Posted:14-August-2024
Meet the Franchisee: ServiceMaster Clean by Deeland
Left to right: Jane Paisley, Andre Gottemaker, Abbigale May
Deeland Limited has been operating its ServiceMaster franchise for over 30 years.
Known today as ServiceMaster Clean by Deeland, its multi-brand cleaning divisions service six business sectors across four ServiceMaster UK brands:
- Commercial Businesses
- Schools & Colleges
- Domestic Homes
- Healthcare & Medical Centres
- Housing Associations & Property Management
- Fire & Flood Restoration
These are carried out across licences for various brands: ServiceMaster Clean’s Residential and Commercial upholstery and carpet cleaning, Contract Services office cleaning and ServiceMaster Restore’s disaster restoration brand.
ServiceMaster Clean by Deeland’s franchise area covers most of Southern England across 61 franchise licences. Their central management support office and warehouse is in Newbury, with other offices and premises in Bristol, Gloucester and Reading.
Deeland: A History
The business was started by Contract Services franchisee Nick Dee Shapland in 1991 as a sole trader in Newbury and Reading.
In 2021 it became an Employee Ownership Trust, whereby 80% of the company shares are held in trust on behalf of the employees.
This structurally ensures that their staff can contribute to ideas within the company and benefit from a shareholder distribution scheme.
Not only does this result in greater longevity and expertise amongst their team, but it also ensures that staff are actively invested in the success and growth of the business and go ‘above and beyond’ in providing excellent customer service with a real financial motivation to achieve growth.
All this has contributed to their achievements in business success in the wider world and ServiceMaster’s franchise network. They achieved their franchisor-set target of 10% growth annually over the last five years and have also received multiple awards for growth and environmental initiatives. One of their staff members was also named Employee Of The Year amongst all ServiceMaster staff across the UK.
The business achieved rapid growth over the first ten years through a large portfolio that, at the time, included a large cleaning contract with Vodafone, which operated from 37 buildings in Newbury.
This growth enabled Deeland Limited to expand its ServiceMaster Clean franchise operations, acquiring new ServiceMaster Brand Licenses and new territories, expanding to include licences such as Residential Services and Fire and Flood Restoration.
The business now serves multiple clients with over 400 staff and a fleet of 70 vans, making them the largest ServiceMaster Clean franchise in the UK.
Management Structure
They are overseen by a centralised Senior Management Team (SMT).
This has been in place since 2021 to enable leadership to work on and not just in the business and implement proactive growth plans. The SMT collectively have over 54 years of experience within the business.
Leadership from the SMT drive their team to new heights through an excellent training and management structure that ensures their standards are impeccably maintained. This means that they can deliver above and beyond the call of duty every time, allowing them significant year-on-year growth.
The strategies introduced by the SMT have facilitated growth of 13.2%, 12.2% and 10.2% over the last three years and contributed heavily to reaching a milestone of £8.1 million turnover in the financial year ending April 2024. This is projected to reach £8.9 million by next year.
Culture and Performance
The company culture is based on the 3Ps: Principles, People & Performance.
Their Principles dictate the correct and ethical way in which they operate, they recognise their success depends on their People, so they are highly valued and trained, and they always strive for excellence in their Performance, with fully managed and audited services to help deliver this.
This approach was originally part of ServiceMaster Ltd.’s franchisor philosophy on managing and operating a successful commercial business, demonstrating Deeland’s strong commitment to upholding the core values of the whole brand as part of its culture.
To formalise their investment in their people, they have a Human Resources Department to allow a separate, centrally managed function to manage staff performance, well-being and recruitment.
The SMT has also introduced a Quality Assurance Management Program (QAMP) to focus on company performance.
QAMP ensures scheduled meetings are in place for the year with set agendas to examine and audit KPIs like service delivery, customer service and employee reviews.
This works alongside formalised training processes through a comprehensive induction and training matrix for all staff. This is started on day one of their employment to ensure that high standards are maintained, and contracts are delivered.
These are rigorously upheld in line with ISO, an investment that goes above and beyond the sector’s expectations and affords the business and brands a prestige and quality assurance that means Deeland can win larger and more reputable contracts.
It has the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 Accreditation, is externally audited yearly by ISOQAR, and is also a BICSc Accredited Training Centre.
They have also formalised social values, responsibilities, and environmental policies as part of their commitment to their principles. These feed into their company culture as an EOT, demonstrating and living the company ethos and as the largest ServiceMaster Clean franchise in the UK, delivers excellence in every aspect of their business.
Interested and want to know more about ServiceMaster Clean?
The ServiceMaster Clean profile outlines all aspects of their franchise opportunity and allows you to contact them for further information or to ask a question.
