Cavalier Services Blog

Cavalier enters its 35th year

By Linda Pendergrass

1977 was a year of significant historic events—the first Apple Computer
went on sale. Jimmy Carter was elected President of  the United States.
The first oil flowed through the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline. Elvis Presley
died from a heart attack at age 42, and —Cavalier Services, Inc. was born.

Thirty-five years ago, Kevin Rohan created a professional
building services contracting business that has stood
the test of time. Starting with one employee and two small customers,
Kevin began the journey of shaping his future and the futures of the
more than 1,700 Teammates currently a part of the Cavalier team.
As founder and CEO of Cavalier Services, Kevin’s visionary leadership
touches not only Cavalier employees, but customers and colleagues
throughout the building services industry, as well.

As the old year closed and the New Year ushered in on January 1, 2012
Cavalier Services entered its 35th year of delivering uncompromising
Quality service to Customers and Teammates (employees)
in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Cavalier’s continued growth and success
in an extremely competitive industry during periods of economic
recession is based on years of experience, innovative leadership,
strong customer and Teammate focus, and a defined improvement process.
Cavalier Services understands that experience and innovation must be
balanced to properly ensure continued success.

At Cavalier, the importance of utilizing lessons learned while introducing
and developing new ideas and processes has resulted in finding more cost
effective ways of providing Quality service to existing customers,
attracting new customers, and retaining a top-notch cadre of TeamMates.

By Cece Tueros

Cavalier Services proudly announces the winning
TeamMates of last year’s Christmas Sharing Program.
Our Christmas Sharing Program links TeamMates
to TeamMates. It provides a helping hand
to TeamMates in need of assistance in providing
Christmas gifts for their families and gives TeamMates
who want to help other TeamMates the opportunity
to do so by donating to the Christmas Sharing Program.

This is how our Program works:

TeamMates in need of assistance complete
a registration form identifying their Christmas Wish, the number of family members
and the total household income. Then, six (6) families are selected
based on financial need to receive gifts for their families.
These are our 2011 winners: Dhina Paz (DC Region), PT office cleaner at
1730 Pennsylvannia Ave., Jose Alvarez (MD Region) supervises all
PS Business Park Properties, Griselda Gomez (NVA Region) FT porter
at Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Dorothy Glover (SVA Region) FT supervisor at ODU.
Two families were selected from the NC Region: Veronica Rojas 
and Magdalena Avilez PT office cleaners at AAA Building.  

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By Jeffrey Ritz

For the second consecutive year our partners at NetApp have celebrated
TeamMate Appreciation Day. Cavalier Services Inc. provides
multiple support services including Facilities, Housekeeping,
Work Place Logistics, Shipping/Receiving, and Business Services.
The Cavalier team at NetApp is lead by Lisa Lofton and is supported
by Ron Johnson (Chief Facilities Engineer), Miguel Cruz (Housekeeping Supervisor),
and Terri Krause (Office Coordinator).

Our customers at NetApp: Greg Luberecki, Joe Miller and Simon George
are all very grateful of the commitment to quality each of our Cavalier
TeamMates provide in delivering services to their customers each day.
This annual appreciation luncheon is a true testament to our partnership.

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Our CEO leads the way

As part of Cavalier’s mission to “deliver uncompromising Quality
service to Customers”, training and career advancement opportunities
are offered to TeamMates. Attending conventions and trade shows,
such as BSCAI, allow TeamMates to not only network, but also learn
about new techniques and products.TeamMates who attended the
BSCAI Convention last October came back with invaluable knowledge:

Kevin Rohan, CEO, has attended the BSCAI Convention for many years.
As he prepares for his new role in 2013 as the BSCAI Board of Directors,
President, he also shares his take on the convention: “The BSCAI Convention
gets better and bigger every year. It’s a great place for networking.
There’s always something new to learn. As Cavalier continues to grow,
it is my responsibility to ensure that the growth is not just in the number of
accounts we have. It is in the professional and personal growth of our people.”
Kevin acknowledged that part of Cavalier’s success is due in part to the educational
and peer support from BSCAI.
Click link to view video of Kevin Rohan at the BSCAI Convention http://youtu.be/IIBj5HXjKJQ

Bill Warnecki, President of Cavalier, has attended 17 conventions thus far.
He was impressed by Tom Peters, one of the convention speakers, who discussed
“The problem is never the problem. The response to the problem is invariably the problem.”

Rosa Duarte, DC Region Area Manager, who attended the convention for
the first time said“The industry is taking leaps and bounds with new innovations
in technology and techniques. There was so much for us to see and learn...”

Max Gomez, SOVA Region Operation Manager acknowledged that
the convention’s training will aid in enhancing his team. He also learned
the importance of having the right people and right leaders to achieve success;
standing out; and going beyond what’s expected.  

Marouan Nassif, MD Region Area Manager, was captivated by a quote
from Tom Peters who said: “If you want the customer to come first, you have to put
the employees who serve the customer before the customer. If you want staff to give great
service you have to give great service to the staff first.”

For Dorel Watley, DC Regional Director, “There was a very common theme
that resonated in almost every presentation… How you treat our Customers
and TeamMates.”

At the Convention, Cavalier also had the opportunity to take part in one of
the presentations. Linda Pendergrass, Director of Performance Management,
was the co-presenter of the “Using Technology to Enhance BSC Operations”
Peer-to-Peer Education Session. Along with Eric Kadlubowski of Woodley Building
Maintenance in Kansas City, Linda developed the 75-minute presentation.

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Cavalier Facility Services gets a new name

For the past ten years our painting and construction services
have operated under the name Cavalier Facility Services.
During that period, our service offerings expanded, along with our expertise.
Our capabilities now include larger projects as well as smaller ones.
In order to better differentiate this business segment, on January 1, 2012
we began to do business as Rohan Construction Group.  

Commercial services include:

• Parking lot striping/curb painting
  
• Deck pressure washing/staining/sealing
  
• Wallpaper removal and installation
• Framing
  
• Flood repair/drywall removal
  
• Environmental testing
  
• Carpentry
  
• Tenant build-outs/renovations
  
• Demolition
  

For a complete list of services please visit our new website www.rohancg.com

Cavalier will continue to handle all of your cleaning and related needs.
We look forward to working with you in the future.

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2012 is born. We are on a roll!

Northern Virginia Team acquires Equinix account

By John Dublin

The Northern Virginia Regional Team (NOVA) began the New Year with the start
up of an impressive new account – Equinix, Inc. located in Ashburn VA.
Equinix operates International Business Exchange data centers offering businesses
a place to reliably run their operations and securely exchange critical information
in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Cavalier currently provides janitorial
services to eight Equinix buildings, with an additional building coming on board
in March and yet another building under construction. This account tested the flexibility
and dedication of the Northern VA team with a January 2, 2012 start date.
In spite of January 2 being the New Year holiday, the team worked diligently
to “deliver uncompromising Quality service” to its new customers.
Kudos to the NOVA Team for a job well done! 

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A great beginning for Maryland

By Sam You

With another successful year behind us, the Maryland Region is showing
a promising 2012 with the January 1 start of a quarter million sq/ft of
class A building. Coupled with two additional start ups in February and
over a million sq/ft of pending business opportunity, Maryland is definitely
heading and leading in the right direction.

The uniqueness and success of the Maryland Team is a combination of
several identifiable factors. First and foremost, it’s good old fashion mutual
development and growth from our loyal customer relationships/partnerships.
Second, we are always looking to make improvements, either by conventional
methods or thinking outside-of-the-box. Ultimately, the goal is to raise service
satisfaction without adding cost to the customer. Having a strong management
team with solid customer relationships, along with an open mind to strive for
continuous improvement, makes the Maryland Region look so bright
you might need sunglasses for 2012!

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It's a big one!

By Benny Spiller

The Southern Virginia Region (SOVA)is extremely proud to announce
that on February 13th we will be starting a new building in downtown Richmond.
This is an outstanding opportunity as we get to work again for a long standing customer.
This will be the largest building for the region and we are ready for the challenge!

Our start-up plan is in full force with training currently being conducted.
We will be assisted by our Northern Virginia Region (NVA) Regional Director,
John Dublin who will share his expertise on the Chariot ride-on vacs.
Larry Cox, Assistant Area Manager/Project Manager of the World Trade Center
will join in to share his experience. His account is similar in size to this one
so his expertise will be very valuable. Rodney Muire and Ralph Smith,
SVA Area Managers, will join Pat Bradley in offering their advice and training skills.
Max Gomez, Mike White and Benny Spiller will oversee the overall process to
ensure that guidelines and systems are performed properly.
Rounding out our CSI team will be Betty Henley and Cece Tueros tackling
the Human Resources piece.
No start-up is complete however, without the assistance of Steve Sergeant
from Lawrence Environmental Group who will provide chemical training.

The team is now complete, the forms signed, and Southern Virginia is
feeling proud and ready to welcome CBRE to Cavalier Services Inc.

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Cavalier welcomes new Customers

Celebrating with Harbor Group

By Benny Spiller

On January 26, 2012, I attended the Harbor Group’s Awards Presentation
at the Sheraton Waterside in Norfolk. This event was first class.
Most impressive was the attendance of 200+ employees from all over the world.
How motivating to have your whole team together in celebration!

As I sat watching the recognition of the employees and management it
reminded me of Cavalier Services Inc. (CSI) We are a company who also
make a point to recognize others for their contributions – compliments from tenants,
QAR scores, years of service and more.  We are also similar in our
core values – Employees are the heart of our companies.

I sat with a woman who traveled from Israel to accept the Chairman’s Award. 
It was amazing to me that she traveled that far. Another highlight of the night
was that Krista Marshall and her staff from the World Trade Center were recognized
for Commercial Property of the Year – we can only hope that the cleanliness of the
building was a factor in that award!

The owner of Harbor Group, Jordan Sloan, was a fascinating speaker.
He spoke with passion about his start-up of this business over twenty years ago. 
This, too, reminded me of Kevin – the passion and enthusiasm he presents
when talking about CSI.

I came away from the night realizing that though we do this on a smaller scale,
recognizing our employees at all levels make them (us) feel valued and motivated
to continue as a Team.  

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A message from Cavalier's CEO

It is my extreme pleasure to announce the promotion of Bill Warnecki to
President of Cavalier Services, Inc. and Cavalier Services, Inc. North Carolina.
After 17 years of service and hard work, Bill’s promotion is well deserved
and I wish him success in his new assignment.
Although his role and mine will not significantly change, this promotion
has been the culmination of a growth plan in which Bill has taken on
more responsibility and therefore, this well deserved advancement.

Please join me in congratulating Bill.

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Dirtiest public surfaces in U.S identified

It’s the middle of winter. Flu and cold symptoms are affecting thousands
of people. If  you wonder why you are getting sick it might be attributed to being in
contact with a dirty surface. You might not realize it, but according to a recent study
sponsored by Kimberly-Clark, there are a myriad  of public surfaces carrying high levels
of contaminants.

The top 7 dirtiest surfaces in the U.S. are:

• 71 % of gas pump handles
• 68 % of mailbox handles
• 43 % of escalator rails
• 41 % of ATM buttons
• 40 % of vehicle meters/kiosks
• 35 % of crosswalk buttons
• 35 % of vending machine buttons

“The chances for health issues to move from the things that individuals use every day
like ATMs and vehicle meters is eye-opening,” says Kaira Reynolds, South National
foundation innovator of The Balanced Workplace Venture for Kimberly-Clark Expert.
“These conclusions indicate that illness-causing microorganisms are everywhere and
have the potential to travel with you into your workplace.

So the next time you make a trip to the vending machine, make sure you wash
your hands afterwards. Or you might be ingesting more than those chips you bought.  

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Staffing in tough labor market

By Jeff Ritz

Cavalier Services strives to recruit and hire the best labor force
available in the markets we serve. Recently we were challenged to
recruit staff in a rural location in NC. Since newspaper publications
are limited in number and distribution in rural locations, Craigslist became
a valuable source for reaching out to our staffing targets.

One of the respondents to the Craigslist ad was an associate
of Goodwill Industries. Goodwill maintains a workforce development program.
Some individuals enrolled in the program have a variety of disabilities while
others are in economic recovery and in need of new skills. Goodwill provides
the correct training and development to enable these individuals to obtain
gainful employment.

Each TeamMate hired through the program with Goodwill is assigned a
ob coach. Both the job coach and the new TeamMate go through the
training and orientation process for the facility they are assigned to.
The use of job cards and job maps assist in guiding the new TeamMate
through the required cleaning specifications.

Cavalier Benefits

• Reliable, stable work force
• TeamMates with reinforced training/job coach
• Community outreach

Customer Benefits

• Staffing needs are met
• Consistency of staff
• Quality trends upward
• Customer/TeamMate relationships are improved

Recruiting TeamMates from various sources continue to demonstrate
the out-of-the-box thinking utilized to fulfill our mission “to consistently deliver
uncompromising Quality service to all of our Customers and TeamMates every day.”

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Environmentally responsible businesses
elevate public opinion

In a telephone poll conducted by Harris Interactive, 70 percent of U.S. adults
agree that environmental certification of a company’s facility by a third-party
organization would improve their opinion of the business.
Diversey, Inc., sponsored the study that surveyed a random sample
of 1,016 U.S. adults regarding the impact of environmental building
certifications on their opinion of a business. The key findings of the report include:

• 69 percent prefer to work in a facility that has been certified by a third-party
  environmental organization
• 64 percent prefer to patronize a business whose facility is certified by a
  third-party environmental organization
• 49 percent feel better about doing business with a company whose
  facility is certified by a third-party environmental organization
• 48 percent indicated that third-party environmental certification of a
  facility improves their perception of a company.
  

“This research suggests that green building certifications are increasingly providing a
competitive advantage for businesses,” added Mike Jenkins, vice president sector sales for
the Diversey Americas business. “A critical part of these certifications is ongoing cleaning and
maintenance of commercial facilities. Maintaining commercial spaces using sustainable products
and processes enhance these facilities’ overall sustainability profile.”

Cavalier Services believes in taking a leadership role in preserving our environment.
We start with products that are Green Seal™ Certified and Environmentally Preferred
along with Healthy High Performance Cleaning Procedures, to help buildings become
cleaner and safer. Currently, Cavalier is working with several clients on attaining their
LEED Certification throughout our service area.

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Cavalier re-certified by Green Seal ™

By Linda Pendergrass

Cavalier Services, who earned its original Green Seal™ GS-42 Certification
for its CavGreen® cleaning process in 2008, is proud to announce its
re-certification on January 31, 2012.

Green Seal™, the premier independent eco-label in the U. S. is a non-profit
organization whose mission is to use science-based programs to empower
consumers, purchasers, and companies to create a more sustainable world.
Green Seal™ sets leadership standards that aim to reduce, to the extent
technologically and economically feasible, the environmental, health,
and social impacts throughout the life-cycle of products, services, and companies.

GS-42 certification demands an annual application and a process review
that includes evaluation of written documentation and an on-site audit by
an independent assessor. The assessment determines whether all procedures,
products, equipment, and processes used in the delivery of the CavGreen
cleaning service meets the criteria for excellence established by Green Seal™.

Third-year re-certification under GS-42 clearly demonstrates Cavalier’s
continued commitment to protecting the environment by using products, equipment,
and processes that reduce waste and avoid use of products that are harmful to humans
and the environment.

Authorized use of the coveted Green Seal™ logo, signifies Cavalier’s ability to
tangibly assure property and facility managers that its service is “certified” green
in every key aspect of its operation.

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Ice, ice baby...

We realize that winter is almost half over and depending on your preference
that’s either a good or bad thing. For us, from the standpoint of safety and maintenance,
no snow or ice makes for a good winter. That being said, the minute this is in print we
will probably get the blizzard of all blizzards. For that reason we thought it would be
good to highlight some of the mistakes associated with ice melt.
In the article “Ice Melt Do’s and Don’ts” in CleanLink.com, Becky Mollenkamp outlines
the top five mistakes users make:

Mistake #1: Not using it
Underneath the snow there’s typically a layer of ice.  
Mistake #2: Using too much
When it comes to spreading the ice melt, less is more.
Mistake #3: Applying it wrong
Read instructions thoroughly.
Mistake #4: Using the wrong kind
Choosing the right kind of ice melt is important.
Mistake #5: Not cleaning it up
Tracking ice melt into the building will leave residues behind that can
potentially ruin floors and carpets. 

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