Tricks Of The Trade: Evaluating Labor Costs

By James C. Elledge, IFMA Fellow, CFM, FMA, RPA, RIAQM
Published in the May 2010 issue of Today’s Facility Manager

Q How should I base custodial labor on square footage of common area space within a building or buildings? Is there a certain square footage number that each custodian should be responsible for? If so, how do I determine this?

Jerry Taroni
Facilities Foreman/Housing Operations
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY

A If you subtract the usable square footage from the rentable, you will have the common area square footage. This will give you a cost of the cleaning. In reality, common areas are going to require more time, since this high traffic space also includes restrooms and lobbies.

To compute your estimated labor for the common areas, use the Janitorial Workload Rates published by BOMI in 1990. This tool will help you calculate time to complete specific tasks.

Elledge,facility/office services manager for Dallas, TX-based Summit AllianceCompanies, is the recipient of the Distinguished Author Award from theInternational Facility Management Association (IFMA), is an IFMA Fellow, and isa member of TFM’sEditorial Advisory Board. All questions have been submitted via the “Ask TheExpert” portion of the magazine’s Web site. To pose a question, visit this link.