Disaster recovery and commercial janitorial are often confused by commercial clients. In fairness, Facilities Managers, Office Managers, Property Owners and Business Tenants are experts in THEIR business. And to many of these, “cleaning is cleaning”.

When Disaster Recovery is Obvious

Big events such as a fire, natural floods that impact structures and damage caused by falling trees. Because each of these are enough to cause our customers to stop and assess the need for help, the change is obvious. Each of these types of instances forces the Facilities Manager or Property Owner into a different gear. These are clearly property-specific disasters and requiring a professional.

When Disaster Recovery is NOT Obvious

“Disaster” is framed by the immediate threat to property and potential harm to the residents and visitors to that property. These are less obvious when they occur slowly or look like another problem. For instance, water on the restroom floor near the sinks can be mopped up when your commercial cleaning company performs service. Urine near the toilets will be cleaned during the same visit. However, a cracked toilet that’s leaking is where disaster recover comes in.

A lot of these problems start with water

More accurately, many start with water in the wrong place. Something as simple as a water pipe or shut-off valve that drips is enough. Over time, that moisture can create the right conditions for mold to grow. Because that mold creates the threat of harm to people, it becomes disaster recovery.

In a private residence, homeowners can perform all kinds of repairs. Many do. Now that doesn’t mean they’re done well or that they meet town codes. But each homeowner is responsible for their residence. We STILL recommend contacting professionals when these events occur.

In Commercial Properties

Disaster recovery in commercial properties is a specific need. These properties include rental units such as apartments, offices, manufacturing and other commercial locations. Each of these carries the responsibility of maintaining the property to local codes as part of their professional duties. And these are where DOC’s Facilities operate. As professional building services contractors and commercial cleaners, we work to serve our clients. Doing so means knowing where our services come to an end and we hand off to other professionals.

Growing Through Professional Relationships

DOC’s Consulting works with commercial cleaning companies throughout the United States and abroad. In fact, one of our clients travelled to our offices from Africa for his full week of training! If you want to learn how to grow your commercial cleaning business, contact us. We coach, train, instruct and advise OUR Cleaning clients. As commercial cleaners, you know the work can be hard. However, building a business that cares for your clients and your people makes it worthwhile. And it can pay you well, if you know how. We look forward to speaking with you!

 

Let’s move on to this week’s podcast.

 

00:08 Ray

Joel, we’re back, and we’re on the topic of Blurred Lines. This is a series that we started. actually, we’re two episodes in now on this.

 

00:15 Joel

This will be the second episode.

 

00:16 Ray

As we step into this, there are services that look an awful lot like janitorial and commercial cleaning, but they’re not. So, we have a guest with us today.

 

00:25 Joel

We do. Today, I’ve brought Valerie Mederski from Refined Restoration, who is also in the facilities area, but in a completely different area. Welcome, Valerie.

 

00:36 Valerie

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

 

00:37 Joel

You’re very welcome. Why don’t you tell the group, what is it that you do?

 

00:41 Valerie

We offer (recovery from) water damage, mold remediation, lead dust sampling, carpet cleaning. We also offer asbestos inspections.

 

00:51 Joel

Because it’s all facilities things, Ray, you can see, particularly when you get into the carpet cleaning piece, that there is overlap. And hence why a client me think that, Oh, because she does carpet cleaning and I do carpet cleaning, that maybe….

 

01:06 Ray

You’re already here. Why didn’t you just do the job?

 

01:07 Joel

Exactly. (OK) Particularly when it comes to knocking a sprinkler head off in a building and having a flood. That’s going to be beyond what I can do or a toilet that backs up with potable water. That would be a call to Valarie and her team.

 

01:21 Ray

Okay, but your customer doesn’t know where that line is, and perhaps your frontline cleaners there on site. (No, correct.) This has just happened. We They had a toilet break earlier today. In fact, it might even be the frontline cleaner who found it that night.

 

01:36 Joel

It could be very well a possibility.

 

01:38 Ray

How do these things transfer and how does it go from commercial janitorial to disaster cleanup?

 

01:44 Joel

Well, I can definitely know what I’m responsible for. If a client called me, I would say, “That’s beyond my scope of work, it’s beyond what I can do.” I would make a referral to Valarie, which I do often. I’ll call her up with the customer’s name, phone number, location, and in a nutshell, what’s the issue. And see if they’re able to do that. Which they’ve never backed down from any job that I’ve ever referred their way.

 

02:07 Ray

So, Valerie, I will say that I am automatically impressed by someone who picks up where Joel says, “This is too much for me”. In that regard, Joel has pitched you a referral. “Please call my client so and so. This is the situation they’re dealing with.” What happens next for you?

 

02:22 Valerie

As soon as we receive a referral, we go ahead and we immediately contact the customer. Immediate response is very important because our job is to prevent further damage. Once there is either a toilet breaking or a sewage backup, something that Joel is not able to clean up, our job is to respond quickly, arrive at the property. We inspect the site, we check for the source of loss, which (in this instance) is the toilet, and we have to ensure that the proper contractor has corrected the source. Once the site inspection is completed, we advise the client what is affected, how much is affected, and what our cleanup plan is. We do communicate once that is completed to the facility director and how we’re going to proceed further. Our job is to prevent further damage to their property and also save them money.

 

03:13 Joel

One of the things I know that you and I have talked about often is how a lot of property managers and facility managers think they know how to clean. They think they know how to do water loss, clean up, and things like that. And just recently overheard a client telling a tenant that, “Oh, just talk to the cleaning company about them doing a quick extraction of your carpet.” Having went back to that space a couple of weeks later, I know that I smelled mildew. I knew right then that the information that was being told to that tenant was wrong because I think I even called you up that day and said, Hey, you might want to make a call to this organization.

 

03:48 Valerie

You know what, Joel? We did talk that day, and I do remember talking to you. Although the client thinks that they’re saving themselves money by having their staff on site clean-up the water, what they don’t realize is that there are protocols through the IICRC (The Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) that we follow. During that process, we would come in and do our drying plan. With that carpet, we would have to remove the pad because within 24 to 48 hours, microbial growth can potentially start and depending on the atmospheric conditions. There’s certain tools and equipment that we carry; Moisture meters; Commercial dehumidifiers; Air movers; that we’ll be able to utilize during the drying process that will prevent microbial growth. Now, in a commercial building, it is code to have insulation on interior and exterior walls. Actually, responding quickly to the water damage in a commercial building for one of your clients is extremely important. And by contacting us quickly, they could potentially save themselves money because we are preventing further damage.

 

04:56 Joel

That’s what I love about working with you. Because the extent knowledge that you have about what can happen if a water loss isn’t taken care of right from the start, how much more damage that can do. So maybe something might be a few thousand dollars to do it the right way. But it’s going to prevent the tens of thousands of dollars if it’s not done the right way. And it could have been rectified right from the start. In your industry, I know time is of the essence. When you have flooding and it gets up to the drywall, I know that sometimes you got to cut out drywall, you got to dry out the insides of the walls. That’s nothing that a cleaning contractor can do. We don’t carry that equipment. You do. And that is why it’s so important. But our clients typically look at us as being the expert when we’re cleaning there every day, and they think we know everything that there is about cleaning. And what I’m trying to get across to the people that are listening on the podcast is that we have to have key relationships with other individuals like yourself in the cities that we work in to ensure that our clients are taken care of and developing that tight bond that we have with your company. Because I know that when I turn it over to Refined Restoration, I don’t have to worry anymore. Because I know it’s going to be done the right way. And the extent that you and your firm delve into the issues, I know you’re going to take care of the client, and that’s key to me.

 

06:12 Ray

This is a sensitive topic, and cleaning company owners need to know where their responsibilities end.

 

06:18 Joel

Yes, they do, and that’s why it’s a blurry line.

 

06:22 Ray

Valerie, thanks for being with us today.

 

06:23 Valerie

Thank you for having me.