Temco - Flexible Friends in London and the South East
Temco is developing strong relationships with several substantial property management companies across London and the south east.
The contracts usually begin with a comprehensive cleaning of the whole block. Then during the letting stage ensure that each office is kept in pristine condition at all times. Ongoing they maintain the common parts to the highest standards which invariably make such an impression that the new tenants end up using Temco to ensure their space is kept up to a comparable level.
A leading property manager based in London and the south east commented: “Temco just get it. They are totally reliable and their standards are guaranteed. They understand that all the space needs to look fantastic all the time. It is frankly embarrassing showing an office that is not perfect. And when we want to make changes, for example the recent introduction of a wellbeing area in one building, it happens without fuss. They are flexible, positive and react very fast.”
“I think our size and flexibility is what makes these relationships work so well,” says Andrew Philpot, Managing Director of Temco. “Property managers do not need to penetrate layers of managers, sign offs, purchase orders and even pre-purchase orders to get something done. Inevitably larger companies breed bureaucracy. So when property managers encounter our tailored service levels that can be delivered as a result of our agility and positivity, it comes as something of a surprise.”
COVID Cleaning - Adapt or Fail
The COVID-19 crisis has imposed massive change on the cleaning industry, moving it from being a service that was only noticed if it went wrong to being, without fear of exaggeration, a matter of life and death. Effective cleaning and sanitisation is now a key part of any business.
The extraordinary levels of change have highlighted the difference between providers who are adaptable, with the ability to change working practice quickly, and those whose systems inevitably slow the pace of innovation.
“Our business has changed so much since February 2020 when all this began,” says Temco Managing Director Andrew Philpot. “We have had our heads down the whole time, adapting our practices for each of our wide range of clients, all of which had different requirements as they adapted themselves, in particular with regard to their approach to furloughing, ranging from complete closure to remaining open with reduced staff. Cleaning has shot up the agenda.”
Senior managers are taking an interest in cleaning like never before so Facilities Managers (FMs) are talking about every aspect of the cleaning process, how things are cleaned, when it is cleaned, what is cleaned, why it is cleaned. There is no one size fits all now. Every site has to be considered and tailored like never before to ensure that new client protocols, such as split teams, are understood and implemented, taking into consideration use levels, social distancing, supplies, every consideration.”
And how has pricing been affected? Have clients been held to ransom? No, for Temco’s clients the base price has simply been adapted to reflect the cleaning that is now required to include sanitations, to give clients’ staff confidence that their work environment is safe and COVID secure.
It is a different way of thinking.
COVID Cleaning – Build Back Better
The COVID-19 crisis has been a tragedy by anyone’s reckoning and it is far from over, even though the announcement of an effective vaccine does at least give us a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. It has created a seismic shift in the nation’s working practices and we will never return to the way things were in February 2020. Now of course, the hope is that we will reap benefits from the experience, whether it is in lower carbon emissions or an enhanced quality of life. It remains to be seen if the aspirations behind the Build Back Better slogan will be realised.
The cleaning industry has had its own seismic shifts, having been required to guide clients into lockdown, through the first furlough scheme then back out again with the requirement to ensure that the office environment is as safe as possible. And then on, through the Job Support Scheme and back into furlough. Effective office cleaning and sanitisation is now critical to any business, because cleaning is a matter of life and death.
Unsurprisingly this has put cleaning under the spotlight with senior managers showing unprecedented levels of interest and Facilities Managers probing every level of the process, how things are cleaned, when it is cleaned, what is cleaned, and how often it is cleaned.
At Temco this has resulted in a re-assessment of everything to ensure absolute clarity for clients. We have pared every spec down to its constituent elements, task by task, to ensure every aspect is appropriate in this new environment and clear in its methodology. This is then reflected in Temco’s reporting practices. The information was always there as transparency has always been one of Temco’s strengths, but in these days where FMs find themselves under so much scrutiny, it is provided much more proactively.
And of course every site is different. There is no hiding place for generalisation; every site has to be considered and tailored like never before to ensure that new client protocols are understood and implemented, taking into consideration use levels, social distancing, office occupancy, supplies, every consideration.
It has been a massive task, but Temco, always agile and fast on its feet, always fast to innovate, can genuinely say that they have embraced the spirit of Build Back Better.