Oven Cleaning Franchise - Training - Business - AGA

Oven Cleaning Business

Here is a good video from Oven Clean franchise company where Roger Wild describes that their great brand name Oven Clean does what it says on the can: refurbishes ovens! What not deep clean them then? :-) But some good points here about the sort of person they are looking for to start a business with them. But really this is all common sense in starting a cleaning business. Good customer skills in running a professional oven cleaning business is of course the best way to maintain your customer base and getting repeat business which is the name of the game.

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Dip Tank For Oven Cleaning

Image by Ivydale via Flickr

I have been asked the question "For a professional oven cleaning where you provide a deep clean as part of a domestic cleaning service how do you clean the bits of the oven that are difficult to clean like the racks?"

Well when I started looking at oven cleaning as a cleaning business I initially went out with a company for half a day to see how he cleaned ovens.This particular man had a large plastic tub in the back of the van and when he got to the clients house the first thing he did was go into the house and get a bucket of hot water.  He put that water into the plastic tub and then added caustic soda which was in big lumps. He then put the racks into the tub. He therefore didn't heat up the tub any further. He then had another plastic tub the same as the first one into which he poured cold water (again fetched from the house  in a bucket). He used this tub to rinse off the racks. I'd didn't adopt this method!

So why do you need a heating tank?

Well to make it easier to get the grease off of the oven bits the solution needs to be hot. Some companies use a steel tank and heat it up and keep it boiling whilst they are in the house cleaning the rest of the oven manually. And other companies use a plastic tank that is electrically heated and they just heat it up for the day and that's it - which is the method we use.

Therefore five ways to dip oven parts for an oven cleaning business:

1. Buy a gas burner steel oven cleaning tank from Ebay. They do appear now and again as I so one last week but it is a rare occurrence. But make sure it is one you can bolt to the van as you don't want it rolling around everywhere.

2. Come on our training course and buy a plastic electrically heated tank from us. These are great and will enable you to do more jobs in a day as you will have a quicker system that is easier to use with a lot less fuss and agro.

3. Get some plastic tubs from B & Q. Hmmm ... if you must but if you are throwing stuff away dispose of it thoughtfully and if possible take it away with you. This would work okay with a better solution than caustic such as a washing up liquid solution. Expect some manual work to get the racks clean.

4. Forget the tanks and do it manually. You can get away with this if you have strong forearms but it takes a long time and you won't clean many ovens in a day. If you get racks with thick burnt on carbon on them you will have problems cleaning them with some being impossible. So you would have to think how consistant your delivery of service will be with this method.

5. Buy a franchise and get the tank from the franchisor. Okay if you pick the right franchise and invest your money wisely. Currently there are two I'd recommend - Ovenu if they have an available area near you (but they use a burner) or Cookerburra (similar tank to ourselves). With Ovenu edging it because of their national marketing.

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Dip Tank For Oven Cleaning Business

Image by Ivydale via Flickr

How do you clean the bits of the oven that are difficult to clean like the racks?

Well when I started looking at oven cleaning as a business I initially went out with a company for half a day to see how he cleaned ovens.This particular man had a large plastic tub in the back of the van and when he got to the clients house the first thing he did was go into the house and get a bucket of hot water.  He put that water into the plastic tub and then added caustic soda which was in big lumps. He then put the racks into the tub. He therefore didn't heat up the tub any further. He then had another plastic tub the same as the first one into which he poured cold water (again fetched from the house  in a bucket). He used this tub to rinse off the racks. I'd didn't adopt this method!

So why do you need a heating tank?

Well to make it easier to get the grease off of the oven bits the solution needs to be hot. Some companies use a steel tank and heat it up and keep it boiling whilst they are in the house cleaning the rest of the oven manually. And other companies use a plastic tank that is electrically heated and they just heat it up for the day and that's it - which is the method we use.

Therefore five ways to dip oven parts for an oven cleaning business:

1. Buy a gas burner steel oven cleaning tank from Ebay. They do appear now and again as I so one last week but it is a rare occurrence. But make sure it is one you can bolt to the van as you don't want it rolling around everywhere.

2. Come on our training course and buy a plastic electrically heated tank from us. These are great and will enable you to do more jobs in a day as you will have a quicker system that is easier to use with a lot less fuss and agro.

3. Get some plastic tubs from B & Q. Hmmm ... if you must but if you are throwing stuff away dispose of it thoughtfully and if possible take it away with you. This would work okay with a better solution than caustic such as a washing up liquid solution. Expect some manual work to get the racks clean.

4. Forget the tanks and do it manually. You can get away with this if you have strong forearms but it takes a long time and you won't clean many ovens in a day. If you get racks with thick burnt on carbon on them you will have problems cleaning them with some being impossible. So you would have to think how consistant your delivery of service will be with this method.

5. Buy a franchise and get the tank from the franchisor. Okay if you pick the right franchise and invest your money wisely. Currently there are two I'd recommend - Ovenu if they have an available area near you (but they use a burner) or Cookerburra (similar tank to ourselves). With Ovenu edging it because of their national marketing.

What is the Best Van to Buy For an Oven Cleaning Business?

Image via Wikipedia

I've been asked: 'which is the best oven cleaning van to buy for an oven cleaning business?'.

For you to have an oven cleaning specialist van with the best format  then I it should be one that has two side doors and a tailgate door on the back.  This will save you getting wet when working at the back and allow you to work quicker with a side door that is next to the drivers door as you can put things in the van in the offside door and then get into the cab.

The only problem is that to get one of these NEW usually means a factory order and it can take longer to get the van which isn't ideal when starting an oven cleaning business as usually after making the decision to start you want to get going as soon as possible. This is why the franchisors of franchise oven cleaning companies will recommend a van they can source quickly which is usually one without the tailgate.

So the best new van would be say a Renault Kangoo diesel with side doors and tailgate as they do lots of miles to the gallon. Second to this I would consider a VW Caddy (though more expensive) again with the factory ordered bits. Also if you do get it new I would pay up front to extend the warranty to five years. So you could get one on a lease, or HP, over five years with the warranty extended to cover the whole five years. Why five years extended warranty? Well once you have kitted the van out you really want to keep it for five years, as you don't want to go through the hassle and expense of refitting the van, and also to make sure that you are covered for breakdowns it's best to get the warranty extended or else you will be in the position we were in at the end of 2008 when two of our vans needed expensive engine jobs at the same time (both Ford Transit Connects - both needed complete new engine).

If you think you can live without the tailgate (you just get wet when working at the back of the van) then you have a large choice of vans with 'barn doors' at the back either new or old. We have a Citroen Berlingo (old style) and a Ford Transit Connect with this configuration. The Berlingo is great but I wouldn't recommend a Ford Connect or any vehicle that has it's engine as we have quite a few problems with it. If you consider a second hand van you need one with a low mileage and still look at it keeping it for five years.

Alot of oven cleaning companies use Suzuki Carry vans as they come as standard with two side doors and tailgate; we have two Daihatsu Extol vans were are just great (although not brilliant on fuel consumption). Both these vans are Japanese micro vans and tend to be very reliable (I wouldn't recommend the Daihatsu vans with engines made in Italy - that is the older style Daihatsu vans before the Extol came out and the vans that Daihatsu currently sell as the Piaggio Porter - as they are unreliable).

So to sum up my list for a van would be:

1. New Renault Kangoo Diesel two side doors and tailgate and five year warranty.
2. New VW Caddy Diesel with two side doors and tailgate and five year warranty.
3. New Citroen Berlingo with 'barn doors' and two side doors (again if you can extend the warranty to get a five year deal that would be great or look at changing the van after three years).

4. New Nissan NV200 although  as yet I can't confirm if you can get a tailgate on the van.

I don't like the Fiat Dublo or the new micro size vans such as the Citroen Nemo as they are too small - the top of the door is two low and you will be banging your head.

Used:

1. Daihatsu Extol
2. Suzuki Carry
3. Kangoo Diesel with low mileage.
4. Citroen Diesel with low mileage.
5. Vauxhall Combo Dual fuel van.

The first two are more suited for city work, the Kangoo Diesel van with low mileage would be my choice for longer range work involving motorway driving. I know the Berlingo is reliable and the Combo van would save you a lot of money as it runs on LPG.