At this time a lot of business are tightening their belt to get through the credit crunch. Budgets are being squeezed all the time. What type of savings can we make?

I know some managers have started to think about doing their own office cleaning in Aberdeen in house and drawing up a business proposal for approval by the board. But what are the consequences of doing this? Is it really cost saving in practice?

Apart from the negative effect it would have on staff moral are there any other implications of going down this route?

Firstly you will need to start buying a number of different cleaning chemicals and some equipment on a fairly regular basis and hope you don’t run out if people are using too much. That brings up the issue that someone will have to take responsibility for monitoring stock levels and take time to purchase more stock as needed and you may be surprised just how fast some cleaning products get used.Any professional cleaning service in Aberdeen will have a supply in stock at all times as the same products will be used on a number of different contracts.

If you are not going to hire an extra person to do the work then it is likely you will be utilising one of your existing admin staff members taking them away from their regular duties. This could have an extra cost effect on your business if their normal work is not being done effectively and on time.

If that person is not proficient on cleaning duties it will need to be done again an added expense and once again your office staff would not be using their skills and training in your business.

Consider the cost of mistakes when untrained people are cleaning your premises. Will someone try to remove a mark from a painted wall and remove the paint as well. Additional cost of repainting the wall! I heard about a receptionist /admin person who poured concentrated bleach on a floor to clean it and burnt off the top surface. That was a very expensive mistake to make. Will you be budgeting for additional repairs caused by trying to save money? There is also the danger of mixing cleaning chemicals e.g. some toilet cleaners when mixed together generate considerable amounts of heat and poisonous gases.

• Do you have full access to all the relevant Health and Safety procedures for all the cleaning jobs to be carried out?
• Do you know enough about the role to do a professional Risk Assessment as required by law?
• Do you have copies of the COSHH data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase in the event of an incident? Your local superstore will not supply them for the general household products they sell!| Can you be certain that you have the required COSSH safety data sheets for every single cleaning product your staff purchase? Your local supermarket or corner store will not be able to supply these legal documents and you will need them on site in case of an safety incident.}

At the end of the day the main questions you need to ask yourself is

• “Are the extra costs of employing professional office cleaning cheaper than the risk of staff not focussing on my business and losing more money?”

• “What is the cost of not doing the job properly and having to repeat the work, do expensive repairs or facing legal issues over health and safety? ”

Those issues are dealt with best by hiring a professional cleaning company in Coatbridge just as you consult a lawyer, an accountant or any other specialist worker for the business.