Some of the Problems in running a cleaning business

If the beginning of the week was difficult the end of the week was very nearly impossible. Because of problems with cleaners having their transport stolen and being on holiday or going off sick at the last minute it has meant covering several of our contract cleans at very short notice. This in itself is not so much of a problem but juggling time is. What it has meant is getting up at 2.30am since Wednesday morning through to Saturday morning in order to cover 4 -6 cleans and working through the day finally finishing at around 7.30pm each night excluding Saturday from this as this is a lunchtime finish! Fortunately on Monday we should return to normal activities which will allow me to concentrate on new business, the website and this log!

Difficult few days

This week it is the school half term holidays consequently we have numerous staff also on holiday which means that we have to pitch in and do the covering much of the time. With ongoing builders cleans many miles away from our home base this can produce difficulties. For example yesterday I travelled 132 miles to carry out a builders clean which couldn't happen because there was no power on at all as the electricians were behind schedule. Stayed for a couple of hours to do some small jobs but then had to call it a day and travel back. Unfortunately the journey back was hampered by high winds and torrential rain so did not arrive back until quite late. In bed by midnight and up again at 2.0am to cover the morning cleans. Meanwhile Les was up and away at 4.0am to complete the builders clean. He arrived promptly at 7.0am and after about an hours work the machines decided to breakdown! This meant it all had to be done by hand ... not an easy job. He completed by 7.0pm and journeyed back. Meanwhile I covered some of the evening cleans. Tomorrow morning I actually get to stay in bed slightly longer ... I don't have to get up until 2.30am! However I should be back by 11.0am and this time I am going to try and catch up on some sleep. The answer phones will just have to work overtime. Calm hopefully returns to our lives by about next Tuesday ... I hope.

Friday 21st October

Did quite well after the latest Google update with backlinks but page rank failed to improve. Wrote another article this evening and published to the distributors and ezines. The article was about writing articles and the benfit to the website based on personal experience! I can thoroughly reccommend article writing to any body out there who might have thought about it but has been putting it off. As the internet is generating so much new business I am having to contemplate employing an SEO to keep the site up to date as my time is now being taken up with the new business. However I will continue writing articles and updating our weblog.

Busy Day

Les went down to Wales today to do a house clean for someone about to move in; a floor job for the Welsh Amulance Service and a quote for six flights of very old terrazzo tiled stairs. He returns tomorrow. Whereas I degreased a chip shop floor and then went off to supervise a new contract on Hayling Island. Left there at ten this morning for London where I dropped off some cleaning materials; did a quote for an office clean and saw a TV company who are in the planning stages of a programme involving cleaners. Just as radio 5 was giving the weather forecast for the evening .... dry except on the coast ... a thunderstorm started and it hailed followed by bouts of torrential rain which continued all the way down the M3. Have to be up and about by 4am in the morning so will sign off.

New Service Announcement

We are because of a link up with another company now able to offer a brand new cleaning service to our existing customers and potential customers. This cleaning service is the, testing, cleaning and refurbishment of Ventilation Systems. Clean and efficient ventilation systems are paramount in the continuing good health of all employees within hospitals, other public buildings, office complexes, industrial sites and kitchens. Air Conditioning ducts build up dirt and other small particles including bacteria and viruses some of which can be potentially very harmful to individuals working within the building. Regular servicxing and cleaning can prevent all such problems and provide better quality air which is fit to breathe.

Franchising

We need franchisees in London, Birmingham, South West England, East Anlia, the Norh West and North East as well as Scotland. Anybody interested in joining Sparkle Cleaning Services as a franchisee visit the site on the main web site, business opportunities

13th October - Good day? Bad Day?

13th October 2005, a memorable day as it is my birthday. I cannot help who I share this birthday with but I didn't have a great birthday bash to which the Queen and the Prime minister were invited umlike a certain person who shall remain nameless! Instead I went to work! A nice straightforward day was planned. Visit the cleaners at a site we are due to take over next week, revisit a house that had a carpet clean a week ago to investigate some stains that had appeared on the carpets subsequently and lastly visit a large house that was being sold whose owners wanted it cleaned before selling it on. All of these places were between 30 and 40 miles away from us and roughly within easy proximity of each other so the days visits had been carefully co-ordinated. Plenty of time had been allocated to eack visit so that a long leasurely lunch could be included by the banks of the River Hamble. A very pretty spot near the Hampshire coast. All went well initially despite the fact that we were about three quarters of an hour later in leaving than that originally planned. However that time difference prooved to be quite critical as we arrived to see the cleaners to find they had finished 15 minutes ahead of schedule and just departed the site. Never mind on to the next call, albeit earlier than anticipated. 5 minutes into our journey and we receive a call from the letting agents that unfortunately they would not be able to get there to let us in so could we rearrange the appointment! Not to worry we can see if we can reaarange the third appointment and shift it to the morning from the afternoon. However we were unable to contact the owner so we decided to return to base have lunch and keep that appointment as arranged. Lunch needless to say was very pleasant and at two pm we set off for this appointment at three. Now the bad part! Both of us had made an assumption that we actually knew where we were going so neither of us had actually checked on the map! We duely arrived at 3pm in a place which was totally incorrect! Asking some poor unsuspecting passers-by where our correct destination was we where informed that we were about 40 miles away from it! We did manage to find it in the end despite road closure signs requiring us to make a considerable detour. However on arrival we were met not by the owner as arranged, they coukdn't make it, but by a New Yorker who had just arrived from Heathrow airport! He could show us around the property but had no idea what the owners wanted doing with it with regards cleaning arrangements. However a simple telephone call sorted that one. I managed to arrive home at about 6, settled down to enjoy a nice cup of coffee with the evening news and wole up four and a half hours later! The end to a not so perfect day.

Cleaning Services

All sectors of our cleaning services are performing very well, Contract cleaning is expanding at the rate of about two new clients per month. Requests for the cleaning and polishing of marble, terrazzo, limestone and granite are coming in at the rate of one or two per day from all over the United Kingdom. Oven cleaning requests arrive at about one or two per week but in the run up to Christmas it is anticipated that these will increase markedly. Builders cleans are running at an average of one per week. One off cleans for domestic houses are averaging one per week. With regard to our different areas of coverage South Wales seems to be performing exceptionally well and expanding at a manageable level. London is prooving quite difficult to get up and running with regard to contract cleaning but specialist cleans within London are doing very well.

Google Adsense

I have decided to reinstate the google ads but only on the weblog. Subsequent information from SEO experts would indicate that Yahoo does not seem to penalise weblogs, but we shall see!

New Cleaning Services

Due to our expansion we are now able to offer oven cleaning as a separate cleaning service. Previously we carried this service out only as part of a general one off house clean. This service is available in Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Essex, Suffolk, and London areas.