Firm bids to clean up the crime world
8:30am Friday 3rd April 2009 in Business News By Wes Wright
THE credit crunch has forced a cleaning firm to branch out of the property market and into the crime world.
Company owner Sharon Balderstone, pictured, has retrained to specialise in cleaning crime and trauma scenes.
Her original business, Taylor Maid Cleaning Services, had relied heavily on contracts with house builders, cleaning new properties ready for their owners to move in.
But following the downturn in the market, Ms Balderstone is ditching the feather duster in favour of full protective suits.
She said: “It’s a little known fact that owners of properties where a crime or trauma has taken place are left to clean up the place themselves afterwards — which could be very upsetting. We will come in and do everything and put things back in place.”
Ms Balderstone, aged 38, of Marsham Road, Westhoughton, has set up a new firm, SB Specialist Cleaning, to carry out the crime scene contracts.
It will run alongside Taylor Made Cleaning Services, which employs four women, including Ms Balderstone’s mother, to help bring in the money while the housing market is in a slump.
She and her fellow worker, Kirsty Barlow, went on a three-day course to qualify as specialist cleaners.
It means the company is one of the first ever accredited members of the UK National Academy of Crime Scene Cleaners.
Ms Balderstone said: “I am not squeamish and working on a crime or trauma scene would not bother me or Kirsty — we will work hard at any job we take on.
“I just thought that, rather than sit back and worry about the future, I would use the lull in business to expand.
“I have invested everything into training my staff. Once this side of the business takes off, I will then send the other two women on the same course we went on.”
The course qualifies Ms Balderstone to carry out biohazard and decomposition cleaning, as well as sharps removal and property sanitisation and restoration. She is also trained to take up and replace carpets, floorboards and laminate flooring.
To find out more, visit sb-specialistcleaning.co.uk
