Ensure Your Day Porter Service Is Delivering What Was Promised

When hiring and paying for day porter services, there are some important concerns of which you should be aware of. Our own informal look into practices in the industry shows that some companies providing these services will bid a lowball price for a certain level of service but, after winning the contract, they covertly cut the number of days or hours in order to perform the actual amount of work they can do for the price.

This type of practice makes the honest guy look as if he is overcharging and effectively cuts him out of the running while putting a dishonest business into your environment. Make sure you don’t fall into this trap when hiring a day porter service. Choose the most reliable company you can find, and then ensure that you are getting the service for which you are paying.

How to Hire a Reliable Day Porter Service

Most people know that they are supposed to get at least three estimates before deciding which service to hire, but you need more than just a statement of cost. It is necessary to establish actual value, which means conducting a proper evaluation as a preliminary step before soliciting bids:

• Locate companies that provide the service in which you are interested.
• Verify their legitimacy by checking with the Better Business Bureau, trade organizations, or other sources.
• Ask other people in businesses for a recommendation of a service they like. You might even arrange to visit a business and observe the day porter crew in action.

Once you have a list of the most reliable companies, take the next steps:

• Have the top three companies submit bids.
• Along with the bids, ask for a list of references to vouch for their sincerity and honesty, as well as their ability to do the work – and then check the references!
• Make sure the bids clearly state the number of days and hours a week for which you are paying and, if necessary, the number of staff they will have in their crews. This information will enable you to compare the actual man hours you will receive for the price that is bid.

Clearly, some businesses and some workers are more efficient and get more done in the same time that others take. You should have some sense of their efficiency when determining which companies you will invite to bid. However, efficiency only goes so far before reduced hours means reduced service.

Look, Don’t Listen! Conduct Service Audits

Even after conducting these effective preliminary steps and hiring the best company you can find, your ultimate guarantee that good work is being done is through some form of work audit:

• Check with your employees to see that your day porter service is showing up regularly and during the promised hours.
• Occasionally stop by or take a break from your own work to look for yourself.
• Appoint someone to “meet and greet” the day porters each day, and let it be known to them that they are to check in as they arrive and depart as a matter of courtesy.
• If your own employees work by time clock or some other tracking system, and it is feasible, set up the system so that your day porters are included in this.
• Be sure to periodically compare the number of hours worked with the number that was promised.
• If you were promised a certain crew of a given number of people, verify that all of them are showing up regularly as expected.
• When passing through areas they service, take a moment to check that the work being done is up to par, or have an in-house employee do this as part of his routine.
• Your contract should have stated the level of service you are promised, including number of hours a week to expect. Ask that your regular billings from the day porter service include this data and compare this with what you find in your audits.

Remember that an important step in making certain you get what you are paying for is to do audits of the work done. You need a good day porter service to help maintain the image of your company and should pay only for the service you receive.

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