We have worked with a few National Maintenance Companies over the years and have decided to shut them down… refusing all work from them. We never go after their contracts or approach their customers either. The companies that use a NMC are generally disconnected from what they actually need and the people in the stores could care less.
Please remember that these companies are huge and they are playing a numbers game without doing any of the actual work. They could care less about the subcontractors that work for them… and unfortunately, there is usually another window cleaning company willing try and work with them.
Unless… there isn’t. Recently we had a NMC tell us that nobody in our area was willing to work with them. Yea that was nice to hear! If everybody refused work from these thieves… businesses would be forced to drop their NMC. This would be a huge win for everyone… especially the customers!
If you have to take work from these companies make sure to (You don’t have to):
-Charge More! A lot more… (Working with them can turn into a lot of extra work… and sometimes they take their time to pay you. If you don’t get the contract don’t worry… it was going to be a pain in the ass anyway.)
-Have them sign an agreement with you that guarantee’s payment within 30 days
-Charge Late Fee’s and enforce them (include due date on invoice/how much the bill goes up)
But please don’t take work from them… They suck.