Taylor-Made Franchising signs-up Thomas Cleaning as business goes from strength-to-strength.
Despite the dark presence of Covid-19 hanging over the business community for the past seven to eight months, it has been a productive year for Taylor-Made Franchising. In the summer of 2020, Darren Taylor – founder and owner of Taylor-Made Franchising – added a fifth business to his ever-expanding network. The purchase of Thomas Cleaning has proved to be a welcome addition to Darren’s existing collection of four successful franchises (StumpBusters UK Ltd; Wilkins Chimney Sweep; PVC Vendo;).
Thomas Cleaning has been around since 1990, having been founded by midlander Richard Thomas before becoming a franchise operation 21 years later. In August of this year, the company was bought by Taylor Made Franchising, with Darren Taylor delighted with his latest acquisition. He said: “Thomas Cleaning has just celebrated 30 years in business, which is no mean feat. Although we have only recently purchased the company, we are keenly aware of its history and we look forward to leading it into its next glorious 30 years.
“As with all our franchise operations, we try to make life as profitable as possible for our franchisees, innovating and shaping as we go. It’s still early days but we are looking forward to welcoming new franchisees to Thomas Cleaning very soon, while helping them to build profitable, sustainable businesses.”
Simon Warren, who has been with Thomas Cleaning since 2016, has the responsibility of running the company on a day-to-day basis, supported by David Callister, the Group Franchise Director of Taylor Made Franchising. Thomas Cleaning, which became a franchise in 2011, has clients all over the UK, servicing both commercial and residential customers.
The company’s first franchisee was Zsolt Barabas and his wife, who only began working for Thomas Cleaning a year earlier. After a successful opening 12 months, the husband and wife team were planning to set up their own cleaning business but were persuaded not to do so by owner Richard Thomas. In order to keep them within his business, he offered to turn Thomas Cleaning into a franchise, and then sign them up as the company’s first franchisee.
Zsolt takes up the story: “My wife and I are Hungarian. When we arrived in the UK in 2010, we got jobs as cleaners. We were good at our job and very soon the owner, Richard Thomas, had us training new members of staff. After a year we decided we wanted to leave but Richard asked us not to go. He offered to franchise his own business and then sell us the first franchise.
“We had saved hard in that first year of work, and every penny we earned went back in to buying the franchise. It was risky but we felt it was a risk worth taking and luckily for us, it was.” And Zsolt is already enjoying working for his new boss, Darren Taylor, saying: “I’ve had a couple of meetings with Darren, while David (Callister) comes to visit me twice a month, supporting me with strategy and growth tools for my business. The future looks rosy indeed.”
