continue. We got here with continued gratitude and respect for the people that support us everyday. You make the dream complete.

With turnover rates ranging anywhere from 75% to near 400% for commercial services, the issue demands attention, and its consequences are far more harmful to your property and business than you think.

YOUR CLEANING COMPANY’S EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AFFECTS YOUR IMAGE

Today’s the day an important corporate client is coming to the office for an annual meeting. You’ve got one chance to make a great impression, and today, your cleaning service had another rotation in cleaners that were not brief on the account cleanings specifications at all! Today the hallway carpet got missed, and the common areas are sloppy, all because the new cleaner wasn’t sure which areas needed to be covered today!

Your company image is your brand. Consistency in your cleanliness and presentation is vital to how your clients, tenants or guests perceive you and your standards.

YOUR CLEANING COMPANY EMPLOYEE TURNOVER AFFECTS YOUR PROFITS

Your cleaning company’s employee turnover takes away from your profits. Maybe your cleaning service having employee turnover takes more time out of your day to handle issues related to the inconsistent service you just received.

Employee turnover steals from your profits by stealing from your time:

• Time taken to find a new cleaning company

• Time taken on the phone tackling complaints

• Time taken to explain new staff changes to your condo owners

• Time taken to re-hash the cleaning requirement contract

• Time taken from your employee’s regular workload to handle these unplanned issues for you

The CLEANING COMPANY EMPLOYEE RETENTION OFFERS BETTER QUALITY CONTROL

Turnover often arises from low employee morale, and low pay. Knowing this, we offer our employees exceptional opportunities for professional growth, quality of life, job satisfaction, and financial security. In return, our employees are rewarded for their efforts, and love coming to work. We give them:

• Generous, above-standard pay

• Internal growth within our company

• Personal development & literacy classes

• Company-wide family inclusion events and outings

But how does this provide quality control to our customers? We’ve learned from experience that by retaining our employees longer than other cleaning companies, we can provide more consistent service that our clients can depend upon.

Although our 24/7 service, and dedicated client needs staff allow us to track and maintain our quality, our greatest value is in the quality work of our cleaners. We know we’ve locked onto a great quality control system because we see its rewards everywhere:

• In our client retention rates

• In employee retention rates

• In the respect and appreciation our clients give our cleaners

• In the relationships our cleaners build with our clients

In fact, one hotel and condo property provides our cleaners free lunches everyday as a “thank you” for their loyalty and dedicated service. We maintain their strong business image, our loyalty supports their profits, and they know they can depend on us. Our clients rave about our service, and that’s our greatest indicator that we have a powerfully effective system. It reflects in our clients’ success, and ours too.

Boston’s Best Cleaning Company always aims to be the #1 cleaning service out there, and we are for one reason: We proactively serve for our clients. Understanding our clients’ needs, our cleaners use all of their skills to help our clients in any way they can. Our best successes have been in reputation support, industry knowledge, and needs-based attention. This is proof that our goal is to serve as continual advocates for you in your business.

WE VALUE THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR IMAGE

More than just a cleaning service, Boston’s Best is a property manager’s closest ally, always mindful of how the job we do reflects upon you. We know that your image is important in upholding your reputation, and running your business smoothly. Every day that we maintain your property, your image is our priority.

WE CATER TO YOUR INDUSTRY

We have several years’ experience working with property management and condo associations, so we’ve grown to understand the challenges in meeting the requirements of condo boards and tenants. Any inconsistencies or poor overall service reflects negatively on you, and that makes your job more difficult. We know that your property’s unit turnaround is timeline-dependent, and that tenants and condo owners rely on cleanliness of common areas and amenities to feel good about where they live. We come in each day knowing exactly where your priorities lie, and remain flexible to accommodate any time-sensitive needs you may have on a day-to-day basis, as they happen.

WE MAKE YOUR JOB EASIER

Whether you’re maintaining properties, keeping up common areas, or getting units ready for renting or owning on time, your job can often feel like a juggling act. Having to micro-manage the cleaning staff to meet your quality standards is an unwanted distraction. For that reason, we know you need a cleaning company who’s looking out for your best interests. We’re always thinking ahead about our role in making your job easier because we:

• Maintain consistency.
• Maintain high service standards, and exercise quality control.
• Add value whenever possible with specialty add-on services aimed to save you time:
  • Property common area cleaning
  • Apartment turnover cleaning
  • Sidewalk snow shoveling
  • Specialty floor stripping, waxing, buffing, scrubbing, carpet cleaning & more
  • Office cleaning services
  • Porter services
  • Trash removal
• Offer an extra set of eyes to notice building details and areas requiring maintenance.

WE PROVIDE ROUND-THE-CLOCK QUALITY CONTROL

Most cleaning companies have a manager that shows up every once in awhile to see that the work is being done right. We believe quality control deserves far more attention than that. Boston’s Best managers frequently visit our clients onsite to inspect service for cleanliness, review cleaner performance, but we continue our service where other cleaning companies leave off. When the other cleaning companies are punching out and going home, we’re setting our phones on stand-by, still ready for your call. Should you have an issue, anytime, any day, we’re there, offering real-time issue resolution 24/7.

When it comes to service, we believe you deserve more than just a cleaner. You deserve a company that can be a proactive advocate for your business. Our list of long-standing clients boast that our above-and-beyond approach to our work makes us stand out against the other cleaning companies. It showcases our dedication, and that makes us the best in our business.

The use of disinfectants leads to a catch-22 situation.

Cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting agents are necessary in many situations to kill or eradicate microbes that may cause infectious diseases as well as allergens and irritants that may trigger avoidable reactions. However, these products may also have unfortunate, and potentially harmful, side effects for tenants, pets, and the environment.

The chemicals in these products may make their way into the environment—air, water, and soil, eventually causing problems for our waterways and wildlife.

Safer, Greener Products Have Less Impact on the Environment

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates and approves sanitizers and disinfectants in the United States. Currently, sanitizing or disinfecting agents such as sodium hypochlorite (bleach) or quaternary (quat) are the base ingredients of most EPA-registered sanitizers and disinfectants.

Certainly, these EPA-registered disinfectants are effective. However, alternative products are available that are just as effective; yet produce fewer residues or emissions, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs); and have less impact on the environment.

The EPA, through the Safer Choice program, has set in motion measures to bring green-certified disinfectants to the market. The EPA will enlist the help of states and the rollout should begin later this year.

Available Options:

Disinfectants that Fulfill the Safer Choice Screening Process – The EPA’s Safer Choice program has a screening process that if fulfilled by a product signifies that the product has reduced impact on a user and the environment, while possessing requisite potency for disinfection.

The active ingredients used in the production of these disinfectants include citric acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide et cetera.

These products are now in use in schools, medical, apartments, and other facilities.

Ozone or Steam Vapor

This option is entirely free of chemicals. Temperature is the primary factor that influences the germ-killing ability of steam vapor. The system should heat water to at least 250 degrees Fahrenheit for it to be effective.

For better protection, it may be necessary to apply a disinfectant after using steam.

Spray-and-vac Systems

Typically, manufactures of these systems advice against use of the systems without cleaning solutions or disinfectants. However, independent laboratory tests show that the systems are effective even without accompanying use of chemicals.

Still, applying a disinfectant after using a spray-and-vac system may be necessary for better protection of the health of occupants.

Best Practice Disinfection Tips

1. Endeavor to use sanitizers and disinfectants only when necessary. The misuse and overuse of disinfectants is a growing public health and environmental concern. Research indicates that the use of common disinfectant products create microbes that can mutate into superbugs. Superbugs are forms or strains of microbes that are more resistant to certain disinfectants and antibiotics.
2. Clean the surface to remove soils before using disinfectants or disinfectant alternatives. Even when using “one-step” disinfectant-cleaners, ensure that you pre-clean heavily soiled areas.
3. Be certain that the disinfectant is appropriate. EPA-registered disinfectants are not effective on all types of germs and bacteria. Therefore, when it is necessary to use a disinfectant, make certain that the kill claim listed on the label indicates that the product can kill the type of microbe that there is concern about. For example, if there is concern about swine flu (H1N1), the product you choose should indicate that it is able to kill the H1N1 virus.

Usage Tips for Standard Disinfectants:

• Use disinfectants with pH value closer to seven (more neutral). These more neutral disinfectants reduce the risk of eye and skin irritation if they come in contact the skin of users.
• Ensure you read and follow all instructions on the product label.
• Do not use a disinfectant with higher concentration than is recommended. The use of a disinfectant with higher-than-recommended concentration would result in increased product waste and associated cost as well as increased adverse environmental impact.

In a building, foot traffic is highest in particular locations including: entrances, stairwells, halls, bathrooms, elevators, exits, and so on. While thinking of how many locations have high volumes of traffic can be daunting, it is important to know that Boston’s Best knows how to handle it. In a building, all locations that are necessary to use are busiest. If a person comes through the door with dirty shoes, these are the locations in which the trail will be left. Our company is aware of methods to combat this issue of spreading dirt, while still providing a speedy and high quality performance.

Prevention

One of the best ways to clean is to prevent the dirt in the first place. We prevent people from tracking dirt around the building by diligently vacuuming the carpets, dusting, and mopping – but we also prevent the spread of dirt by placing mats down to avoid the contact with the floor in the first place. Floors do not become nearly as worn out, and never look dirty. This keeps the place looking wonderful and clean at all times. Tenants, old and new, will notice the regularity of cleanliness and be highly impressed.

Timing

As we always hear, timing is everything! Our company is aware of a building’s schedule, and carefully plans cleanings around this. To us, the most opportune moments for cleaning are those convenient for tenants – such as when traffic has died down or areas are no longer in use for the day. When cleaning, areas will be carefully blocked off in order to avoid any injury or struggle for tenants. Safety is a prime concern for us, both with air quality and in general. No wet spots or wires will be unattended at any point! If cleaning blocks a route, we will ensure that tenants can easily get to their destination another way.

Staff

We never skim on our staff. Our team is fully loaded and ready to go when we arrive. Due to our ability to staff well, cleaning is performed in an appropriate amount of time at the highest level of excellence.

Frequency

At Boston’s Best, we know that cleaning needs to happen often, not on occasion. There are certain times where traffic may be higher, and additional cleaning may be necessary. We are aware of this, and work hard to ensure we stay in the now with the needs of our clients.

Surface Type

What we are cleaning is important! Our employees know the varying steps necessary for different surfaces. Cleaning is never one size fits all.

Consistency

Our company cares about consistently providing an excellent cleaning performance. Our services are never rushed, and we never miss a thing! We pay careful attention to detail in order to provide the highest quality service each and every time we clean.