It is always good to be busy but time flew by. 

We are gearing up for the Spring carpet cleaning and window cleaning schedules. It sure is nice to be able to open the windows and let some fresh air in.

We are running a bit up over 2010 thanks to some of our long term customers expansions. We are slowly cranking up the marketing again and looking for more accounts.

Our expansion into Milwaukee and Janesville continues as planned. 

Next on the list is the web-based time sheets and task lists. We are currently working on the calendar modules (tougher than one would think due to the recurring schedules).

We are hoping to have that completed and live by June 30, 2011.

Cheers until next time!

Lance

There was a great article written about illegal subcontracting. Read it here: Article

Over the last several months I have watched bids where we were within $50 of other reputable companies per month and then other large companies get awarded the bid at a rate 40% below our price. That is below my cost.

The article explains this practice much better than I am able to do. It explains to me how these bids are even possible. When I bid $700 a month and lose to someone at $445 it makes me wonder if they are subcontracting illegally. This particular company is larger than us, so I know they have larger overhead. How can they bid like that?

In the end, I know those of us who operate legitimately, with professionalism and ethics, will overcome these challenges. I know the long-term relationships we have built with our customers help protect us from the low-balling competitors. When something seems too good to be true, it usually is. 

My people employees are employees. We do not have independent contractors or subcontractors. Period. 

Truly an eye-opening experience to realize just how low some people will go.  

We have been pretty busy. Since my last post (ahem, too long ago!) we have expanded into the Milwaukee market. So now we service Madison, Janesville and Milwaukee areas. 

We added some new accounts and switched over to Betco chemical dispensers and products. We are installing these into our facilities as we run out of old product.

There will be more information about the Betco products on our website shortly.

This blog will talk about business in general and cleaning. It just so happens that I own a cleaning company with my wife, Laura.

Now, if I can tie this up with my facebook and twitter accounts I might really like this thing.

My Mid-Years Resolution - social networking and social media. We will see how well I do! It is so much easier to just get the job done and run the business.

But... here we go!