Town & Country Cleaning has entered the competitive school cleaning market with its first significant contract win with WMAT (Weydon Multi Academy Trust), which includes the prestigious Weydon School in Farnham and Woolmer Hill School in Hindhead/Haslemere. 

Based in Farnham, Weydon is a state secondary comprehensive with 1,500 pupils recently rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted. Led by Jackie Sharman, Weydon has had significant investment in recent years including dedicated new buildings, IT and learning resources. Woolmer Hill, based in Hindhead just outside Haslemere, is a secondary school with just under c500 pupils and has suffered from financial challenges in recent times. Led by John Winter, CEO, WMAT provides financial stability and synergies to further enhance the performance of its sister schools such as Woolmer Hill.

Like many state schools, Weydon wanted to improve on repeatedly awarding its cleaning contract to larger cleaning providers. These companies have tended to not be in touch with the day-to-day experience in the school, appointing junior account managers and relying on a constant stream of cleaners paid the national minimum wage with all that that entails.

After a comprehensive tender of some +20 cleaning contractors, Town & Country Cleaning was awarded the multi-year contract based on:

1) Competitively priced with good ideas to add value to operations

2) Uniquely based across Surrey including Farnham and Hindhead/Haslesmere

3) Budget differentiating general/holiday cleaning and sign-off on all project cleaning

4) Local employer offering more local/reliable cleaners, paying above the national minimum wage and crucially giving them a reason to stay loyal

5) Director-level account management which is both intelligent and responsive

Town & Country Cleaning prides itself on being a Farnham company since 1977 with very prestigious customer references including Weydon School, Redfields Garden Centre, Wentworth Golf Club, Charterhouse School and Churchill Retirement. The Company is committed to recruiting the best cleaners in the local area, ensuring employee job security, training, paying above the minimum wage and offering a workplace pension. This allows the Company to attract and retain better staff that in turn delivers improved quality and continuity of service for the customer.

Lee Turner, Managing Director of Town & Country Cleaning said, “schools are extremely important organisations in our community but traditional public-sector procurement processes do not adequately assess value-for-money. This typically underestimates the value a local company can bring in being responsive, providing more robust account management, understanding the local employment situation, and genuinely caring about the staff and the customer in their home town”.

“We have seen peak-corporate/globalisation…the market is slowly reverting back to using local companies that pay people properly for the work they do and being able to quickly respond to any given situation. On the first day all cleaners were given an immediate pay rise, demonstrating our commitment to our staff”.

Town & Country Cleaning has some 85 staff managing +300 customers for both commercial and domestic clients across the south of England, with a 24hr manned reception, insurance to £10m and experienced ring-fenced teams dedicated to each customer/project.

Below is a list of achievements at Weydon:

1) Won competitive tender with significant cost savings, re-contracting cleaners separating holiday project cleans from main general clean budget.

2) TUPE/improved team and hired local cleaners (not bussed in unpaid from London).

3) 100% general clean payroll with cover and same day cleaner/supervisor replacement.

4) Supply professional cleaning equipment, e.g. Taski machines, Truvox multi-wash and battery scrubbers, rapid mops, industrial/cordless vacuums.

5) Supply professional cleaning supplies (Prochem/Selden) with next day delivery and reduced (open book) consumables quotation.

6) Same day administrative response, 100% invoice accuracy, 24hr manned reception and director-level account management.

7) Increased cleaner pay above minimum wage plus bonuses, workplace pension and additional work improving staff welfare/retention (c99%).

8) Proactive value-add without additional budget, e.g. project cleaning, housekeeping.

9) Customer satisfaction score +90% and 100% on all project cleans.

10) No significant outstanding issues regarding cleaning.

“Best Independent Contract Cleaning Company” (Surrey) – Build / Facilities Management