CBN Building Maintenance

05/19/2023

We are looking for Quality Janitorial subcontractors

We have valley-wide night-time commercial janitorial opportunities available for smaller janitorial companies.

We are looking for existing janitorial companies to subcontract for some of our
accounts. We have. Call: 602-256-0656.
We will need to do a background check and speak with client references; after that, we can meet on-site and we can discuss terms and pay.

Not a franchise; we don't charge you any fees. Serious inquiries only please.

Call for more information:

Bob Croft
CBN Building Maintenance
522 W. Roosevelt, Phoenix AZ 85003
Cleaning for Health, Safety and Security
http://cbnclean.com
602-253-0656

03/29/2023

Indoor Air Quality – the Results
Research demonstrates the cleaning and dust-control methods CBN uses can significantly improve Indoor Air Quality. A study conducted by Dr. Michael Berry and The Research Triangle Institute™ (one of the world’s leading research institutes) uses:
• DuPont Hysurf 1.0 micron vacuum bags (we use the more recently available 0.3 microns HEPA vacuums for even finer filtration)
• Dust wiping rather than feather dusting
• Entryway walk-off mats
• Appropriate chemical selection
The study demonstrated:
• A volatile organic chemical (VOC) reduction of 49%
• An airborne particulate reduction of 52%
• An average bio-contaminate reduction of 75%
A study by Daniels Associates™ also uses DuPont Hysurf bags and DuPont “Dust Wizard” dust wipes (an early microfiber wipe), walk-off mats, and chemical selection. Daniels’ study measured an airborne particulate reduction of 66%.
“Measures to improve IAQ don’t cost – they pay!”
The cost of proper cleaning is more than offset by the costs attributable to “sick time”. CBN Building Maintenance uses the latest technological innovations to keep our clients breathing easy. Let us introduce you to a healthier, safer, and more productive workplace.

03/28/2023

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Decontamination/Disinfection Service

Our technicians are fully trained and equipped to Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) Forensic Restoration protocol; we hold their certification.
We customize Coronavirus (COVID-19) decontamination to protect your workforce and customers, treating all furnishings, equipment, and touchpoints.
We utilize EPA and CDC-approved, highly effective, hospital-grade disinfecting agents; our Protocol is designed to meet that of the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
We can generally provide prompt service, the evening of the day we’re called.
In CBN, you’ll partner with a trusted and long-established firm. We’ve been an active member of the Phoenix Chamber and BBB (we are A-plus rated) since 1975 and of the Building Service Contractor’s Association International since 1985 (our president, Bob Croft, holds one of only several of their “Executive Certifications” in Arizona). Our program of “Cleaning for Health” dates to the early 1980s.

Here’s our Decontamination Protocol
For our ongoing commercial janitorial clients:
Our teams will help keep you safe and your staff and customers healthy. We thoroughly sanitize cleared surfaces and touchpoints with Johnson/Diversey’s AlphaHP (hydrogen peroxide-based cleaner/sanitizer) via a microfiber applicator, damp enough for appropriate dwell time. You can help by reducing clutter (small personal items, etc.) on desks and countertops; the more surface area we can wipe, the better we can sanitize
We clean restrooms, exam rooms, and lunchrooms with AlphaHP, then disinfect with Johnson/Diversey’s hospital grade Virex256, both effective against viruses.
We vacuum both carpet and hard surface floors with a HEPA-filtered vacuum. HEPA filtration lets us contain and remove from your facility not just fine particles (allergens and so forth) but the larger pathogens, and particles that smaller pathogens might be clinging to. Any pathogen, say, sneezed into the air, will eventually settle – either onto your desk or the floor. Better, if we vacuum it up off the floor, so that we don’t just blow it back into your air; thus the HEPA filtration.

https://youtu.be/KSWnHYJOKBE

12/27/2022

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & A Joyous and Healthful New Year

“Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.”
Calvin Coolidge, Presidential message (December 25, 1927)

CBN’s OFFICE AT THE HISTORIC L.L. STEWARD HOUSE
The LL Steward home was built by Southwestern Building & Investment Co. as a residence for its president, LL Steward, in 1914. Over the following decades, the structure has served as private residence, rooming house, and general office space — with each incarnation creating a further departure from the original design.
The house’s first owner, Louis Lee Steward, was an early Arizona teacher, cattleman, cotton farmer and organizer of the Citizen’s State Bank in Phoenix. Steward was a campaign manager for Henry Fountain Ashurst in his 1912 election to the U. S. Senate.
The house’s “tasteful Victorian massing and Prairie School design elements” create an elegant composition. This led to its citation as a “significant streetscape element” in the 1983 application for National historic status for the Roosevelt neighborhood.
In 1996, we purchased and moved our janitorial services office to the historic 1914 L. L. Steward House, just south of I-10 in downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Historic District.
We’ve restored the home to its former glory after extensively researching public records and interviewing folks connected to the building’s past. The L.L. Steward house has been an attraction on the Roosevelt Historic district’s home tours three times, most recently November, 2015.

Please visit our house web page at: https://cbnclean.com/llsteward/

12/23/2022

Wishing you a Merry Christmas &
A Joyous and Healthful New Year!

“Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savio,r and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.”
Calvin Coolidge, Presidential message (December 25, 1927)

CBN’s OFFICE AT THE HISTORIC L.L. STEWARD HOUSE
The LL Steward home was built by Southwestern Building & Investment Co. as a residence for its president, LL Steward, in 1914. Over the following decades, the structure has served as a private residence, rooming house, and general office space — with each incarnation creating a further departure from the original design.
The house’s first owner, Louis Lee Steward, was an early Arizona teacher, cattleman, cotton farmer, and organizer of the Citizen’s State Bank in Phoenix. Steward was a campaign manager for Henry Fountain Ashurst in his 1912 election to the U. S. Senate.
The house’s “tasteful Victorian massing and Prairie School design elements” create an elegant composition. This led to its citation as a “significant streetscape element” in the 1983 application for National historic status for the Roosevelt neighborhood.
In 1996, we purchased and moved our janitorial services office to the historic 1914 L. L. Steward House, just south of I-10 in downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Historic District.
We’ve restored the home to its former glory after extensively researching public records and interviewing folks connected to the building’s past. The L.L. Steward house has been an attraction on the Roosevelt Historic district’s home tours three times, most recently in November 2015.

Please visit our house web page at: https://cbnclean.com/llsteward/

11/30/2022

Check out Bob’s blog at:
https://blog.cbnclean.com/

Solves a wide variety of problems

In my youth (longer ago than I care to admit) I owned several Volkswagens, including an iconic 1960 bus, in faded red. Having few resources, I acquired a bit of ability in vehicle repairs, in the days when one did not need a computer to diagnose. Much repair work was seat-of-the-pants, using whatever materials - duct tape and baling wire come to mind - and odd tools happened to be at hand.
These days, doing commercial janitorial, I have different concerns. Like, supplying TP to clients, and making sure it stays locked up so it doesn't walk off. Had a very high-end machine shop a few years back; if memory serves, they contracted work from the aerospace industry. In the back corner of a huge production area just filled with high-end tools sat a small fenced-off secure area, always locked. In it, they kept their toilet paper.

So the attached graphic struck home.

10/26/2022

10/26/2022
Chemical by who?
It might make a difference where you source your cleaning chemicals.
Anecdotally, a fair number of smaller operators (certainly not all) and some folks with the janitorial franchising operations pick up chemicals at convenience or discount stores. They're less expensive (at least in small quantities), and are open late, which is an advantage if you don't monitor your supplies, and run out mid-shift.
Buying from a janitorial industry supplier, you tend to get informed usage and safety advice, SDS sheets with the purchase, and have available stick-on factory labels for any chemicals that need to be diluted into, say, a spray bottle. Labels are remarkedly handy for proper usage, safety, and avoiding unpleasant conversations with OSHA.
Here's a recent news article from our friends at Cleanlink regarding a $1.68 million fine OSHA is proposing against Dollar Stores, for a variety of safety issues at multiple locations. Stands to reason that if a store is facing challenges in insuring safety among its own employees, it might not be too serious about safety among its customers.
From the article: "...failing to keep receiving and storage areas clean and orderly, and stacking materials in an unsafe manner. These violations exposed workers to hazards associated with slips, trips and being struck-by objects.
"OSHA citations also included those for exposing workers to fire and entrapment hazards by failing to keep exit routes and electrical panels clear and unobstructed. Finally, the company received citations for failing to mount and label fire extinguishers, and having a locked exit door that required a key to open."
Here's a bit about what we do. https://cbnclean.com/safety/

10/11/2022

About CBN

Since its 1974 founding, CBN Building Maintenance has been in the forefront of the industry in developing programs to safeguard your Health, your Safety, and your Security.

Cleaning for your Health

We use Green Guard’s certified system to improve your Indoor Air Quality and remove allergens via HEPA vacuums on carpet and tile, microfiber dust wipes, and microfiber damp mops. We measure and report to you, your Indoor Air Quality, ongoing.

Cleaning for your Safety

We feature:

• Green Seal certified cleaning chemicals to assure your safety and minimize negative environmental impact

• non-slip floor finishes limiting your liability

• Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner/germicide to limit pathogens on "touch points" throughout your facility

We thoroughly train and monitor our crews in OSHA mandates and chemical safety, recycling, and water conservation.

Cleaning for your Security

We thoroughly background and integrity test all our applicants, provide keys, entry cards, and alarm system security, and carry full insurance and bonding. We’re in this for the long haul – besides professional and environmental associations, our Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau memberships date to 1975. The BBB rates us A+, their highest rating.

10/06/2022

Low Moisture Soil Encapsulation

Carpet cleaning via the bonnet method utilizes a low-speed rotary floor scrubber and a piece of fabric (usually cotton, with nylon strips for scrub power) disk or pad, called a bonnet. A cleaning solution (specially formulated for this process) is applied to one small area of the carpeting at a time, which is then “massaged” with the bonnet mounted under the floor scrubbing machine.
The agitation and chemical action free the soil from the carpet fibers; much of it is absorbed into the bonnet, which is dunked in fresh solution and wrung out every 100 or so square feet to dispose of the picked-up soil. Once dry, the carpet is thoroughly vacuumed to remove the remaining soil entrapped (encapsulated) in crystallized chemicals.
There are various advantages to low moisture processes over hot water extraction (commonly called “steam cleaning”): less moisture introduced into the carpet, thus limiting the chance of over-wetting, speeding up dry-time (limiting the possibility of mold and fungal growth); environmentally, less water (by about 95%) and less chemical used; less water introduced into the carpet backing avoids shrinkage or tearing of fibers, and bleeding and discoloration. Finally, we experience better worker productivity, so we can clean the carpet more frequently at a similar annual cost.
Rotary cleaning (shampooing)
Carpet cleaning using a low-speed (175 rpm) rotary floor scrubbing machine equipped with a nylon cleaning brush. The solution is applied to the carpet, usually from a tank on the floor scrubber, and fed through holes (“shower feed”) in the brush’s backer block, aggressively brushed into the carpet, and allowed to fully dry. Thorough vacuuming then removes soil and crystallized shampoo from the carpet.
Rotary shampooing tends to be more aggressive than bonnet cleaning; while harder on the carpet, it also tends to “grind out” more soil. It’s commonly used for “heavy duty” or restorative cleaning, often followed by extraction (without added cleaner), to dilute and rinse out soil, rather than waiting for dry vacuuming.
Hot water extraction (NOT steam cleaning)
Sometimes (erroneously) called “steam cleaning” – Carpet backing is bonded to the carpet fibers at temperatures near 200 degrees; real steam (212 degrees F.) would melt that adhesive that binds the carpeting to its backing material. Steam cleaning equipment manufacturers bought a lot of carpeting for the victims of this “technology”!
Extraction uses a pressure nozzle to propel solutions (cleaning; deodorizing; fungicidal, among others) into the carpet, and a wand/wet vacuum system to pull it back out, along with suspended dirt. It works primarily by diluting or solubilizing carpet contaminants. It is effective at pulling out deep soil, residual shampoo, or deep stains.
Extraction by itself does little to agitate carpet fibers, so ground in soil can be a problem. Consequently, it’s often used in conjunction with rotary shampooing for cleaning of grossly soiled carpeting (carpeting in auto shops, for instance) or in “restorative” cleaning, or in pulling out relatively fresh beverage spills (by putting massive doses of water into the carpet, diluting the beverage, and sucking it back out).
Carpet protection (post-cleaning)
Application, usually after carpet cleaning, of a chemical coating designed to prevent staining of carpet fibers by water-borne contaminants or oily substances (pizza always lands cheese side down – doesn’t it?). After protection, ongoing carpet spot removal becomes more effective; the next full cleaning becomes both more effective and easier to perform.
Some carpet protectors are also designed to minimize the attachment of dust, dirt, and dander to the carpet’s fibers, thus allowing more soil removal with regular vacuuming; the carpet looks better longer, exhibits less wear (less gritty soil left behind for foot traffic to grind into and damage carpet fibers), and leaves less fine soil to become airborne during the day, impacting indoor air quality.

10/04/2022

Why's you throw that out?
Our commercial janitorial agreement has us emptying trash cans, not "removing trash". The reason for the distinction is that, if something looks like trash, but is not in a can, and is not labeled "trash", it's a good idea to not toss it. We'll toss something if it's clearly labeled, as a favor, but not commit to it, to avoid ambiguity.

But, in this world, ambiguity is hard to avoid.

An example comes to mind. We were cleaning a 9-story mid-rise, a few years back. My crew came across a large computer rack (the kind you see in the server closet, with lots of devices on it), with many boxes of trash stacked around and on it, and a post-it note, "trash". My crew took multiple trips to the dumpster, and a bit of extra effort manhandling the rack into the elevator. Received an irate call from the client early the next morning, asking why we'd removed the rack. OBVIOUSLY, the note only referred to the boxes, not the rack that the note was affixed to.

Another occasion was at a radio station. We tossed a box that was sitting atop a trash can. Again, the irate client wondered why. It seems that the expensive microphone that arrived in the box had arrived damaged; they needed the box to prove that it was damaged while in route. Why would we think that a box sitting on top of a trash can was indeed trash?

Finally, a landscape architect. Picture a wicker trash can, sitting by the front door. We had our regular crew out sick, and a replacement cleaning the building. Turns out that the trash can by the front door was not for trash at all; it held the Mylar drawings set out for pick-up by the blueprint company. Sometime earlier, the client had left a note for our regular crew to not empty that can, but had not mentioned it to my office or during our regular quality assurance visits; our crew assumed that the client would do so, so that the information would find it's way onto our job paperwork. Turns out, Mylar drawings are expensive.

Sorry. Just have to vent occasionally.

10/03/2022