1.1: Business is Never Short
Did you even know there was an industry for this line of work?
Perhaps you've seen the vans circling around your neighbourhood, or seen your neighbour's van parked in the driveway and wondered how in the world they got into this line of work. Oven cleaning is an in-demand job. You'll know yourself about the oven in your own kitchen. It's a dreaded chore, and one that takes a lot of elbow-grease to get it gleaming clean, and hygienically friendly. If you knew a guy, or girl that would happily to do this for you, chances are you'd gladly hand over the fee they asked for to do the job. That's the type of service this business is. One where your ideal customer is going to be darn pleased to see you, keep your business card, (if you do a spectacular job) and continue to use your services.
What's an oven cleaner?
An oven cleaner is simply as it sounds. The person who comes in to deal with the dirt and grime that's accumulated in ovens over a period of time... and there's no denying it needs done. You'll know yourself when it's time to get into the oven with the hard bristled brush, some seriously strong oven cleaner, and give it a good scrubbing. It's something that's difficult not to notice. Especially if it's been so long that the fat splashes have ingrained on the elements that every time the oven is switched on, it generates a thick cloud of black smoke. Then you really do have your work cut out to get the oven to resume normal operations.
When you power up a dirty oven, the stench can be atrocious. Sometimes so much that the mere thought of cooking food in it, puts you right off cooking, and you reach for the phone and call a delivery instead. Or stick on a microwave dinner, until you get around to cleaning the oven. Be honest, it's probably more than once you've said “I'll get at the weekend”. These machines are expensive, and they're also essential. Every kitchen has one, but not every homeowner is able to get the job done to the cleanliness they know is possible, but can't figure out how. You're going to be the mysterious solution to that exact problem.
As you progress through this course, you'll discover a range of techniques used by the very best in the industry to get professional results every time in a fraction of the time it takes the untrained oven cleaner to achieve the same results. The less time you can spend on the job, the more appointments you can fit into your schedule.
Don't forget about the opportunities that commercial kitchens will provide Not every client requiring your services will be a homeowner. That's domestic oven cleaning services. There's also commercial oven cleaning, which you'll learn about too. Those clients will be restaurants, cafés, bars that serve pub grub, and all those take-away fast food outlets using ovens all day, practically every day. Those are not fast jobs and because of the time involved in addition to the extra labour you'll be required to put into the job, you'll be demanding far higher prices. After all, a commercial food business must have their kitchens perform to the highest of hygiene standards and that includes inside the oven, as well as every other area of a commercial kitchen.
If you decide to take on commercial oven cleaning, you should always bear in mind that the cleaning you do will affect the businesses hygiene rating. That is something all food service businesses take seriously, so you will be under scrutiny if you slacken off on your professional cleaning standards.
(Not that you ever should do that on any job) The aim of this course is to take you through all the steps involved in starting your business, educate you on your potential clients, tell you how to do the job, and help you decide which direction to take your business. i.e: domestic, commercial, or a blend of both types of clients. There's advantages and disadvantages to each, which you'll learn about too.
1.2: Why you should get started now!
Now's as good as time as any to get into oven cleaning.
Some savvy business minded people are already doing extremely well in the oven cleaning business with some early starters progressing to franchise their business. That's another option you can explore if you feel that's suited to you. Oven cleaners only work in local vicinities, which means that in every town, there is opportunity for a new oven cleaning business to start, grow and succeed. Even if there's already a few other vans doing their rounds, they cannot serve entire counties, although some do try and they do that by employing others, or by taking the franchise route. Either way, the businesses grow, more people get on the job, and that equals more satisfied customers who do not have to wait for months on a waiting list. It's the basics of business. Supply versus demand. There is demand for oven cleaners, but there's not always even a supply. That's where your opportunity awaits.
1.3: What you will do to meet the demand
The obvious answer is oven cleaning, but the not so obvious answer is that you'll be using industry specific tools to get the job done. You'll be equipped with a dip tank, which will be installed in the back of your work van. That dip tank will be used to give a deep clean to all removable parts from the oven. This is still a manual job!
Do not mistake the dip tank as doing the work for you though. Cleaning ovens is still going to require manual labour. There's no robots or mechanical tools (that we know of) that will get stuck in about the inside of an oven and scrub it clean. That's the manual part of the job that you must be able to do. So there are some physical challenges. If you're unable to get down on your hands and knees and apply some strong elbow-grease, then this is not a career for you. As an oven cleaner you will use chemicals
There will be chemicals used when you're cleaning the inside of ovens, and with that, there are health and safety guidelines that you must follow. The legal requirements will be covered in this course because you absolutely need to know what you're doing with chemicals, before you even consider buying them.
These will be specialist chemicals used for stubborn stains, and will require you to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when you're on the job. You won't be dealing with a bottle of Mr. Muscle from the supermarket. You will be working with caustic solutions sometimes, designed for use in commercial oven cleaning, which are much stronger than domestic oven cleaning chemicals you will have in your kitchen cupboard.
You will learn about working with chemicals in this course, and one thing you really need to remember is that if you buy any oven cleaner, it must come with a technical data sheet, and safety information sheet.
You do not get these on the high-street, because they are powerfully strong, and must be used in accordance with the Technical and Safety Data Sheets provided. Any chemical cleaner without technical and safety data sheets provided; you can safely assume they won't be powerful enough to get commercial oven cleaning job done. The chemicals you use is what makes you the professional, even in a domestic kitchen because you will be using tools of the trade, and not off a supermarket shelf.
1.4: The cost to get started
Your start-up costs will be dependent on the route to market you take. The cheapest way to get started is to buy a second-hand dip tank, and you will need a work van to install it in.
Again, second-hand is ideal for a new-start oven cleaning business and surprisingly, you can find them on eBay. You may be surprised by the amount of people who try this line of work and later decide it's not for them, and then sell off their equipment. Don't let that someone be you. Be sure that this career is for you, before you invest in your equipment. You can often buy second-hand kits under a year old, so check out eBay for dip tanks. You might even find a used van with a dip tank installed. Another route to market you could take is the franchising option, which most decent franchises will provide all the equipment you need to get started, and with some business assistance, marketing, branding, and training. For all that, it will come at a much steeper cost. Oven cleaning franchises can be as high as £25'000, and you will have royalties to pay from your income. There are a few available, but we do advise you seek professional advice from a solicitor specialising in business law, before you sign up to a franchise.
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