A Yes. We actually went in to business in 1998 with a co-Director but split that business in two in 2003 and re-named it Edwards Commercial Cleaning Services Ltd. It is now wholly owned by Hazel and Paul Edwards who have 100% of the shares. Since 2003 the business has grown substantially in size and now has over 350+ customers and a turnover of over £4m.

A We are based in Newcastle upon Tyne and have a base in Leeds and work throughout Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Durham, Teesside and cover the whole of Yorkshire. We prefer to keep the business local so that we can respond easily and immediately to any issue and provide cover when required. Being able to cover holidays and sickness is vital.

A Currently we have over 450 full time and part time staff. This number is changing constantly and we are always recruiting as we grow the business.

A For a medium size business in our industry we invest heavily in Operations Managers and Mobile Supervisors. We have full time Operations Managers who regularly visit and check the quality of the work and presentation and ensure the staff have the essential supplies that they need to carry out their duties. A lot of advertising and interviewing is done to get you the right cleaners, although many of our current staff do take on extra work too. The Managers report directly to Paul Edwards who monitors performance and arranges for any problem to be addressed immediately, usually before the customers notice anything themselves. We have introduced new technology into the business and are in a position to send our clients the quality audits from each visit we do, customers will be able to see the check report and therefore be kept aware with anything relating to the cleaning of their building. The report adds to clients own quality systems seamlessly. Adding value is so important these days when business is very competitive.

A Of course, most sites have the schedules in the form of a tick box, signed off by the cleaners and visiting Operations Managers. You can see what is due and when it will be completed. The site visits by Operations inspect what has been ticked as done and this ensures that each job is completed. A visit by the Operations Managers means that now when a quality report is done, we email it to the customer immediately so they can see exactly what is going on within their own business. The reports show, warts and all, exactly what has been found, rectified, improved or that the site is as it should be. We use the system to report and health and safety issue or even to advise clients that they have simple things like bulbs not working, toilet seats broken or dripping taps. So far the customers have been very happy with the information and it fits in perfectly with the clients own quality systems.

A We are very competitive and can alter the schedule to suit most budgets. Because we operate from a serviced office in Newcastle and with storage units in Newcastle and Leeds, our costs are low and therefore we can afford to invest the savings into Managers who can check out the quality of the work we do and to buy the best equipment available today. For every one pound spent with us, more money is invested in the cleaners and the checking of the cleaning. We try to pay more than the average in an area to attract professional cleaners. The quality of our people is everything. Our people care, take responsibility and want to make your place of work look it's very best. Our customer references say so!

A There is no hiding place at all for us, ever. Apart from office telephones, e-mail and mobile phones we have joined forces with a professional answering service who take our calls if the lines are engaged or we are away from the office. Paul Edwards, Tracy Walker (our General Manager) or the Senior Operations Managers then receive a SMS to their mobile and can deal with any situation straight away. The answering service also confirms the message by e-mail so nothing slips through the net. Our Operations Managers all have mobile phones and Chromebooks with email too, so if you wish to speak to them directly or send them an email, you can. We've also embraced social media and are on Twitter (@Edwardsclean) and have a Linkedin and a Facebook page.

A At Edwards Cleaning, we strive to be as green as we can be and do not use any bleach products at any of our customer’s sites. We believe in using environmentally friendly products that are non-hazardous to the surrounding environment. We are also able to offer chemical free cleaning to some of our larger customers. Switching from traditional chemicals to stabilized aqueous ozone (o3), will reduce energy, smog, and greenhouse gases while killing germs naturally. There are no harmful chemical fumes, no residues and it is safe for the planet as well as its people. It reverts back to water and oxygen, so there is zero down-drain waste and it dramatically reduces your carbon footprint by using on-site generation. This is safer for you and safer for us. We would be delighted to discuss this in further detail with you if this is of interest?. Where chemicals are still in use, we produce a lot of our own waste. With over 200 sites receiving a monthly delivery of stock we discovered that most of the empty plastic containers and bottles we deliver were going into customers’ general waste which goes to landfill. This simply isn’t good enough and so along with our ISO14001 commitment to the environment, we decided that all our plastic waste had to go to be recycled. Now, when we make a delivery, we drop in a clear recycle bag for the empty bottles and containers to go into. We then take the bags to be recycled. We call this our ‘milk round’, it’s been tremendously successful and literally tons of plastic have been prevented from going to landfill. Our office is going paperless! Very soon, we will have a work environment where the use of paper is eliminated or greatly reduced. Less printing means lower costs, lower energy usage, fewer carbon emissions and fewer environmental impacts associated with the production of paper, plastics and chemicals!

A The welfare of staff and clients is vital to us. We do have a Health and Safety Policy, Employee Handbook and all staff are trained, uniformed and signed off for every job they do, including manual handling and COSHH. We have method statements and risk assessments for work we do and also get advice from the SafeContractor on any H&S matter we need clarification on. In December 2006 we applied for and became a member of SafeContractor. This scheme audits what we do and how we do it, our policies, assessments and how we even vet our suppliers for H&S. We are very pleased to have gained membership to such schemes. We've employed TSAS as our H&S consultants for the last 12 years. Martin Taylor's company helps and advises us on an ongoing basis and carry out annual audits on our systems and methods of working.

A One of our Business Development Managers, Tracey Langstaff (North East) and Laura Thompson (Yorkshire) will visit you with a view to finding out about what you like and expect from your cleaning contractor and to see if we can help. You will be provided with a complete bespoke, written, quotation. The quotation is without any obligation and is, of course free. There is a list of what we can do under 'Our Services' on this site. We do have a minimum 10 hours of weekly cleaning. This is because it is difficult to keep cleaners for less than two hours a day and it is simply, un-economic to clean for fewer hours.

A Well, our Agreement is very simple. If you are not satisfied with our service just give us 30 days written notice and that's it! We treat all of our customers as partners and really work hard to ensure that our business relationship goes on and on but in the event that a customer wants to leave us, why make it hard for them to go? Thankfully, we seem to keep the vast majority very happy.

A Easy, we would love to hear from you. You can click on the Contact Us or Request A Quote on any of the pages, fill in your details and we'll call you back. Alternatively, please call our Newcastle office on 0191 3000815 or our Leeds office on 0113 4333500 or E-mail us at info@edwardscleaningltd.com. Ask for Hazel or Paul Edwards.