For industrial cleaners, COVID-19 brings boom

MONTREAL • Besides grocers and mask makers, the coronavirus pandemic has been good for at least one other type of business — industrial cleaners.

Paul Davis Restoration Inc. says demand for preventive cleaning and emergency disinfection and decontamination is up about 15 per cent in the Montreal area since the start the coronavirus epidemic. Covid-19-related work now represents about one- quarter of business, said Karine Melançon, managing director of the Florida-based company’s Montreal office.

With the health crisis in full swing, company managers are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week to field calls and schedule cleaning j obs, said Melançon, who has run Paul Davis Montreal for the last three years. The company has about 30 full- time staff here, in addition to a group of regular subcontractors, Melançon said.

“We’re extremely busy,” Melançon said Thursday in a telephone interview. “The only time I can remember things being so hectic was in the spring of 2017, with the flooding in Pierrefonds.”

About 800 h o mes were evacuated in Pierrefonds-roxboro area of Montreal because of the 2017 floods.

Quebec had 11,677 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 241 deaths as of Friday afternoon, The Canadian Press reported.

All non- essential businesses in the province are closed until May 4.

Supermarkets, big- box stores and other retailers are among the businesses that have turned to Paul Davis for coronavirus- related work in recent weeks, Melançon said.

All cleaning employees wear full protective clothing — including masks, gloves and “coverall” suits reminiscent of those worn by nuclear plant employees — when applying disinfectant. Clothing is washed after every job, as is the equipment.

“Dressed like that they look like they’re from NASA, so we have to warn customers ahead of time,” Melançon said. “Our biggest challenge is reassuring people. The equipment our employees wear doesn’t mean that it’s dangerous for others.”

To reduce contamination risks, all company employees are encouraged to travel to jobs in separate vehicles. Customers sign invoices electronically and receive them via email or text message.

With individual bottles in short supply because of the surge in demand, Paul Davis has taken to ordering disinfectant by the 200- litre drum. “It’s the new normal,” Melançon said. “We’re not about to run out.”

While COVID-19 related business is booming, restoration and repair work tied to water infiltrations, mould, fires or storms still makes up the bulk of the company’s business. Fires, however, would appear to be down.

“People are staying home all day, so they can stop fires from spreading more rapidly,” Melançon said. “That’s one good thing about the crisis.”