Cleaning Olympics Who Knew They Existed!!

September 25, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Funny, News , add a comment

But apparently they do and Britain did quite well.

A young cleaner won two gold medals in the ‘cleaning olympics’.

Kirsty Steele from Sowerby Bridge, was part of Team UK, who took part in the Cleaning Services Team event at the EuroSkills 2008 competition in Rotterdam last week.

Not only did Team UK win gold, but Kirsty came home with a personal gold as the highest scoring cleaning supervisor in the cleaning competition.

EuroSkills is the pan-European skills competition in which 29 countries battle to prove they are the most skilled at 25 different competitions including cleaning and fashion.

Kirsty said: ‘Words really can’t describe how pleased I am with the results. I don’t mind getting my hands mucky at all.’

’The competition was tough and being up against the best cleaners in Europe adds a tremendous amount of pressure. But I have been training hard for this and managed to concentrate on the job in hand and doing the best I could.’

’Competing at EuroSkills has been such a great experience and I’m really happy we’ve managed to show the whole of Europe how talented the UK really is.’

Kirsty was one of 16 young people in Team UK, who achieved eight gold medals and one silver in total.

The Price of Keeping our Properties Clean!

September 24, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, News, Office Cleaning, Total Clean Services , add a comment

An article The Guardian informs us that our cleaning services are at the same price as 5 years ago in 2003, and it also serves up some interesting facts about our cleaning habits.

Dusting, washing, ironing, disinfecting and general tidying up – keeping a property clean means waging an endless battle against grime.

According to the UK 2000 Time Use Survey from the Office of National Statistics, women spend on average 21 hours a week on household chores, with men coming in at just over 11.5 hours a week.

The survey estimates the value of this work at £700 billion a year for the UK and, with just over 24 million households that works out at a staggering £576 a week.

However, if you’re going to pay other people to clean your house, you probably won’t ask them to turn up for three hours a day – two to three hours a week is more likely.

Cleaners will carry out most general chores except laundry. However, a service operating predominantly in North London but which has plans to go city-wide will collect your laundry and return it after either ironing it, or washing and ironing it.

Window-cleaning is also usually excluded from weekly domestic services – if it isn’t, expect to pay from £5 to £20 to have all the outsides of your windows cleaned, depending on where you live.

Total Clean Services Ltd offer bespoke office cleaning for areas in and around London. For more information on our services please click here.

Smoking Ban Blamed for Dry Cleaning Chains Drop in Profit

September 9, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, News , add a comment

The dry cleaning chain Johnson has blamed last year’s smoking ban in pubs and clubs for its fall in profits.

The dry cleaning business saw profits fall by 80% to £400,000 in the six months after the smoking ban was introduced, quite a dramatic decrease I think you’ll agree. Johnson’s are putting this down to customers’ clothes no longer reeking of stale smoke after a night out.

The smoking ban that came into effect in July 2007 has also harmed business at pub chains.

Johnson‘s has said: ‘The smoking ban has now been effective for over 12 months and…this has impacted dry cleaning volumes.’

The firm has issued a number of profit warnings after worries about rising levels of debt.

To reduce the amount of costs, the firm has sold its corporate clothing division, which made uniforms for Sainsbury’s and Argos.

Johnson’s adds: ‘We are now well positioned to seize commercial opportunities but unfortunately we are not immune to weaknesses in the UK economy, which continues to be difficult.’

Total Clean Services Ltd offer bespoke office cleaning in London, for more information please click here.

Cleaning Tips for Your Many Different Floors

September 3, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning Advice, Cleaning Tips, Floor Treatments, News , 1 comment so far

It is more than likely your house has at least a few different types of flooring in. So cleaning all of these can be tricky, especially when they tend to need different ways of cleaning.

Here are some tips on how how to clean the most common of flooring:

- Ceramic tiling: Don’t use harsh abrasive cleaners that might scratch the tiles. Instead use a damp-mop on the ceramic tiles with an all-purpose cleaner. Then dry the floor with a soft cloth to avoid streaks.

- Vinyl floors: To wash this type of floor, use an all-purpose cleaning solution. Test any cleaner in a corner before using it on the entire floor. 

- Wood floors: The most effective way of cleaning a wooden floor applying a liquid wood-floor cleaner with a dry wax applicator on a small area at a time. Let it soak for a few minutes, and wipe up the excess. When the floor is dry, buff with a floor polisher.

- Carpet Cleaning: The simplest way to keep your carpets clean is to vacuum regularly. But for an effective deep clean it is best to have your carpet steam cleaned. 

Here at Total Clean Services Ltd we provide bespoke floor cleaning treatments for companies in London, if you would like more information please click here.

Laundry & Dry Cleaning Business in Administration

September 1, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a comment

Scotia Linen Services, Scotland’s largest independent laundry and dry-cleaning business, has fallen into administration with a loss of 17 jobs.

This came as a result of being hit by high energy prices. Administrators, of accountancy firm Tenon, plan to continue trading Scotia as they attempt to sell the cleaning business.

The 17 redundancies are a result of the closure of Scotia’s factory and shop at Whitburn in West Lothian, and of the company’s locations in Edinburgh’s New Town and at George Street and Cornhill in Aberdeen.

The cleaning company Scotia employed 108 people across 19 sites. Six sites provide industrial-scale laundry facilities for major corporate clients, including hotels and ferries, and employ around 60 staff.

The remaining 12, in residential areas, have been providing dry-cleaning and other services to individuals.

Scotia’s annual turnover since 1992 has grown to more than £2m.