In May 2020 Scrubbles signed a contract with Collegiate (a luxury student accommodation provider) to deep clean and turnaround 148 bed spaces in just 7 days (alongside delivering another contract, but that’s a story for another post). This was always going to be a challenge and with less than 4 months to prepare, we got to work.
In August we got the chance to clean several rooms early as students had already checked out. This was a great opportunity for a test run that would allow us to see exactly what we were up against come September. The trial cleans went off without a hitch. We then took the time to set up a storeroom on site and create a shared spreadsheet with the staff onsite, enabling us to communicate effectively and accurately track our progress throughout the contract.
With COVID 19 at the front of our minds, we decided to develop a system which assigned each of our staff members to a set number of rooms per day, each with their own equipment (including PPE) in order to minimise close contact as much as possible. The team onsite were a great help with this, ensuring that our team had their own space, separate from the other contractors and access to multiple hand wash stations throughout the building. We’re pleased to say that there were no COVID related incidents during the contract!
Our first few days onsite went as planned. We were on track and getting good feedback from room inspections. Then came the curveball. One of the 3 cleaning contractors onsite were struggling to deliver their floors and we were asked to pick up an additional floor (some 25 rooms). We ran the numbers and decided to take on the extra work, drafting in more of our team. With more hands on deck we quickly got back on track with our original timeframe and the pressure eased.
Come the midpoint of the contract we were again asked to take on additional rooms, this time around 80 more. A huge stretch given that we had less than half our allotted days remaining. Fortunately, every member of our team was happy to pick up additional hours and we were able to accept the rooms.
A few long days later and all the required rooms were inspected (twice by us, once by the Collegiates team) and signed off ready. An increase of 74% from our original contract all delivered within a tight timeframe. This is one of our biggest accomplishments and is testament to our flexibility and capability to deliver large scale projects. We maintain a great relationship with the staff onsite and now turn our attention to next year’s turnaround.
After weeks of site visits & quotations, Scrubbles signed a contract with Hello student to turnaround 300 bed spaces in Bristol and Bath. We knew Bath would be a tough contract to deliver, but Bristol was the real challenge. The turnaround dates directly clashed with the 250+ rooms we were planning to deliver for Collegiate, taking the weeks total to 342 bed spaces.
In the months leading up to the contract we built a great relationship with the Hello student team and really got to know the buildings we were set to clean. As COVID-19 progressed the contract became ever changing and required huge flexibility from both sides. But with a shared purpose and almost constant communication, we began making great progress. Bristol was delivered and signed off 3 days early, allowing us to turn our full attention to Bath (or so we thought).
Some days later we found ourselves in Reading, delivering another site for Hello Student as the contracted company was unable to undertake the work. Again, working closely with the team in Reading we delivered the site in just one day and headed back to Bath for an early start the following day. From there, we made steady progress, finishing the agreed contract in just 3 days. Just as we were taking our gloves off, we were asked to take on yet another building in Bath. Throwing everything we had left at it, we finished the building in 1 day and headed home with almost half of the turnaround time still remaining.
We’re incredibly proud of our work with Hello Student, and it’s a great example of Scrubbles meeting ever changing requirements and going the extra mile (literally) to deliver a project. We continue to maintain a great working relationship with Hello Student and hope to continue working together in the years to come.
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