In-House vs. Outsourced Factory Cleaning: What’s Best for You?

In House vs. Outsourced Factory Cleaning: Pros and Cons

When it comes to maintaining a clean and safe environment, industrial managers often face the dilemma of choosing between doing factory cleaning in-house or outsourcing to professional contractors. Let’s say a factory requires deep cleaning, such as high-level wall cleaning or machinery degreasing: should you rely on your existing staff or bring in professional cleaners? 

While both approaches have their merits, it all highly depends on the needs of your business and your goals. In this blog post, we explore the pros and cons of using in-house employees versus outsourcing to a factory cleaning company.

Check out our infographic below for a visual representation of the pros and cons of in house vs outsourced factory cleaning:

Prefer to read? Check out our pros and cons if in house vs outsourced factory cleaning:

Budget, cost and value

Of course, one of the biggest factors in this decision is cost. In most industrial sectors, budgets are monitored like a hawk. Industrial managers and procurement teams may be trying to figure how to do the same or more with less money, and at first it may seem economical to use your own staff to complete an industrial cleaning project.

However, you have to take additional costs in consideration, such as equipment, cleaning supplies, PPE, training costs, not to mention the loss in production from diverting engineers, warehouse operatives or other staff away from their primary roles. 

Quality and consistency of service

For factory cleaning, the bottom line is simple: you get what you pay for. Or, you get out what you put in. As factory cleaning is the primary specialisation of industrial cleaning companies, professional cleaners can undoubtedly deliver a higher standard of cleaning than in-house staff, who may not be trained in the best cleaning methods, COSHH, relevant equipment, etc. 

And, of course, a factory cleaning company’s reputation is dependent on them doing a good job and delivering high quality results for their clients. That’s why our business ethos at Kingfisher is “if we can’t do a job well, we won’t do it at all.” It fits with the old adage “if you’re going to do something, do it right”. 

Flexibility and scalability

Depending on the size and type of your business, your cleaning needs can fluctuate. While in-house staff can schedule cleaning around production needs, this could come at the cost of disrupting production by pulling your team away from their main tasks. Outsourced teams, on the other hand, should be able to schedule projects at a convenient time for you. 

Outsourcing to a cleaning provider can also mean that you can scale up or scale down your cleaning needs based on your seasonal demands or business changes. 

Safety and Liability

If you work in industry, you know that factories, warehouses and industrial facilities can be dangerous and hazardous environments. Cleaning is no different. High level cleaning or dealing with industrial contaminants or chemicals requires specific training and equipment. Without proper preparation, in house staff could face significant health and safety risks. Not to mention, if an employee gets injured while performing cleaning tasks that are outside of their usual responsibilities, this could lead to insurance or legal complications. 

On the other hand, when you outsource to an external provider, this burden of responsibility is passed on. This shouldn’t be a problem for factory cleaning companies that advocate strict Health & Safety measures and provide the right training for their operatives. 

Bottom line: in house vs outsourcing can depend entirely on your needs

The decision between in-house and outsourced factory cleaning can depend entirely on your situation and your business, because both have their upsides and downsides. For routine cleaning or for smaller businesses, internal resources might suffice. However, outsourcing is most likely the smarter choice for specialised, high-risk or large scale cleaning projects. An external provider can almost always provide greater safety, efficiency and superior results.