Tell us your “why” in the FM world.

OpenWorks is a modern facilities management company with more than 40 years of experience creating cleanliness, safety, and wellness in the working world. The ethos of the OpenWorks brand begins with the American dream.  

Our Why is to keep America and her built environment running. Without commercial cleaning or stewards of building and environmental maintenance, the country would be left in chaos. OpenWorks employees work tightly together to maintain and protect assets that keep America working toward a more sustainable and functional future.  

Founder and CEO, Eric Roudi, created the company with a vision rooted in hard work and a desire to contribute to the American working landscape. After cleaning and servicing the building where he opened the first OpenWorks office, he quickly saw how great the need for professional cleaning was. He saw the need and stepped in to fill it.  

Because Eric gained first-hand experience in what it took to create a professional and hygienic environment for the working world, he knew how to refine what his vision looked like. Today, OpenWorks is far from your typical "one-size-fits-all" facility management or janitorial services company.  

We provide operational oversight with technological solutions while professionally trained service providers create bespoke solutions for individual facilities. OpenWorks' service providers focus on making buildings across the textured swath of working America safer, cleaner, and more compliant.

Why Should FMs Pick You As a Partner?

The commercial cleaning industry historically has a 200% turnover rate. Traditionally, paying a minimum wage fee for what appears to be menial labor is not a tenable or sustainable system.  

OpenWorks knows that janitorial and commercial cleaning can be a thankless job that is overlooked in its importance (until it’s missed). Unskilled cleaners in charge of million-dollar facilities need to be given the skills they need to service them. In addition, they must have the commitment and understanding to work as a partner alongside companies requiring incomparable and high-quality service.   

Our franchise model gives folks accountability and responsibility to become true business owners. OpenWorks’ franchisees undergo hours of continuous training that includes safety and regulatory protocols, chemical cleaning product use, and business acumen. This keeps OpenWorks franchisees—and service providers—up to date on the latest regulatory changes, methods, and products in cleaning.  

When OpenWorks began a little over 40 years ago, it quickly became more than a business or a job. The brand became an opportunity for others who want more out of life and have the desire and fortitude to be stewards of organization and cleaning.  

OpenWorks provides the commercial cleaning industry with locally driven business owners who are committed to maintaining the buildings in their hometowns. This model combines the best ideals of employing local service workers while still having oversight and governance from a larger company that can oversee the quality and impart the training, finances, and systems to scale.  

How is your company/product changing/improving the FM industry?

OpenWorks is the “Goldilocks” answer in a world of cleaning companies that are so gigantic that they concentrate on real estate over cleaning or so small that they have zero to little support in training and resources.  

OpenWorks prides itself on being a disruptor and innovator in the facility management industry. As a brand, we launch innovative solutions like the OpenWorks portal, which gives clients and service providers an in-depth view of what the job requires, how it was completed, and specific and ancillary data about the work order.  

A service ticket becomes so much more through this window. It becomes a data stream, an opportunity by using technology to make data-driven decisions, leading to more sustainable, bespoke solutions.  

Because OpenWorks understands the complexities of individual locations and buildings, we create a one-of-a-kind plan depending on what our clients need. For example, a cold storage company has many diverse needs throughout its locations. And we won’t treat them the same. We see risk before our clients do. 

Through technology, service workers can partner with a customer, whether they are in manufacturing, cold storage, entertainment, or healthcare. With a window into the customer’s mission through the OpenWorks portal, service providers are now much more than cleaners. They are partners in the industry, assisting a company in providing wellness to its patients or a trained workforce, assuring that a warehouse passes a surprise audit.  

OpenWorks provides jobs and a future to those willing to work hard for it. We were founded on the idea that through work, vision, and dedication, anyone can attain the dreams they desire for themselves.  

And, in a world where the term “worker shortage” is repeated ad nauseam, OpenWorks has a feasible solution. By offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to provide a valuable service, grow larger on their own, and solve a nationwide problem, we view facility management and its service providers as the nation’s recession-proof engine.