Municipality of Lennik confirms confidence in Cleaning Masters

The green DNA of the municipality of Lennik

The municipality of Lennik in Flemish Brabant has strongly positioned itself as a walking municipality, which is reflected in the many walking and cycling paths running through the municipality. Els Pint, Lennik resident and project employee since 2019, and Jos Pappaert, Facility Manager for seven years, are both proud of the green character of their municipality. “We actually have a compact core, but outside that core it is beautifully green, ideal for walking and cycling.”

Stricter criteria, same confidence

After a successful four-year partnership, the Lennik municipality decided to work with Cleaning Masters again for cleaning the municipal buildings. Jos explains why the choice was not made automatic. “As a public administration, we cannot simply continue with an existing partner, no matter how satisfied we are.”

“With the new contract, there were several companies competing, but Cleaning Masters again achieved the highest score on the criteria. Those criteria have also changed and become stricter, they really did have to prove themselves again.”

Els explains how these criteria were important. “One of our main criteria was to have a task card per room that clearly shows the cleaning programme for that type of room. It was very important that these task cards be user-friendly and clear, both for the cleaning staff and for our building managers. Cleaning Masters developed these task cards and scored high on this criterion as a result. They create more transparency and promote cooperation, because both the cleaning masters and the building managers know exactly what is expected. This allows us to review everything later, react quickly if necessary, and everything is neatly recorded on paper.”

“With the new contract, there were several companies competing, but Cleaning Masters again achieved the highest score on the criteria.”

Flexibility and transparent communication as strengths

Cleaning Masters’ strength lies mainly in their flexible approach and clear communication. “Most importantly, I think they are very flexible: they can respond ad hoc where they need to, and if we say something is not possible, they provide a solution very quickly.”

Jos continues: “It’s not the first time I’ve worked with a cleaning crew manager, but it’s the first time I’ve met one who knows the buildings so well. If you were to call the team manager tomorrow and ask: ‘What colour is the wall of that hall?’ or ‘How many toilets are there in that building?’, she would be able to tell us immediately.”

The SPOC (single point of contact), has been the same for years and communication still runs smoothly. This is also one of the reasons why the municipality once again chose Cleaning Masters. “With this kind of contract, a lot depends on the local representative of the cleaning company, and we really hit it off with that. She is very proactive, and if there are any problems or defects, this is also reported in good time.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve worked with a cleaning crew manager, but it’s the first time I’ve met one who knows the buildings so well.”

Another important criterion when choosing a cleaning company is how employees are treated. And in that area Cleaning Masters scored particularly well, says Jos. “There are Cleaning Masters employees who have been with us for five years. It is very important to us how a company treats its employees, what training they receive and how they retain their people. Cleaning Masters really achieved excellent results here.”

Compliments from city hall to school

A total of 13 municipal buildings are now cleaned by Cleaning Masters, including the Babytheek, the talking pub ‘t Steentje and the city hall. Els and Jos have a funny anecdote about the latter. “In the city hall we decided that one day less cleaning would be needed. But the cleaning master who cleans our town hall has a harder time with the fact that he can clean one day less. In his head, everything has to be perfect to the last detail, but that is not always feasible. This shows well how driven and proud he is in his work. Once you work with such people, things automatically progress.”

“We were actually expecting reactions to the fact that the city hall is being cleaned one day less. But all in all, there are very few reactions, which means the cleaning masters are doing a very good job.” Jos recalls a nice compliment that has stuck with him over the years, from the headmaster of the local school. “Now that Cleaning Masters cleans our school, I can just walk around here in my socks.”

“Now that Cleaning Masters cleans our school, I can just walk around here in my socks.”