How a Global Consumer Brand Moved Its Australian Headquarters and Stores Onto One Help Desk and One Invoice

Key facts

• Client: Australian subsidiary of a US consumer brand
• Building: Office and warehouse · Sydney, NSW, plus retail stores in several states
• Services: Integrated facilities management · cleaning · security monitoring · trades

Results at a glance

• Suppliers and invoices: separate suppliers for each service → one account manager, one help desk and one invoice
• Service levels: response times and invoice accuracy written into the contract
• Reporting to head office: monthly spend reports, quarterly performance reports and a quarterly business review
• Store exits: services removed store by store, without penalty, as leases ended

The challenge

The local team had to run facilities to global corporate standards: documented service levels, accurate invoicing through the company's procurement system and regular performance reviews.

Services were spread across cleaning, waste, hygiene, security and trades, each with its own supplier and paperwork. The store network was also changing, so services had to scale down store by store as leases ended.

Why they chose PlaceHQ

The company's main worry was meeting head office's standards for service, reporting and invoicing from Australia. PlaceHQ answered with service levels in the contract, a fixed reporting cycle and invoices matched to an agreed schedule, plus terms that let stores be removed as leases ended.

The first 90 days

PlaceHQ took on the full facilities service for the headquarters and security monitoring for the stores.

• First: help desk live in business hours, with an after-hours emergency line and work orders tracked through an online portal
• Then: cleaning three times a week, waste, recycling and washroom hygiene programs, alarm monitoring for every site and nightly security patrols at the headquarters
• Then: regular quarterly business reviews with the client

The results

• Cost: One consolidated invoice, matched to the agreed schedule, replaced separate supplier bills.
• Compliance and risk: Every site was alarm-monitored, the headquarters was patrolled nightly, and trades and essential services were managed on the client's behalf.
• The local team's time: One account manager replaced several supplier relationships, and head office received the reports it expected without the local team compiling them.

As the retail footprint changed, store services were removed site by site under terms agreed at the start.