The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Cleaning and janitorial services firms are receiving business in "ebbs and flows”, one company said yesterday, adding that private contracts in place before the pandemic have kept it stable.

Charles Miller, owner/operator of Personal Touch Janitorial Service, told Tribune Business: “We are not getting a lot of calls, but we are doing OK and we are not complaining. It’s in ebbs and flows. We have steady contracts that we would have had before the pandemic started, and so we have been consistently providing services for those clients in the private sector. Honestly, I can’t complain.

"I know of other companies that weren’t doing too well, but we had prepared ourselves before the pandemic. So when it really hit Nassau, we were sort of prepared. We were able to facilitate for all of our clients and even get more up-to-date, and we started to get more private calls. We were able to deal with those as well.”

Mr Miller added: “Obviously you have to make all staff members have all of the PPE (personal protection equipment), and it’s a good thing we had gotten some because we were doing this before the pandemic, so that was an easy transition for us.

“This is a little costly because we have to ensure that we provide spacing in the vehicles. We have to now put an extra vehicle on the road so we can ensure that the staff have a little bit more room to manoevere and, of course, everyone has to wear their masks and sanitise before and after each location."

Mr Miller said he had trouble obtaining all his cleaning supplies and equipment, especially disinfectant spray, during the pandemic's early stages but these difficulties have eased now.

"As you would know, most of our supplies come from the United States, and when it became a real pandemic in the United States they started to cut back on exports, and so The Bahamas was affected tremendously," he added.

“With all of our local suppliers there was a shortage of Lysol spray, and that is how I assume ‘Beep’ got popular. This is a disinfectant aerosol spray from Barbados that became popular - it was distributed by Nassau Agencies.

“With cleaning supplies there was a shortfall, but again because we were preparing, we stockpiled on certain stuff and we never really skipped a beat. We never really lost a step with our supplies for our clients to date.”

Mr Miller said his company has responded to a “dozen” COVID-19 deep cleaning requests since the pandemic started.

Sherry Williams, personal assistant to the general manager of Nassau Cleaning and Janitorial Service, added: “Things have not really picked up, but we do anticipate things picking up.”