Now, before you 'blow a gasket' over the title, let me say that
this is NOT an attack against the church or people of faith. As
a Christian, and volunteer pastor, I love the church and its
people.

However, the truth must be told, which is... cleaning a church
is a very, very difficult job to do. I know of one company that
refuses to even bid on church jobs, because he doesn't want the
headaches. Not because of the facility, per se, but because of
the people.

Let me explain.

One reason Church cleaning is difficult is because of money.
Although we, the janitorial company, are a 'for profit'
business, many times we agree to charge a lesser price. It could
be because we want to charge less, or because we're asked by one
of the members to consider lowering our price...since it's for
the church.

BEWARE! In either case, you're setting yourself up for trouble.
Remember, you are in the janitorial business to make money, not
give it away. If you want to help the church, give a donation
from your profits! When you lower the price without lowering the
expectations, that difference has to be recouped somewhere ...
from someone! If it's from the janitor, then the cleaning WILL
suffer. If it's from you, the owner, then eventually you'll lose
interest in keeping this account.

Lowering your price for anyone if usually a bad idea, but
especially for a church. Why for the church? That brings me to
reason number two...

Churches are ministries, not businesses. If you lower your price
for a business, the business owner or contact person should
expect to give up some service. (To be safe, your should always
document, in writing, what services are being withheld for said
reduction.)

However, I have found that many churches want a lower price,
without lowering the level of service.

BEWARE! If you are a cleaning professional who knows how to bid
correctly, then you know what it takes to get and keep this
facility cleaning. You know the what you're going to have to pay
someone to do a job that adequately represents your company's
name. You know what's a fair profit margin for you to make so as
to remain interested in keeping this account. As a ministry,
most churches do not understand or at least appreciate your 'for
profit' mentality, especially when it comes to their ministry,
a.k.a. church.

Churches are not, or at least should not, be in the habit of
making money. They receive donations from their membership, and
use these funds to pay their bills, help the less fortunate and
do the work of the Lord. When your janitorial company wants to
make a 'profit' from cleaning their facility, well, quite
frankly, this flies in the face of Who They Are, and What They
Believe.

However, the janitorial industry is NOT a ministry. It is a
business... a for profit business. If you don't make money, you
go out of business.

Bringing the tow mindsets of Ministry and Business together is
not an easy task. And, as I shared earlier, some owners simply
choose not to even try. Thus they don't bid on church business.

Right or wrong, many churches do not appreciate the fact that we
have to make money from their account if were going to stay in
business.

Another reason to be careful regarding church cleaning is
because their are too many chiefs. Unlike the typical account
where you have one contact person, churches usually have
multiple members.... 'supervising' the custodial contact. That's
another way of saying making sure their house of worship is
cleaned to their standards.

Now, I can appreciate someone who serves on the Facility and
Grounds committee, and volunteers to inspect the quality of my
work. But, this person should at least be up to speed on what
the church is paying for, and what they're not.

I remember one trustee who served on this committee once told me
that we should strip and wax their fellowship hall before an
upcoming wedding. I told him that we could to this, but there
would be an extra charge, since stripping and waxing was not
including in the monthly price.

He went on to tell me that the woman getting married was the
daughter of a prominent member. I thought to myself, 'So what?
It's still going to be extra!' In his mind, since we are
janitors and since the work needed to be done, and since they
are paying us to clean, then I should go ahead and give them the
service ... at no cost.

As you know, stripping and waxing is costly. Sure, I could have
rolled over and given away this service. But, would I do it for
a doctor's office? An attorney? A call center? Absolutely not!
Then why given it away to a church?

Again, if you want to give a donation to a church, go there
Sunday morning and put it in the offering plate. But, don't give
away janitorial services, unless you're prepared to keeping
doing it... until Jesus comes!