The business was started with £1,500.00. I bought an old rascal van, some valeting materials, a K'archer Vac plus Pressure Washer plus an upholstery cleaning machine and set about opening up connections with motor trade mobile valeting. Within 15 months I had premises and employed 3 people mainly for trade valeting. By now I was learning that my trusty K'archer could clean carpets; so I read a book or two and off I went.
The route forward!
Realising the market potential I decided to shift direction to carpets/upholstery, (Trade valeting was really hard going and it was very difficult to make a return on the money I put in).
I invested in a Stimvak Compact, quickly followed by a Stimvak Toto II and I attended courses and read manuals (quickly realising the potential/inevitable damage to be caused, by ignorance and not having a method of assessment prior to cleaning). Thankfully my natural catious attitude carried me through and many of my early customers still support me to this day. A switch of chemicals; Stimvak to Prochem and a new supplier opened up more of a need to again go back to the manuals and the more I delved - guess what? There was another angle/opportunity.
Ouch!
In 1998 I was experiencing problems with another company trading under the same name, so the decision to change to 'Saddleworth Cleaning Services' was made. At the same time, a development company approached me. They were converting derelict mills into business centres and asked could I service 1 toilet, and office and a small rest room during renovation (½ hour each day for £25). As the MD was both a existing connection and also a personal friend, I duly obliged. Since then I have grown with them, moved to oversee an existing business centre and latterly the conversion of another that now provides work for 5 full time employees and 4 part time employees. These opportunities have created the contract cleaning side of my business. this has been achieved with a great deal of flexibility, by being competitive and above all professional. In addition to these 3 contracts, six more have been attained by word of mouth recommendation - total staff now 11.
proCLEAN® support.
All of this good contract stuff had unfortunately restricted activity in the growth of the carpet/upholstery division but over the last 12 months this has been addressed and is slowly accelerating with support from proCLEAN® and subsequently Nuva® and hopefully allied carpets. Whilst overseeing the requirements of the business centres, working practices and methods were brought to the fore.
All manner of floor coverings and problems, fast turnaround, confidence and seminar facilities, yet more problems, more IT equipment than you can imagine and yes more problems. We today have coped and machinery has been added to: 1 Truvox Hydromist, 1 Host Freestyle Dry Compound System, 1 Von Schrader VS, 2 upholstery cleaner, 1 Prochem Spot pro, plenty of attachments and now ®Nuva Protection System.
Definitely getting there
I now feel we can cater for all situations and having gained experience in cleaning across the full spectrum. We have undergone a complete corporate facelift and are actively promoting ourselves in the market place. The captive audience we hae within the business centres; small and large businesses, their employees and users of the various sites that have given us a good sound base to service and expand from. I've always worked on the principles of
• Flexibility
• Personal Service
• Being competetive
• Professionalism
Together with proCLEAN® I look forward to positive growth and a really prosperous future for my company.
Paul Schofield
Saddleworth Cleaning Services
Membership No. 429
