Interior Building Cleaning - Industrial

Since I started writing these Blogs a lot has changed in the world. The biggest change is the introduction of "AI" into the internet. AI is everywhere. It is a virtual friend, a digital encyclopedia, completes homework assignments, answers phone calls, and even writes Blogs. Be good, i will not be using AI to write any of my blogs. And now on to the topic at hand.

We, actually I am the only one to get any contact from customers, got an email to provide a quote on cleaning the inside of a large building due to closing. This building was a industrial type of place. Has all kinds of machinery with grease, oils, ash, on and on. The client identified the scope as being to clean all the equipment to prep for the recycler, and then to clean all the surfaces. Clean to the point that regulators would sign off on it. Why regulators? You did read previously there is grease, oils, ash, on and on? Most any kind of industrial facility will have some sort of contamination, or potential for it. So in order for the building owners to close the facility, and more so to sell it, will need to prove it is clean. In the past the industry would close it doors, and walk away. Now we call those properties Brown Fields. They are scattered all across our country, but there are a lot of them within the rust belt.

I walked the facility to get eyes on what the project level of effort would be. It was not so bad. I have seen worse. But it would take some elbow grease (pun intended) to get it shiny. I could see it will need to be steam pressure washed, both the equipment and floor. The thing about concrete is that it is porous. That is why chemical storage secondary containment requires a impermeable coating, so if the chemical leaks into the containment it will not penetrate the concrete. This is true of petroleum storage as well. In the case of this building, the equipment leaked all over the place so there was a lot of staining. Without boring I couldn't tell if it is just surface or goes down to the underlining soil. I asked about spills of chemicals, and I got the look of "duh of course". This adds another twist.

This sounds sort of complicated? Well it definitely is not a normal janitorial cleaning project. I asked more questions, which I won't get into here. What I found out is that they want it cleaned as soon as possible, and they need it to pass the regulatory testing. Our normal bid is "one price", and then we figure out how to squeeze a good profit from that. In this instance there are way way to many unknowns. We will have to clean, then they test, and if doesn't pass the test then we clean again. I don't know how long for the test to come back with analysis. I'll have equipment and staff standing by with money ticking away.

So for a project like this I turned to Time and Materials. If you aren't acquainted with T&M I won't bore you here. Just ask your google AI. Lucky in my previous life I set up lots of projects under a T&M contract. I know I said I wouldn't get into it, but it is worth just covering the basics.

T&M means that the time to do the work is billed at a set price that is the labor with profit as one number. Same as that $125/hr charge you see posted on the wall at the auto repair garage. The materials part is that is also charge at the cost to rent or use a tool, and a set fee is added as the markup. T&M will have a not to exceed max to the contract. Normally the client is provided with a daily, or weekly burn rate (depending on the length of the contract, and the client preference). The burn rate tells you the what are the expenses being spent and what is left on the contract. As the not to exceed is being reached the client can determine if they want to add funds, or modify the level of effort.

Because regulators are going to be involved I decided to not be responsible for waste disposal. This includes the wash water from the pressure washing. The client will have to direct how everything is disposed. Our involvement with the waste (environmental) is limited to the generation from the cleaning of the equipment. We will generate waste based upon the work the client directs, and the client is responsible for the waste disposal. Because the client in this case is well established, and clearly has knowledge about waste I am good to leave this to them. If I wasn't as confident about the client, I would not move forward with a project like this one without additional assurances from legal about the effort. Environmental laws are the laws you do not want to get crossways with. Understand that as bad as it is to hurt a person, it is 100% worse to damage the environment.