“Jane Smith of Smith Strata Company hires David Doright to clean and maintain the common areas of one of her properties. David is a friend of one of the owners and has offered to do the work for a low rate.  Jane provides all cleaning chemicals and equipment that David will require, replaces them when needed and also dictates when the work is to be carried out. David invoices Jane for his work each month which is paid to him as per standard credit terms.”

So since David has an ABN and is invoicing Jane for his work, this makes him a contractor right? Wrong. By definition of the Fair Work Ombudsman, David is actually an employee and therefore Jane should be paying leave entitlements, superannuation payments, insurances (workers comp and public liability) for David and all other legal entitlements of an employee. Sadly, this scenario is not only common but can lead to expensive pay outs running into the hundreds of thousands. The Fair Work Ombudsman is currently auditing companies engaged in contracting arrangements and it is highly likely that many unsuspecting companies will be caught in their blitz on this controversial issue.

So take a moment to consider your current contracting arrangements. There are many aspects that will effect whether or not you are actually contracting out these services or simply employing someone to provide them. Don’t get caught unawares because it may not only be expensive, it may also damage the good name and standing of your company.

For decades people have tried to mask the smell of urinals with sanitisers, urinal tablets or cakes  and biological agents. Whilst to some extent these topical solutions help they do not remove the underlying source of the odour.

The only way to deal with the cause of this stench is regular maintenance of the urinals outlet pipe to control the build up of struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) the main scale material that builds up in the plumbing of urinals.

Triumphant Property Services offers a quarterly deep clean service where by urinal surfaces and their surrounds are steam cleaned and the outlet pipe is scrubbed and treated to remove any build up of struvite. Email admin@triumphantps.com.au for your free quote.

Now, If you have tried to do the right thing and have gone waterless there are a few things you should know. The image shown here was taken from a waterless urinal 12 months after installation. The reduced waterflow has prevented struvite from being washed into the waste water system causing the pipe to become blocked.

The Plumbing and Draininage Standars AS/NZS 3500.2:2003 has been amended to require a minimum of two hand basins be installed upstream of each waterless urinal to minimise the risk of blockages, however this will not prevent a build up of struvite.

It is recommended that waterless urinals be inspected and cleaned at a minumim of every three to six months depending of the number of people using the urinal.

Client Feedback Draw Winner

We appreciate your feed back and thank those who participated in last months survey which asked What we do well? What we could do better? and what new services we could introduce to assist you this year?Your responses crystallised what we thought about the commercial and strata property markets and gave us some great ideas to develop over the coming weeks.

Congratulations to Carol, the winner of our client feedback draw. Carol has received a Franc Essential skin care pack valued at $140.00

New Preventative Maintenance Reporting Service

We realise the difficulties of remote property/strata management and understand the frustration you feel when addressing an unsatisfied tenants problem that you never knew existed. So, to assist you we have developed a preventative maintenance report that informs you of possible maintenance problems. Basically, we conduct a visual inspection and report our observations complete with pictures so that you appear proactive in maintaining your clients asset

Triumphant Property Services is so excited about its latest serv.ice innovation that we are offering our clients a complimentary Preventative Maintenance Report at the site of their choice. Simply email your request to admin@triumphantps.com.au

 Stop flushing your MONEY

The stats are in: The average Australian uses 20,805 sheets of toilet paper each year. That 110 standard rolls and 49% of us consider toilet paper to be our greatest necessity ahead of food. Most people flush in excess of $140.00 worth of toilet paper each year.

This is an expense that will never deliver a return on investment and can be reduced. Triumphant Property Service now has 100% satisfaction guaranteed, 2 ply toilet tissue for just $28.15 per carton of 48 rolls. Check out this and many other products in our WEBSTORE now.

  See us in the Media

Managing Director Shannon Daniels was listed as one of WA's Movers and Shakers in The West, Saturday 6th February 2010 after being appointed President of the Building Service Contractors Association of Australia(BSCAA) - WA

Shannon was also featured in The Cleanzine, Inclean and FM Magazine. Click the links to read the articles.

Triumphant Property Services featured alongside Statewide Cleaning Supplies and All Clean Services in an article titled "IT investment delivers marketing edges for Perth firms" written by Kim Ball for Inclean Magazine.

Are you suffering?

INFORMATION technology, systems or management - we either love them or loathe them. Either way in this rapidly growing digital era they are tools we need learn to use and live.

Perth cleaning and supply companies have embraced the world of IT and are using it to improve, promote and grow their businesses.

All staff at Statewide Cleaning Supplies have iPhones as a tool for communication and the company has had great success using their website and online purchasing system.

Triumphant Property Services have installed a remote token service to manage their cleaning sites electronically with positive results and ALLClean Property Services Plus is achieving success with their rapid response crew.

Triumphant General Manager Shannon Daniels was impressed by the Valorem Praxeo Remote Token Service (RTS) for its ability to streamline security, safety and efficiency.

The group have tokens permanently fixed at cleaning sites which display a six-digit code that changes every 60 seconds.

"When staff arrive at site they sms the code and the computer logs them in as being at work," Daniels said.

"This means accurate and paperless timesheets, increased time efficiency, and an easy mode of communication with staff on site.

"For example if we have instructions for a site on a particular day the system will send those instructions directly to our staff person when they log in.

"We have alerts programmed into the system which involves a detailed report being sent to my mobile if someone does not log in and staff skill sets are in the system to help us select the best person for the job."

Triumphant introduced the RTS 12 months ago as an effective way to digitally record timesheets. Timesheet information is automatically transferred to their accounting software to pay staff which according to Daniels enables them to guarantee the reliability of their service and in turn promote the business.

Daniels believes the system has also increased security of service and accountability of staff by eradicating the possibility of logging timesheets dishonestly or lying about being at work at the time of an injury.

"It has also improved safety for our staff, he said. "If something should happen to a staff person working alone on-site at 10pm on a Friday night, there is the potential they would not be found till Monday morning. With this system if that person is due to finish at 11pm and have not logged out the system will produce a message informing me and I can either call or go and find them.

Statewide have invested their marketing dollars into their IT systems, specifically their website, as a way to differentiate themselves from their competition.

Statewide General Manager Aaron Woodall said their greatest success had come from their online footy tipping competition.

"We run the competition entirely through our website," he explained. "It is a great because people involved are in contact with us twice a week during the competition i.e. March to December.

"They get reminder emails, we use the database to promote weekly specials, we give away weekly prizes and photographs of winners are posted on the website.

It's a free competition that we invite our clients, major suppliers and staff to participate in and has created a sense of friendly competition amongst industry peers.

"It is also telling us where people are going when they change jobs because they contact us to update their details so they continue to be included in the competition."

Woodall explained how important it was to have the Statewide's website managed in-house.

"A website needs to be more than just a glorified brochure, he insisted. "It has to be a living and breathing environment involving constant change. Having something interactive in the website, like the footy tipping competition, is vital. For us, this leads people to our online purchasing system and introduces them to the online environment in a subtle way."

As Statewide clients become more IT savvy, Woodall says their demand for information increases.

The group is working on new software to help extract data for clients from their system that is not labour intensive and software to compliment new and existing clients systems.

"Our clients are interested in what products are being used on all of their sites, how products are packaged, what consumption is like, pricing and the category the product comes under," Woodall explained.

"Giving people back their purchasing information in a format they can manipulate and use for their own benefit is something we are increasingly being asked for.

"We are working very closely with a lot of our main partners to share information we generate which helps them provide us with the resources we need to better service the market."

Contact cleaning group ALLClean Property Services Plus are getting results from an ingenious use of technology. The group have five full-time staff in fully equipped vans each fitted with GPS systems and satellite navigation all of which are connected to the office.

According to ALLClean General Manager Tony Russell this means they can tell where each rapid response crew member is located at any given time.

"It is a very handy tool to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to emergency response calls from clients," he shared.

"We provide emergency response work for corporate offices, defence housing, special projects and banks.

"We receive high priority call outs which need to be responded to within one to three hours like ATM machines that have been defaced and require cleaning before business trading commences.

"Recently we responded to a break-in call involving glass. The client called us because they couldn't allow staff in to the building safely until the glass was cleaned up. We were able to have staff on-site and remove the glass within 45 minutes."

The rapid response crew, managed by ALLClean Services Manager Vicki Thomas, have been on board for five years.

Russell admits the system is costly to operate because they are paying full-time wages to have people available however by effectively coupling crew members with other tasks they are making it work.

"Staff have a list of contracts to fulfil in a month and the rest of the time they are on tap so to speak," he said.

"It works really well for us; the response from clients has been very positive and has proven to be a valuable sales tool for potential clients to know they have this service available to them."

 Source: Inclean Magazine V23, Issue 1, February/March 2010

Source: The West Australian. 6th February 2010. p76.

Shannon Daniels has been appointed President of the Building Service Contractors Association, Western Australia.

Shannon has worked in the cleaning and asset maintenance industry for over a decade and is the Managing Director of Triumphant Property Services.

According to Shannon, his determination to be innovative and a commitment to quality and reliability has enabled the company to grow dramatically since it was established.

He has received many accolades, including being a National Finalist in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, Winner of the 2008 PEP Community Services Employer of the Year and was recently named the 2009 Business Master of the Year by The Business Masters Club.

In 2010 Shannon plans to use his innovative approach for the benefit of the cleaning and asset maintenance industry and advance the industry's position through his appointment as the BSCAA WA President.
With a focus on developing the organisation's profile to become a recognisable and reliable industry body, he intends to make BSCAA WA more attractive to existing and prospective members by fostering relationships with other services providers in various industries and promoting the organisation as the voice of the industry.

T: (02) 6123-4816
E: bscaanat@bscaa.asn.au
W: bscaanat@bscaa.asn.au