Small Business Spotlight - April 2024: Quality Clean Janitorial Services

Company Name: Quality Clean Janitorial Services

Person in Charge (and title): Burnis and Cindy Gibson, Owners

Year founded: 2003

Tell us about the history of your business:

Quality Clean is a locally owned and operated company that was established in 2003. At Quality Clean, we are customer focused and customer driven. Our business philosophy of local service is the key to our success. Our leadership has proven itself to be strong, experienced and stable. Our management continues to bring forth a wealth of fresh ideas, processes and experiences to strengthen Quality Clean even more. We are a “hands-on” company. Our leadership team is responsible and accountable for Quality Clean’s integrity. Finally, we have a vision that is constant and unwavering: To be our customers’ best vendor. This is who we are and how we operate.

Describe the services your organization provides and what makes you unique:

Quality Clean provides customized janitorial services, floor care and maintenance to every type of facility. We serve an area that covers the entire Southwest, Central and South Central Missouri

When it comes to cleaning your facility, you should not hesitate to choose Quality Clean. We are a locally owned, family-operated professional cleaning company with roots right here in southwest Missouri, and the quality of our service speaks for itself. Our owners’ hands-on technique helps ensure every commercial building is taken care of with the highest level of service and cleaning techniques. We communicate constantly with our customers to reassure them the job is getting done properly. Not only are we continually learning new techniques, but we are perfecting old techniques still relevant to the cleaning industry.

Tell us something people might not know about your organization:

The biggest misconception is that since we are a family operated company that we are small and can’t service larger facilities. In fact, Quality Clean covers a large area of Missouri and cleans facilities from 1,000 square feet to over 150,000 square feet. We have the ability to service any facility no security to high security facilities, large and small and everything in between.

What is the biggest challenge facing your organization now, and how are you working to overcome that challenge?

Our biggest challenge is now and has always been the labor force. Finding, training and retaining employees in a low wage position is difficult. Janitors have always been the last people thought about in an organization and the pay has always reflected that unfortunately. We try and change that as much as we can, we pay a little more than our competition to try and retain employees. We also serve people who need supplemental income who work full-time jobs elsewhere. Our jobs serve as Christmas money, vacation money or just people trying to get caught up on extra bills. We are proud of our employees and work to fill that wage gap as much as we can.

What is the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Jim Roach, one of our closest advertisers, more like family after 20 years told us long ago, “Never cheapen your company or sell your employees short by offering discounts or percentages off your products. You and your employees work hard to earn 100% of the dollars you earn”. That advice has been critical as there have been many times that we are underbid on quoting a facility to clean. Several months go by and that same customer calls us back, because the cheap guys were exactly that. Cheap. When you offer big discounts, you can’t afford quality employees or provide a quality service.