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Blue Ridge Service Corp., a company that provides commercial and industrial janitorial services and construction cleanup, has introduced “day cleaning” to the Columbus area.
And in a big way!
Because of this cleaning concept, no longer do lights burn late into the night for crews who dust, clean restrooms and carpets, empty waste baskets, and perform other daily housekeeping chores at 1 Riverside Plaza, AEP’s 31-story corporate headquarters in downtown Columbus.
Cleaning there is now a daytime operation, one that has Blue Ridge employees laboring along side AEP employees, and, basically, enjoying the same work hours.
A few months ago, Blue Ridge persuaded one its largest client to substitute an evening cleaning schedule, which is prevalent in the industry, for one during the day.
“It wasn’t an easy sell,” said Glenn Ford, Blue Ridge owner, “and it didn’t occur over night. It took 18 months to convince the company’s executives to let us do a 30-day trial. We told them day cleaning, which is new here but not to the industry, would accomplish three things:
“Day cleaning was a big change for the private sector. We were told, ‘You can’t dump trash during the day.’ ‘You can’t clean bathrooms during the day.’ But I was reading trade journals about global warming and a push for a greener planet, and I felt daytime cleaning would be something that we could market.
“People were doing this in other areas of the country and consulting companies were telling us you could save 15-20 percent in power costs in a building, which is a significant number.”
The 30-day AEP trial, which was conducted in mid-2008, was confined to five selected floors, each dissimilar in use and occupancy.
The test turned out to be a “win, win, win,” said Ford. “The proof was the trial. AEP surveyed its employees on those floors after the trial, and the results were so positive AEP decided to convert the entire building. They gave me the results of the survey on my birthday, and I swear that is the best birthday present I ever had.”
The full-building conversion got underway in January 2009 and was completed in four months, bringing additional “rave reviews” from AEP employees.
“What we are doing at AEP is a big thing (in the industry). It’s huge,” said Ford. “We clean the building daily with battery powered backpack and walk-behind vacuum cleaners that have no electrical cords to cause tripping. These sweepers are under 70 decibels and use HEPA filters.”
“Blue Ridge employees incorporate the use of microfiber rags that pick up and trap dirt and provide 30 times the cleaning power of ordinary cloths or pads, and restrooms are cleaned on a daily schedule so that not all are closed at the same time.
Blue Ridge had been working with AEP for about five years when the day cleaning concept was first presented.
“The transition took place over many months and many discussions of how are we were going to do these cleaning tasks while people were at their desks. They had a fear of the unknown, but ultimately decided to let us try,” Ford said.
The success at 1 Riverside Plaza has spread to other AEP sites that Blue Ridge is responsible for, and “We have been given the thumbs up to convert several of their larger buildings to day cleaning with the intention of converting them all.”
Ford, who proclaims to be a “third generation janitor,” founded Blue Ridge here in 1992. A native Virginian (hence the corporate name), it was only natural that success here would lead to a branch in the Old Dominion, so in 1996 Ford opened a Richmond operation.
In Columbus, the company, a Platinum level sponsor of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter, operates from 4555 Groves Rd. under the direction of Matt Gleim, vice president, and Joann Untied, a 17-year employee who manages the branch. Ford directs the Richmond branch.
Gleim said the Columbus branch has 140 employees (30-40 part-time) and is responsible for maintaining some 2.5 million square feet of commercial space in the area. He is talking with other existing and potential clients about the benefits of day cleaning.
The Richmond branch with 75 employees (15-20 part-time) has convinced one of its clients, Alstom Power, to convert to day cleaning of its 100,000-square-foot facility. Blue Ridge has been day cleaning at the turbine engine manufacturer for eight months and also receiving positive feedback about the service there.
Blue Ridge is not just a janitorial company, but one also heavily involved in construction cleanup. Ford said the company does about eight million square feet of cleanup annually with about 20 percent at sites in central Ohio.
Gleim said, “We do all types of commercial property cleanup—schools, office buildings, hotels, motels arenas, and hospitals. We did the final cleanup of the ($13 million renovation) of the Lincoln Theater (a Columbus landmark in African-American and jazz history), and the cleanup of the addition to Bishop Watterson High School among others.”
Ford and Gleim also reported the company is working toward expanding Blue Ridge into the Cleveland and Cincinnati markets.