Contract Specification
It is essential that the executive housekeeper provides the service provider with a clearly defined and detailed specification of the work to be done how it is to be done, and so on.
It is from this that the service provider draws up the contract.
Contract specifications should be carefully worded and should necessarily cover the following points:
The period or duration of the contract, date of signing the contract, and a provision for regular review of the specifications.
The schedule of areas to be serviced and the frequency with which a job is to be done.
This is important, as the level of cleanliness depends on the time lapse between successive cleaning processes.
For example, horizontal surfaces may need daily dusting and vertical can do with weekly.
A description of the method, equipment, and materials required, as well as the hotel’s quality expectations, including appropriate penalty and cancellation clauses.
A provision for adequate supervision, listing the hotel’s requirements specifically.
A provision for storage areas, lockers and perhaps accommodations for the contracted staff.
Specified frequencies of inspection agreed upon with the service provider.
The remuneration for the job, the terms and conditions of payment, and a termination procedure. Both parties should sign these contract specifications.
Pricing of contracts
The basis of payment for outsourced services may include one or more of the following:
A management fee for consultancy services.
A unit rate agreement
A fixed period cost.
A cost for the job plus a percentage of profits.
A cost for the job plus a fixed fee.
Unit Rate Agreements
Most contracts are agreed on a unit- rate basis. The executive housekeeper provides details of the area to be covered and the frequency of the job, and asks the service provider for the costs. The contractor measures the area and calculates the
cost thus
Man- hours = areas x time x frequency
For example, if a contracted firm has to clean five different areas, taking two hours each, twice a week, then man-hours will be calculated as:
Man-hours = 5 x 2 x 2hours = 20 hours
To the cost of wages (for workers and supervisors), the firm adds costs of equipment, agents, and supplies, plus over heads and profits, and then quotes a price.
Cost Plus Fixed Fee
Better than the above mode of pricing is one in which the contractor is paid for the costs of the job and given a fixed fee.
In this case, as there is no point in the contractor’s cutting costs, as he has a guaranteed profit margin.
With the costs-plus-fixed fee type of contract, the executive housekeeper specifies the staff, equipment,
and so on, to be employed.
The specifications should be the same as for in-house labour and the housekeeper should compare the
contractor’s bid with her own in-house cleaning costs
