Oven Cleaning Franchise - Training - Business - AGA

The Joy of Food Week Oct 9 to Oct 12 at the Mall Cribbs Causeway

We will be at the The Joy Of Food Week at the Mall Cribbs Causeway Bristol from Thursday 9th October to Sunday 12th October 2008. We will have a stand there and we will be running a competition and booking in ovens to be cleaned. More details will follow soon...

Bulbs Now Included - New Oven Cleaning Prices

We have just changed our prices to give a new minimum charge for each job. So our starting price is now £59 which is for a single oven and hob. We have done this because the cost of fuel has had a big effect on our day to day running costs.

The price includes the racks inside, the grill pan and VAT. This is a fully inclusive price which most of our competitors do not quote you on the phone or on their price list on the internet. The price also now includes replacement bulbs if required. This means a saving of up to £10 (on our previously charge of £5.00 per replacement bulb) depending on the make and model of your oven.

We are looking to leave your oven not only sparkling a clean but with also with fully functional internal lighting; so you can see what's cooking!

Oven Cleaning Van Trouble

We have five vans for our business though one of them isn't fitted out as yet with a dipping tank and hasn't got our OvenGleam branding on. We have:

• A 2004 Transit Connect 1.9 Diesel
• A 2005 Transit Connect 1.9 Diesel
• A 2006 Daihatsu Extol 1.3 Petrol
• A 2006 Daishatsu Extol 1.3 Diesel
• A 2006 Citroen Berlingo 1.9 Diesel

They've all got their individual merits with the Daihatsu being good around town and the Transit Connect just great to drive. The Berlingo was a van I use in another business which I no longer have, and as it's not a turbo model it takes a while to get it going. We been operating with three vans booked up everyday and with me in the fourth giving cover so that we can book in last minute cleans and I've also been cleaning alot of AGAs.

We've been on holiday in the last week - we were in France and the weather was fab so we've got a bit of a suntan. But whilst we were away someone broke the windscreen on the Berlingo and the 2005 Transit Connect Engine blew up!  We got the windscreen replaced on the Berlingo today.

Our 2004 Transit Connect has been off the road for the last two months - it's a long story but basically the oil filter came undone and the van suddenly lost oil and siezed - we've been looking to take action against the garage that serviced it (mot and service for £100!). So at this moment we have only two vans operating. So now its all go to get the Berlingo fitted out as soon as possible; we're going to get it done on Monday so this will mean minimal disruption to the clients we've already got booked in.

We are going to trade in one of the Transit Connects for a new van and as I saw the the new Renault Kangoo van in France whilst there it's top of my list ; it looked a lot different from the current Kangoo looking more beefy and muscular and it will certainly look great when sign written with our logos. We are going to get the other Transit Connect fixed.

Local Life Open Day at the AGA Shop Bath

We went to the Local Life Open Day at the AGA shop in Bath last Saturday 13th September 2008 and we spent about an hour there (there was a restriction on parking outside!). It was enough time though to pick up some AGA cooking tips from the demonstrator there - James McIntosh.

James is a Home Economist and he carries out AGA demonstrations all over the country and looking at his schedule he is booked up until the end of December 2009. We picked up some great tips and I will now be trying to get to other demonstrations at either the Bath AGA shop or other AGA shops as we got lots of value from this small snippet of an AGA demonstraion.

We also bought some new AGA books whilst there and it was a very enjoyable morning. 

All Ovens Cleaned and Correct Sir!

We finished all the ovens in the student accommodation with Hugo finishing on the Wednesday and myself and Alan finishing on the Thursday. I had a few ovens to clean on the Thursday and then I had to check the ovens that hadn't been checked to make sure that they had been cleaned properly. So once they had been checked we could go home. This meant we all had at least the Friday off to recover. What happended last year was that nearly all the guys went sick on the Monday and I'm sure it was a case of overdoing it the week before.

This year everyone has been at work today - except me - I've got a stinking cold and I'm at home - maybe I over did it!

We were given a window of two weeks (everything to be cleaned before the new students moved in) in which we could have done them. We could have done them over two weeks with the guys doing 4 a day each, but for me the best way was to get them done in fast time as this meant we weren't in the way of the general cleaners also in the buildings. Which meant in nearly all cases we could get the ovens cleaned in the kitchens before the cleaners cleaned the rest of them and then once they had finished the kitchen wouldn't be touched again until the students moved in.

Student Accommodation Oven Cleaning

We are cleaning 128 ovens this week in a student block. All four of us are working on site and its a tough one. We are trying to get 8 ovens cleaned each per day to finish the job in four days. Yesterday I cleaned 8 and today I've cleaned 10 and I'm aching quite a bit.

The other guys have done similar amounts except for Nigel who seems to have become a super hero in that he cleaned 16 yesterday and 16 today! He started really early and worked late and missed lunch and really went for it.  I've checked them all today and they are all perfectly cleaned, sparkling and bright, with a nice clean smooth feel to them - just as they should be. As we are all allocated the same amount anyone who completes their job in less time can have the rest of the time off; a good motivator. So tomorrow whilst we are struggling to get the rest done Nigel will be resting his tired limbs.

Oven Cleaning Partnerships

I find part of the challenge of running a successful oven cleaning company is helping my clients solve problems in other parts of their lives. On many an occassion we are asked if we know of any good window cleaners, domestic cleaners, carpet cleaners etc. So a while ago we started forming partnerships with these types of companies for the convenience of our clients. Our current top two recommendations are:

'Time For You Domestic Cleaning'.  A domestic cleaning company which provides a regular cleaning and ironing service as well as those all important one-off, end of tenancy Spring cleans. The great thing about this partnership is that many of the products on the market for domestic oven cleaning can be potentially harmful to cleaners if used incorrectly so we are able to carry out professional oven cleaning on their behalf. Time For You Domestic Cleaning is in fact a national franchise currently with over 100 franchisees across the country and still growing.

'KwikDry' is our local  carpet cleaning company based in Bristol and run by a lovely man called Alan. Many a time he has helped our clients out at short notice providing a swift professional carpet cleaning service.

 

MyHome Into Administration

Some news just in which will interest people in the domestic cleaning industry; and interests us as OvenClean, a competitor of ours, is part of the MyHome group; see www.ovenclean.com and www.myhome.com

Domestic cleaning specialist Myhome International <MYHM.L>, which has over 900 franchisees, has gone into administration. The appointment of Ernst & Young as administrators affects only the parent company rather than the trading subsidiaries. Administrator Roy Bailey explained that underlying businesses are not subject to the insolvency proceedings and should continue to operate while the group's strategic options are considered. Shares in Myhome were suspended on Wednesday at five-pence after the group received a demand notice from Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L> for the immediate payment of loans totalling eight million pounds.

See financial times for the full story:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c08dfe42-7ab2-11dd-adbe-000077b07658.html

and

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/myhome-suspended-on-aim-after-lloyds-pulls-the-plug-918130.html

Also see:

http://www.myhome.com/group/investorrelations.html

Microfibre Cloths

We use microfibre cloths and I have just been reading an article that says that microfibres vary in quality and the more expensive ones can be more efficient. I have found that micofibre cloths are very good for particular tasks and I now use them more than I used to.

Busy Week For AGAs

Today is Monday and this week we already have six AGAs booked into clean. I can only guess that the reason for this is that with all this terrible weather people are thinking about Winter just that little bit earlier and they are getting their AGA ready before it gets cold.