Church Cleaning: BEWARE!

NOT available to public

Church Cleaning: BEWARE!

Now, before you 'blow a gasket' over the title, let me say that this is NOT an attack against the church or people of faith. As a Christian, and volunteer pastor, I love the church and its people.

However, the truth must be told, which is... cleaning a church is a very, very difficult job to do. I know of one company that refuses to even bid on church jobs, because he doesn't want the headaches. Not because of the facility, per se, but because of the people.

Let me explain.

One reason Church cleaning is difficult is because of money. Although we, the janitorial company, are a 'for profit' business, many times we agree to charge a lesser price. It could be because we want to charge less, or because we're asked by one of the members to consider lowering our price...since it's for the church.

BEWARE! In either case, you're setting yourself up for trouble. Remember, you are in the janitorial business to make money, not give it away. If you want to help the church, give a donation from your profits! When you lower the price without lowering the expectations, that difference has to be recouped somewhere ... from someone! If it's from the janitor, then the cleaning WILL suffer. If it's from you, the owner, then eventually you'll lose interest in keeping this account.

Lowering your price for anyone if usually a bad idea, but especially for a church. Why for the church? That brings me to reason number two...

Churches are ministries, not businesses. If you lower your price for a business, the business owner or contact person should expect to give up some service. (To be safe, your should always document, in writing, what services are being withheld for said reduction.)

However, I have found that many churches want a lower price, without lowering the level of service.

BEWARE! If you are a cleaning professional who knows how to bid correctly, then you know what it takes to get and keep this facility cleaning. You know the what you're going to have to pay someone to do a job that adequately represents your company's name. You know what's a fair profit margin for you to make so as to remain interested in keeping this account. As a ministry, most churches do not understand or at least appreciate your 'for profit' mentality, especially when it comes to their ministry, a.k.a. church.

Churches are not, or at least should not, be in the habit of making money. They receive donations from their membership, and use these funds to pay their bills, help the less fortunate and do the work of the Lord. When your janitorial company wants to make a 'profit' from cleaning their facility, well, quite frankly, this flies in the face of Who They Are, and What They Believe.

However, the janitorial industry is NOT a ministry. It is a business... a for profit business. If you don't make money, you go out of business.

Bringing the tow mindsets of Ministry and Business together is not an easy task. And, as I shared earlier, some owners simply choose not to even try. Thus they don't bid on church business.

Right or wrong, many churches do not appreciate the fact that we have to make money from their account if were going to stay in business.

Another reason to be careful regarding church cleaning is because their are too many chiefs. Unlike the typical account where you have one contact person, churches usually have multiple members.... 'supervising' the custodial contact. That's another way of saying making sure their house of worship is cleaned to their standards.

Now, I can appreciate someone who serves on the Facility and Grounds committee, and volunteers to inspect the quality of my work. But, this person should at least be up to speed on what the church is paying for, and what they're not.

I remember one trustee who served on this committee once told me that we should strip and wax their fellowship hall before an upcoming wedding. I told him that we could to this, but there would be an extra charge, since stripping and waxing was not including in the monthly price.

He went on to tell me that the woman getting married was the daughter of a prominent member. I thought to myself, 'So what? It's still going to be extra!' In his mind, since we are janitors and since the work needed to be done, and since they are paying us to clean, then I should go ahead and give them the service ... at no cost.

As you know, stripping and waxing is costly. Sure, I could have rolled over and given away this service. But, would I do it for a doctor's office? An attorney? A call center? Absolutely not! Then why given it away to a church?

Again, if you want to give a donation to a church, go there Sunday morning and put it in the offering plate. But, don't give away janitorial services, unless you're prepared to keeping doing it... until Jesus comes!

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com