The True Value of All-In-One Cleaning Equipment

A new analysis evaluates the efficiency of all-in-one cleaning equipment. Nassco, Inc., a Wisconsin-based packaging and janitorial solutions provider, determined that all-in-one cleaning equipment drastically reduces labor hours. With shrinking budgets competing with a low-momentum labor market, commercial cleaning executives are looking for cost-effective strategies that will strengthen overall operations.

Staff retention and recruitment remain an ongoing challenge for commercial cleaning companies nationwide. According to a monthly CleanLink poll, 44 percent of industry professionals profess that the greatest pressure placed on labor is competitive wages. Inflation increases outpace minimum wage growth, leading expectant employees to seek a job that provides the best quality of life assurance.

This reality forces businesses to do more with fewer hands. One major factor contributing to labor shortages prior to 2020 was the 100 to 400 percent annual employee turnover rate, according to data from Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) compiled by CleanLink. As the cleaning industry steadily grows—forecasts anticipate that the cleaning market will achieve $859 billion by 2034—facility cleaning managers and building service contractors (BSCs) cannot rely on staffing alone.

In line with public data, labor contributes up to 65 percent of total cleaning costs, reaching as high as $40 to $55 per hour. Labor consumes a large portion of a commercial cleaning company’s operating budget, taking even more than material purchases. Given that cleaning accounts for 20 to 35 percent of a facility’s total maintenance and operations budget, all-in-one cleaning equipment can offer a solution.

The use of all-in-one cleaning equipment instead of separate, dedicated machines increases labor productivity, as it consolidates multiple steps into a single step. Different processes, including chemical application, scrubbing, rinsing, and extraction, can occur on a single trip rather than multiple stops. By consolidating tasks, labor hours are reduced.

For cleaning services, the operational workflow changes entirely. Frontline workers can clean complex areas, such as cafeterias and restrooms, more quickly. Purchase prices no longer tell the full story, because all-in-one systems allow a single operator to sweep, scrub, and dry in one pass. This reduces the time it takes to clean floors by up to 50 percent compared to the traditional method of cleaning and mopping with separate machines. Over a year, that machine can save up to $20,000 in labor.

This type of equipment can also tackle specialty cleaning tasks, such as grout lines in restrooms. All-in-one machines can remove contaminants in one pass and reduce the need to re-clean an area. This contributes to the growing popularity of options like vacuum-mop devices. More jan/san end users are turning to these devices to support their operations, as affirmed by a market projection of $8.32 billion by 2030.

Given the high employee turnover rate in the cleaning sector, training also becomes more manageable through all-in-one equipment adoption. Training cleaning crews on one multi-purpose piece of equipment takes less time than training them on several tools. Less equipment also reduces the risk of human error. Maintaining fewer machines simplifies inventory management, minimizes parts replacement, and ensures cleaning consistency.

For BSCs and facility cleaning managers, all-in-one cleaning equipment improves labor productivity by transforming cleaning into an efficiency-driven operation. Since multi-functional machines reduce on-site hours, they yield larger profit margins, allowing frontline teams to handle larger spaces with less physical effort.

Read more of the analysis results here.