The Real Cost of Janitorial Supplies
For most UK businesses, janitorial supplies represent a steady overhead that's easy to overlook. But small inefficiencies add up. A business spending £500 per month on janitorial supplies could easily be wasting £100-150 through poor purchasing decisions.
Here are seven practical strategies to bring those costs down.
1. Switch to Concentrated Products
This is the single biggest saving most businesses can make on janitorial supplies. Ready-to-use cleaning products are mostly water—you're paying to ship water from a warehouse to your premises.
Concentrated janitorial supplies, diluted on-site with a simple dosing system, typically reduce your cost per litre by 60-70%. A 5-litre concentrate might produce 200 litres of cleaning solution.
2. Audit What You Actually Use
Most businesses over-order certain janitorial supplies and under-order others. Spend a month tracking actual usage:
This audit often reveals products you're buying from habit rather than need.
3. Standardise Your Products
Using five different surface cleaners when one good multi-purpose product would do inflates your janitorial supplies bill unnecessarily. Standardising reduces:
4. Buy on Account, Not Ad-Hoc
Walking into a cash-and-carry to grab janitorial supplies as needed is the most expensive way to buy. Setting up a trade account with a dedicated supplier gives you:
5. Right-Size Your Dispensers
The dispenser you use directly affects how much product people take. Controlled-portion dispensers for hand soap, paper towels, and toilet tissue can reduce consumption by 20-30% compared to open or bulk dispensers.
The upfront cost of better dispensers pays for itself within a few months through lower janitorial supplies consumption.
6. Review Your Ordering Frequency
Ordering janitorial supplies weekly in small quantities often means paying more per unit and generating more delivery trips. Moving to fortnightly or monthly orders typically unlocks better pricing.
Work with your supplier to find the right balance—enough stock to avoid running out, but not so much that products sit unused or expire.
7. Partner with a Specialist
General office supplies companies sell janitorial supplies as a sideline. A specialist supplier can:
What Not to Cut
While saving money on janitorial supplies is smart, some cuts are false economies:
Making It Happen
Start with strategy number one (concentrates) and number two (the audit). These two changes alone typically save 25-30% on janitorial supplies spending.
At Doves Hygiene Services, we help businesses across Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire optimise their janitorial supplies purchasing. We'll review what you're currently buying and show you where the savings are. Call 01480 210999 or visit our shop at doveshygiene.co.uk.