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Why Using Data To Bid for Custodial Contracts Is A Winning Strategy

TRAX Analytics

February 16, 2022

The custodial service industry will continue to grow in the coming years, and part of this growth includes further implementation of technology. Businesses with physical locations, especially those operating in the education and medical sectors, have become significant parts of the industry’s overall growth. However, they’re also an essential factor in what fuels competition between independent custodial businesses.

When securing contracts for custodial services, it can be challenging to ensure that one business can provide more value for the price than another. Fortunately, collecting and analyzing data can help create a winning strategy for offering clients the best possible service without losing out on profits.

Wages, Time, and Staffing

When coming up with a price for clients, custodial management professionals need to consider several factors. Employee wages, timelines, and staffing availability are critical items in a custodial plan.

Using collected data can help determine how much it will cost to pay staff members to perform work, how many staff members will be needed for a given project, and how much time is required to complete the task or tasks at hand. Hourly wages, task timelines, and staff numbers play essential roles in determining a budget.

For example, if it takes four employees eight hours to complete the tasks required for a site, and those employees are each paid $15/hr, it will cost $480 to cover labor for the project.

Project Dimensions

In addition to knowing the labor cost, collecting data can also help managers determine what work can be done in a given time period. Being aware of the dimensions of each room on a site will help with estimating timeframes by using comparable data from past projects. Suppose data has shown that teams have been able to thoroughly clean a room of X dimensions in Y hours. In that case, facilitators can use this information to plan work without running into schedule conflicts or overages.

If past data shows that a team of two custodians can consistently clean a 20’x20′ room in three hours, the data can be compared to the client’s facility size to create an accurate time estimate.

Product Requirements

Keeping data on a team’s inventory and product usage throughout past projects can aid team managers in estimating how many units of necessary products will be needed to complete a task. Cleaning agents, equipment, and other pieces of inventory factor into the overall price of completing work on a site and should be included in determining the price a team can work for without losing profits.

Collecting and analyzing data on custodial performance can aid managers in creating informative reports that showcase a team’s ability. Claims supported by data show clients that the contract bids are carefully researched, and the client is getting the best possible service for the price they pay.

Additionally, understanding the total cost of providing service can aid in negotiations, ensuring that custodial teams can provide exceptional value without losing money in the process.