Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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I've worked part-time for Epsom's leading estate agent for years and despite what some people think, agents work jolly hard for their commission! Occasionally, rivals undercut everyone else's fees in an attempt to win the business but this is silly... successful agents calculate the cost of selling the property - from administration and window cards, to advertising, supply and management of sale boards, staff time, office cover during viewings, postage, printing, fuel, etc. when negotiating fees. If we have a buyer lined up and thus know we can cut our up-front costs, we'll match the low fee - either winning the business or causing the rival to drop even lower. If not, we wait for the vendor to call for help, because an agent that's working for a fee which doesn't cover the costs involved, is spreading itself too thinly and will end up reneging on its promises since it can't sustain the efforts needed to secure a sale and keep it in place.
Outgoings have to be taken into account when bidding for contracts - whichever field you're in. If these are not going be recouped then there's absolutely no point in winning the bid. As well as having to cover the losses, the company's reputation is damaged because the service promised is nothing like the reality. Worse, the business can fail...
Carillion, which went into liquidation this week, has been likened to a Ponzi scheme in which cash promised or received for new contracts was used to cover shortfalls on old contracts. The contractor has been providing facilities management services to 150,000 properties in the UK, Canada and the Middle East and as well as the construction projects in which it was involved, there were multiple cleaning and FM contracts - many in UK schools and the NHS.
The government says it will continue to pay the thousands of staff who work in public sector jobs, such as NHS cleaners and school caterers, although thousands of private sector workers - many of whom are cleaners - will likely lose their jobs. Many companies that are owed money, will fail too. I've often said that the general public will only be made aware of the importance of cleaning, if all the cleaners were to down tools. OK, this lot aren't going to stop cleaning through choice, but the effect will be the same and it could be felt very quickly indeed. I hope for all our sakes that the contingency plans being bandied about are put into place without delay.
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Yours,
18th January 2018