Protect Your Investment
You've probably heard that "protecting your investments" is a good idea. That phrase is typically reserved for retirement funds, car warranties, and homeowner’s insurance. However, a growing trend in facilities management is to find ways to protect the investments you make in professional services.
Here is the scenario. A busy Facility Director (we'll call him Fred), has way too many things on his plate but is expected to accomplish them all with excellence.
One of these items on his list is to clean and protect his tile floors because he has received complaints from visitors that the lobby and bathrooms look dirty and seem to be giving off a foul odor. Fred calls a professional services company who comes in, does an excellent job of cleaning the tile floors and even coats the tile to make them easier and cheaper to clean and maintain in the future.
Fred is very happy with the results and is left with detailed instructions for making sure his tile floors stay healthy. Not only have the complaints stopped, Fred is getting complimented on how amazing the old floors look like new! Things are good for Fred. Then, over time, the complaints start again. Slow at first, but build until Fred just cannot ignore them any longer.
Reality Sets In
What happened? Reality set in. Facility Directors (like our hero Fred), are some of the busiest people in the workforce. His time quickly got consumed by putting out fires, dealing with employee issues and overseeing important repairs.
After reflecting on why the tile floors had lost their clean, healthy appearance so quickly, Fred remembered the "instructions for cleaning" that was left behind by the services company. He didn’t even have time to read them when the service was completed, but now glancing through the list he noticed that things like "regular mopping" and "harsh detergents" wear down tile floors quickly and no matter how much they were scrubbed or mopped, his team made the problem worse.
This story unfolds across every facility that has tile floors. It's not that the instructions are too difficult. It just becomes a matter of time and priorities. It is simply just "easier" to run a mop over tile floors, to get the job done. However, doing so means that the problems will surface more quickly and more budget will need to be used to correct the problem.
Not All Warrantees Are The Same
Most professional companies will offer a warranty or guarantee on their services only if the floors were maintained correctly. By following the detailed instructions for maintenance, you can protect your investment. If the floors become in disrepair the services company will come back onsite to correct the problem in most cases up to one-year.
It’s worth the time to understand if your services company offers a warranty and what your responsibilities are to keep it valid. By protecting your investment, you will find your facilities staying in better shape, longer and reducing the money you must spend on correcting issues.
Xtreme understands not all Facility Directors will have the time or resources to properly maintain tile floors even if they intend to. For this reason, Xtreme has an Xtreme Maintenance Program that provides the care your floors need to stay in the best shape which can extend your tile floor warranty for up to 3 years!