Case Study: Car Dealership Achieves $480,000 ROI, 11% Productivity Gain with In-Tec

January 9th, 2025 | 14 min. read

“We know we have a cleaning problem, but we want to minimise the investment, as we see commercial cleaning as an expense.”

Meet Our Client

This Brisbane car dealership has a main dealership that includes two large buildings (as well as several small site buildings), two off-site service centres, and a second large used car dealership. At first, their team was sceptical about whether investing more in cleaning would really make a difference.

But by the end of the first year, they could see the impact – not just a cleaner, better-maintained workspace, but also happier staff and a noticeable boost in productivity.

Results with In-Tec Commercial Cleaning

By the Numbers

11% productivity gain
$660,000.00 productivity gain
$120,000.00 increase in cleaning cost
$480,000.00 net return to the client.

Whilst these numbers are impressive, let's talk about the story behind them, as their story (and their concerns) may be a familiar to some of you.

The Commercial Cleaning Industry Has a Reputation Problem (Deservedly So)

If you’re like many business leaders we talk to, finding a commercial cleaning company that actually delivers can feel like an uphill battle. You need clean, well-maintained facilities, but too often you’re left chasing a service provider who overpromised and underdelivered. Honestly, we get it – and we don’t blame you for feeling frustrated.

Even though regulators are stepping up to improve standards in our industry, the truth is, it’s still far too easy for cleaning companies to take shortcuts. Many are more focused on sales than service, promising the world to get your business but disappearing when it’s time to deliver.

Unfortunately, there are a meaningful number of commercial cleaning companies out there cutting corners – sometimes to the point of operating outside the law. For example, practices like sham contracting not only leave workers undervalued and underpaid but can also create risks for businesses like yours.

When you’ve been burned like that, it’s no wonder you start to feel like no cleaning company is worth the investment. But the right commercial cleaning partner should make your life easier, not harder. A company that does what they say they will – and does it well – can transform your operations in ways that go far beyond a clean floor. That’s why we’re so driven to do things differently and raise the standard for what this industry can and should be.

You might be thinking, "Paul, you seem like a nice enough bloke. But aren’t you just another cleaning company with your own agenda?"

Yes and no.

You Deserve More from Your Commercial Cleaner

Yes, we are a cleaning company. But no, we’re not here to push our agenda at the expense of yours, like so many others in this industry. Because when I say you deserve more from your commercial cleaning partner, I mean it.

Now, what that “more” means for you depends on your unique needs, as well as where your current cleaners may be falling short. Whether that’s reliability, consistency, or simply being able to trust that the job’s done properly (without having to be a babysitter), this story is about showing you what’s possible.

At the very least, this story highlights two things you should expect from your commercial cleaner:

You can have a commercial cleaning partner you trust completely – one who takes the stress off your plate, so you never have to follow up or wonder if the job’s been done right. They just handle it.
Cleaning doesn’t have to feel like a “necessary evil” expense. The right partner can help you see it as a true value-add to your organisation – an investment that makes life easier and improves how your business operates.

This is why the results we helped this large car dealership achieve really matter:

11% productivity gain
$660,000.00 productivity gain
$120,000.00 increase in cleaning cost
$480,000.00 net return to the client.

But those results are only part of the story. What made them possible was trust – trust that we’d do what we said we’d do, deliver consistent service, and follow through. Like so many businesses, they were understandably sceptical at first.

And that is where our story starts ...

The First Time We Met, They Declined Our Services

You read that correctly. Our relationship began with a rejection.

We were invited to complete a walk-through of the company’s facilities. During our time on-site we had the opportunity to hear from company leadership about the current issues and challenges they were seeking to address, and asked questions.

We also had a chance to discuss issues we observed during our walk-through, based on our expertise and experience. Following our visit, we submitted a proposal. But we never heard from them after that. That was unfortunate, but it’s the nature of any business, right?

Not every prospect will, ultimately, say yes to moving forward — and that’s OK.

One Year Later, They Called Us Again

“We’re interested in talking to you again for a potential re-quote for our dealership.”

We were happy to hear from them again!

So, we arranged to meet with the Dealer Principle to learn what they needed from us — what hadn’t changed, what had changed, and so on. The dealer principle did mention one thing that perplexed me — they wanted us to lower the price we had offered last year. However, he also said that there was a new building that needed to be included.

I knew his request to provide more commercial cleaning support and a greatly reduced cost would not be possible.

But it did get me thinking:

“How can I help this reluctant customer see that the bottom-line cost is not the whole story? How can I help him see us as more than an expense?”

It was during our second walk-through that the pieces of this puzzle began to fall into place to make this possible.

We Conducted This Walk-Through on Our Own

The dealer principle, like many business owners, is a very busy man who possesses very little in the way of spare time, constantly having to balance numerous competing (yet equally important) priorities.

Since he had walked us through a year prior, he was able to step away this second time around. While I would walk the sites and speak with his people to gather the information I needed to create a new proposal, he could remain focused on the needs of his dealership.

In addition to being able to move more slowly and thoroughly on my own, this approach presented another benefit, as well. I was met with unrestricted candour on the part of his employees when questioned by a neutral third-party (myself) about the dealership’s cleaning needs, goals, and challenges.

(As any business owner knows, it doesn’t matter how much your people respect you and trust you. They will always be more likely to speak more candidly about their thoughts outside of your presence.)

What did I uncover during this second visit?

There Was a Quality Issue with Their Current Cleaners

Overall, I was able to quickly see there were problems with the level of service quality they were receiving from their current commercial cleaning partner. Yes, it was clear the cleaning company was coming in to do some form of "cleaning," but their efforts were surface-level at best — a quick flick of a mop here, a light wipe of a rag there. They were also not cleaning on a daily basis as they should have been.

We saw these issues manifest themselves across all sites, in different ways, owned and maintained by the dealership.

Site No. 1 (Main Dealership)

The main dealership spaces looked clean at first glance, but when you looked closer, it was clear the cleaning wasn’t up to scratch – surfaces were neglected, and important details had been missed. For instance, the back office team (several ladies, in this case) said they only wanted clean toilets. Seems a simple and reasonable enough request, right?

Unfortunately, the results of those efforts left much to be desired. Sincerely, I wish I could have taken a photo of what I found — toilet bowls that were quite brown and had clearly not seen a toilet brush or a cleaning chemical in some time.

Site No. 2 (Second Dealership + Additional Buildings)

Like the primary dealership location, things looked somewhat clean on the surface, but there were significant underlying issues. For example, when I arrived, staff at the second dealership assumed I was with their current cleaning company.

So, they began to share their concerns and feedback:

“We’re not happy with the state of the kitchen sink currently.”
“Why does the kitchen sink never get cleaned?”
“We’d rather walk across the road to get coffee, rather than risk making it here.”

Their concerns weren’t without merit. The sink itself was very brown with neglect and build-up. And the drain within that sink looked like a thriving ecosystem of unknown organisms.

Site No. 3 (Small Service Centre)

Honestly, this site didn’t even look clean. Like at the last place, the staff thought I was with their current cleaning company, so they let me have it – telling me exactly what was wrong. The frustrating part is that they weren’t asking for anything unreasonable. All they wanted were clean floors and tidy workspaces. But instead, they felt ignored and unappreciated.

When I explained that I was actually there as a potential new cleaning partner, I could see it on their faces – a bit of hope that things might actually change for the better.

Site No. 4 (Large Service Centre)

The larger service centre was the most shocking, and for all the wrong reasons — mould in the microwaves, and the urinals, my goodness. As I noted in the proposal (and I quote):

“I have never seen a urinal that I would never want to use, for fear of getting a disease. They were so bad that I saw a risk of catching an airborne disease by just standing there.”

What’s worse is the team at this site just seemed completely let down. They believed no one in the head office cared about their needs and concerns, so they had just given up complaining.

They had resigned themselves to having to work in these conditions.

Site No. 5 (New Building Added After 1st Quote)

As soon as I walked in the door, I could see immediately that the current cleaners were not turning up every day. Moreover, the onsite staff were unhappy, and I couldn’t blame them.

They not only felt ignored, but they were also now at the stage of thinking:

“Why do we bother working hard? They don’t even care about providing a clean site for us.”

They also shared this exact sentiment to me directly.

I Changed My Proposal Approach

With my new findings, it was clear this dealership deserved so much more. Walking the sites by myself — with the ability to take more time to talk to the team at each location — was the best thing, as it led me to take a completely different approach. I leveraged our 30 years of experience to present the proposal in a completely different manner.

Was I confident in how this different proposal would be received? Not entirely.

But as we had quoted the site once already. Also, to be honest, I did not think we had a chance in hell of getting the business, especially as the client had said “We want you to lower your price.” So, what did I have to lose?

📊 I Led with Productivity Increase Forecasts

Based on all of the staff feedback, as well as all of the information I gathered, along with my own insights, I went to work. I outlined how, if the sites were cleaned properly and as they should be, there would be a productivity increase for the client.

“How could you possibly do that with any degree of verifiable specificity?”

That is a fair question.

I wish I had some sort of magical formula to share, but the truth is much less complicated. Quite simply, I have seen these productivity gains before at clients’ sites we have taken over, and I can substantiate it. I just have never thought of putting it in writing before or been willing to stand by these claims in writing.

But I did know that what I was about to tell this Reluctant Customer, would play out to be true.

📈 I Didn't Bring My Price Down Either

In this second proposal, not only did my price go up — remember the additional building — I presented the comments I got from his team. I did not disclose who told me what, but I did give him the general idea. I also gave him a very blunt assessment from me, especially mentioning the above mentioned urinals.

On top of this, I gave him an insight in how changing things would improve the productivity at the sites, and the cost in the proposal may be dwarfed by this gain.

But why did I do this? Why did I potentially blow my chances to close this customer? Why not be like everyone else and take the soft approach, right? You know — give the customer what they want (regardless of what my expertise was telling me they needed), talk up about how good we are, but not back it up with anything else. Because it gave me a way to prove that if the cleaning was improved, the productivity of his team would improve, therefore increase his profitability.

Did he believe me?

Sort of.

Maybe.

But you could see that he was thinking I could be full of crap, and I didn’t blame him for that. However, I could see he was also thinking I could be right.

"OK, We'll Give You a Go, But ... "

If I was so confident that my team would do what I said they could do, then I would not mind agreeing to a one-year contract instead of a three-year contract. He said after all, if I can do what I said I would do then, I should be confident that he would not want to change again in a year’s time.

I took his challenge and agreed.

One year later? Yes, we cleaned the site up to the standard they needed to be, but we are talking about the client’s increased productivity and profitability:

Specifically, we increased the productivity of this client’s team by 11%:

As the client has a payroll of about $6 million, this in raw figures converts to $660,000.
And the increase in cleaning costs from the previous cleaning company to In-Tec was $120,000.

That's a Net Return of $480,000 for Our Client

This is where the Reluctant Customer becomes the Happy Client. Yes, not all clients can see this type of return, But most sites are not as dirty as these were, and not all teams are that disgruntled.

But we have seen this type of change, to differing degrees in many sites.

What was also truly rewarding was the staff feedback we received:

“Thank you for turning up every day. It is a pleasure to come to work again!” (Site No. 5)
“We can use the microwaves again and we did not know the urinals were that colour!” (Site No. 4)
“We just have a clean site. Thank you!” (Site No. 3)
“It is good to have a clean sink and yes, now the guys make coffee onsite!” (Site No. 2)

This was the most amazing comment I have ever received was at Site No. 1. I visited the site after the first clean. The admin ladies saw me and approached me, asking if they could give me a kiss. Of course, I said no — I am married after all, but I did ask why.

They just said one thing: “It is great to have a clean toilet.”

What’s more, I’m writing this after more than three years of servicing the client. So, reducing the term of the contract from three years to one year, didn’t matter in the long run — we are still servicing the client and we expect to for many more years.

Do You Deserve More from Your Cleaning Partner?

The story I just shared isn’t just about cleaning – it’s about what happens when a business finally gets the support it deserves. The dealership saw the difference a true partner can make, not just in their workplace, but in their staff’s productivity and morale. That’s the kind of impact we believe every business deserves.

Now, let’s talk about you.

Have a think about this:

When was the last time you felt confident your commercial cleaner was truly delivering on what they promised? Do they keep their word?
Are you constantly playing the role of babysitter, chasing your cleaners about things that should’ve been done without you needing to ask?
Do you feel like cleaning is just an expense – or do you want your commercial cleaner to be a strategic partner who adds real value to your bottom-line?

Your answers to these questions will tell you what you need to do next. At In-Tec, we’re not here to waste your time or make big promises we can’t deliver. We’re here to have an honest conversation about what’s possible and what it will take to get you the results you deserve.

If you believe you deserve more, schedule a call with us.

If you're interested in learning more on how to choose the correct commercial cleaning partner for your organisation, you can download our guide, 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Commercial Cleaning Company. Or you can contact us at any time with your questions, or to start a conversation about how we may be of service to you.