Cleaning firm set to wipe the floor with competitors

Oct 1 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A CLEANING firm boss who won over celebrity entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne on TV's Dragon's Den believes he can grow his firm's annual sales from £370,000 to £2.5m by 2011 as he moves into cleaning up crime scenes.

Tony Earnshaw entered the Dragon’s Den with his Newcastle-based UK Commercial Cleaning Services company earlier this year and came away with £100,000 from Mr Bannatyne in exchange for a 35% stake in the business.

Mr Earnshaw is now planning to use the cash to set up offices in London by the end of the year to complement his site in Leeds, as well as set up a crime-scene cleaning division after sending a number of his workers on specialist cleaning courses.

The division will handle cleaning jobs after forensic teams have left a crime scene, which is an area of work that has yet to be tapped into by most domestic cleaning companies due to its sensitive nature.

He now expects to hit a turnover of £1.5m this year and add another £1m in two years’ time as a result of the expansion and ongoing support from Darlington-based leisure tycoon Bannatyne.

The firm, which will employ 40 staff once its London operation opens for business, expects to employ 60 staff by 2011 to help with its growing portfolio of contracts, which includes window cleaning for Sunderland City Council and the Bannatyne’s Health Club chain.

“We now expect sizeable growth over the coming years as we begin to enter new markets in addition to our core window cleaning, fire and flood restoration cleaning and deep steam cleaning work,” Mr Earnshaw said.

“The crime scene division will bring something new to the business and should help us gain an edge over our competitors.”

The company’s humble origins make its future aspirations all the more impressive, with Mr Earnshaw starting out in 2004 after buying a window cleaning round for £300.

As a 19-year-old, he quit his role at waste management company Biffa and proceeded to transform the window cleaning round from a handful of houses into a £6,000-a-month business in just six months.

However, he was not content with the easy life and faced the Dragons in August alongside his sales manager and long-time friend Stephen Pearsons with the aim of securing the required investment for a 25% stake in the business.

Ultimately, despite a last minute offer from James Caan for a 50% stake in the firm, the pair shook hands with Bannatyne.

“Duncan has helped to transform us from a semi-national firm to fully fledged national firm through his long list of contacts ,” Mr Earnshaw said. “As a director of the company he has pledged to lend us his support into the future, which could result in investment if needed."