Excellent first year for ServiceMaster Clean

The owners of a cleaning and restoration firm operating across Devon have celebrated their first year in business with an ‘excellent’ rating from their first annual customer survey.

Andrew and Claire Garman purchased their ServiceMaster Clean franchise in October 2013 after relocating to Devon from the Home Counties and have enjoyed a successful first year in business.

The business, which has high standards of customer service, undertook a customer survey to ensure satisfaction was met all across the board. The results of the survey showed that 94% of customers found their service ‘excellent’ and 6% reported the service as ‘good’.

Andrew said: “We had been looking at a number of franchise opportunities and we found ServiceMaster Clean Devon available and jumped at the chance. It was a huge change in lifestyle to move here but an exciting opportunity to take. The Devon territory was being sold by its previous owners and we spotted a great opportunity to take an already established business with potential for further growth.”

Having little experience in the cleaning and disaster restoration industries or owning their own business, Andrew and Claire underwent an intensive training academy at franchisor, ServiceMaster Limited’s headquarters in Leicestershire before commencing trading. The couple retained all 11 existing staff and were able to continue running the operation during the takeover process.

Claire added: “It’s been a big challenge to continue the high standards of work that our customers are used to but we feel we’ve succeeded in our first year. This industry is constantly changing and you have to move with the flow and adapt quickly. We have clear and defined goals for our future and with our fantastic team, we’re aiming to achieve them quicker than originally hoped.”

ServiceMaster Clean Devon operates across Exeter, Torquay, Exmouth and Dartmouth offering carpet and upholstery cleaning for domestic and commercial clients and restoration services for water and fire-damaged properties. In 2012, the company won the Western Morning News Customer Service Award.