Toolkit: Real estate

by Sarah Brouillard

AS THE GREEN movement motivates companies to re-evaluate their cleaning practices, including the use of harsh chemicals and their thick plastic, landfill-clogging containers, a rise in energy prices has compelled a few to take the unusual step of switching their cleaning crews from night to day shifts.

The theory behind day cleaning, also known as day-matron or day-porter services, is that it reduces overall energy use. When crews operate by the ambient light provided by the sun � ideally between the hours of 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. � buildings can be darkened at night, and HVAC can be turned down.

But janitorial services companies disagree about whether it offers any real advantages, and especially about whether it�s a growing trend or simply a blip on the radar.

Mike Hofer, director of business development with Marsden Holding, a St. Paul-based family of cleaning and security companies, says he and his staff members have been promoting the concept of day cleaning for several years. While most clients have been reluctant to make the shift, he says, their growing awareness of green practices, combined with a concern for reducing energy costs, has sparked a lot of interest lately.

�I do see it as a trend that will stick,� he says.

With their schedules overlapping, day cleaners and employees occasionally work side by side. Crews perform their usual tasks, such as cleaning cubicles, removing trash and recyclables and dusting.

To minimize disruptions, cleaners often focus their vacuuming on areas where employees are away from their desks, taking their lunch breaks. An increasing number are even utilizing low-noise equipment.

Single-occupancy buildings can embrace day cleaning with few problems. But in multi-tenant buildings, individual companies � not property managers � determine their own cleaning schedule, often resulting in a patchwork of incongruent policies across a building.

A successful transition to day cleaning in a multi-tenant building takes support and buy-in from tenants, says Hofer. Make too many special accommodations, �and the program gets watered down and inefficient.�

While day cleaning �is something people are definitely thinking about,� says Dirk Bak, president of SDQ, a Minnetonka-based janitorial services company, he views the concept as a fad spawned by the mainstreaming of green, and not necessarily as the wave of the future.

Only 5 percent of SDQ�s clients use day cleaning exclusively, he says. About 25 percent use day cleaning with some sort of nighttime supplement to target areas that need a more concentrated effort.

Right now, clients attracted to day cleaning at SDQ are those that �like to be trendsetters,� says Bak. Most are pursuing LEED for their building, or energy efficient certification, since green cleaning adds points to the tally needed to achieve that certification, or are selling a green product or service.

One of those clients is Katadyn North America, based in Golden Valley. Shawn Hostetter, vice president of sales, says his company contracts an SDQ day crew to clean its office of 16 employees as well as an attached warehouse.

Katadyn sells outdoor equipment to backpackers and campers, and prides itself on being on the leading edge of eco-friendly practices. In the Golden Valley office, as well as across the company, employees drink out of reusable containers, instead of plastic or paper cups.

�I think, number one, is we�re doing everything we can to try to save costs and be more green,� says Hostetter. �I think it�s interesting how sometimes the two can go hand in hand.�

Day cleaners at Katadyn generally arrive in the late afternoon, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Since the company offers flex hours, where employees can come in early and then leave early, there are fewer bodies in the office for crews to maneuver around. Occupied offices are generally left alone unless employees invite them in.

Although he�s never encountered any issues with theft, the use of a day crew completely eliminates the worry. More importantly, if there are any cleaning issues or questions, they can be addressed on the spot, he says.

He estimates his office has saved up to 10 percent on HVAC and lighting since switching to day cleaning about five years ago.

Hard-core enthusiasts, like those at Katadyn, will likely cling to day cleaning. Interest among newcomers, however, might wane when they realize the concept is �is not necessarily the most efficient manner� to clean.

Staffs must adapt
There are limits to what daytime crews can do, says Bak. With foot traffic, they can�t perform carpet spotting and floor care. Often these tasks need to be relegated to night or weekend crews anyway.

Companies need to get used to cubicles and offices being partially clean at any given time � �not pristine first thing in the morning,� says Hofer.

Day cleaners can also cost more per hour, says Bak. Many cleaners have a second job during the day, so companies will have to pay a premium for daytime labor. But other janitorial companies, overextended during the night hours, will cut a break to clients who choose day cleaning.

There are viable alternatives to day cleaning that still manage to incorporate green principles. By simply beginning cleaning earlier, by about 4 p.m., crews can take advantage of natural lighting to perform their tasks, with minimal intrusion, says Bak.

Also, setting a curfew for crews, as well as employees, to be out of the building by a certain time � say 10:30 or 11:30 p.m. � curbs a significant amount of nighttime energy use. Some buildings darkened at night can have unintended environmental consequences, he says, such as when migratory birds fly into tall, unlit structures.
A greener approach to traditional night cleaning is to �blitz� floors. Instead of the standard method of assigning one cleaner per floor, cleaners work in tandem to knock out two or more floors at a time. By starting at the top and working their way down, the entire building need not be lit, says Bak.

Volunteers needed
At Crescent Ridge Corporate Center in Minnetonka, senior property manager Camilla Gunderson has used this team-cleaning method. Depending on tenant response, she says she hopes to convert to day cleaning, with a plan for quieter-than-average machinery, within the year.

She�ll phase it in with volunteers.

�If the transition goes well, and we expect it will, we will then extend the program to other tenants,� says Gunderson, who works for Opus Northwest Management. Even if certain tenants aren�t willing to adopt day cleaning, she hopes to nudge them toward a �hybrid program of sorts,� she says.

But lease language requiring tenants to adopt day cleaning is emerging, says Gunderson.

Ultimately, the industry of a company can have the greatest sway in whether a company opts for day cleaning.

Manufacturing companies, accustomed to the hum of machinery and the bustle of constant deliveries, may not mind daytime crews.

Law firms and other professional services companies, on the other hand, may have image issues.

�Let�s say you have very influential people coming in and out of your firm regularly. The last thing they�re going to want to see is someone cleaning the reception area,� says Bak.

Retailers, too, are likely to find it intrusive to customers, and companies with call centers would be distracted by the noise.

Some companies prefer day cleaning for its security benefits. With crews present during regular business hours, employees can supervise their work, lessening the opportunity for � or the imagined threat of � theft and security breaches.

Among those clients who�ve switched to day cleaning, complaints have been reduced, says Hofer.

Introducing cleaning crews into a company�s regular business hours has other human-relations benefits. Hostetter says it�s a pleasure to interact with them � an opportunity that would otherwise be missed if his company�s three cleaners worked strictly at night.

�We�ve gotten to meet them, and now they�re friends we get to talk to,� he says. �They�re very friendly people.�

[contact] Dirk Bak, SDQ: 952.929.5263; dirk@sdqltd.com; www.sdqltd.com. Camilla Gunderson, Opus Northwest Management: 952.656.4444; camilla.gunderson@opuscorp.com; www.opuscorp.com. Mike Hofer, Marsden Holding: 651.641.1717; mhofer@marsden.com; www.marsdenholding.com. Shawn Hostetter, Katadyn North America: 763.746.3500; shawn.h@katadyn.com; www.katadyn.com.

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[dear readers] Space and time don�t allow us to publish every company in this industry. Rather, the Upsize Toolkit is intended to be a sampling of resources for local business owners.

Upsize contacts as many companies as we can identify, and lists alphabetically those that fit our definition, respond by the deadline and if necessary for space reasons are above a minimum size.

For information about future Toolkits, contact editor, Beth Ewen at bewen@upsizemag.com.