Lorraine Hall is Director of The Cleaning Corporation, Breaffy, Castlebar - a husband and wife operation and thriving family cleaning business since 1995, which sees them celebrate 25 years in business this year.
“Training accreditation and continious development of all of our staff, supervisors and Management combined with service improvements, and operating procedures with a Full Service Guarantee, means that we continue to lead the way in our industry, in all aspects of our cleaning services,” said Lorraine.
"When you are working from a home office you need to be disciplined and we do try to work standard office hours; however, in recent months with Covid-19 that has proved to be difficult, but the business comes first and we love our work; we have a wonderful staff of over 70, and that allows us to be where we are. Though home working has become the new normal for many, I have been doing it for over 20 years, so it is my normal and has been for a long time.
"We have invested a lot in recent years in Training, particularly in health and safety and more recently, in Covid-19 training for all of our staff.
"The business has seen unprecedented demand for services to comply with returning to work protocols, education protocols, and the government roadmaps.
"As a small business we have also employed the excellent services of local specialist contractors for Health & Safety and also for HR – this means that the day-to-day tasks in both of these specialist fields are managed specifically and allow us more time for the business; and that has been a good decision for us.
"It is a different world that we now find ourselves in; where the focus for cleaning is for Hygiene and Health and not just for aesthetics, this has involved a mindset change for many.
"Cleaning and providing a safe work environment has come to the top of the list for facility managers and the importance of providing a safe environment for staff, students, visitors etc and compliance with protocols and a common sense approach that is knowledge- and science-based is very important in getting it right; everything that we do makes a difference and helps to reduce the risk.
"We also try to be as environmentally sound as we can; not many people would know that for almost 15 years we have been using harvested rainwater that is purified through a reverse osmosis system for all of our Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning and Window Cleaning. This really helps reduce our detergent usage and reduces our carbon footprint, which is something that we are very keen to continue to develop."
Services provided by the Cleaning Corporation include: Commercial Contract Cleaning, Window Cleaning, Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning, Specialist Rug Cleaning Service, Floor Maintenance and Renovation, Janitorial Supplies, Technical Support and Advice including design advice.
Lorraine enjoys working with her husband John, who is from Castlebar, and they each work within their own remit and skillset to combine a winning formula. Lorraine deals with administration management, finance and accounts. John is the cleaning and operations expert.
Lorraine is originally from Newcastle in the North East of England, but her parents are from Westport and Castlebar. She spent every summer and most school holidays in Mayo as a child, and so it was a very natural move to return to Ireland when their children were small 25 years ago.
Speaking about the success of The Cleaning Corporation, Lorraine added: "It’s the old cliché - when you want something done, ask someone who is busy."
The Cleaning Corporation, Lecarrow House, Breaffy, Castlebar, (094 ) 9289000, www.cleaningcorporation.ie or email: [email protected].
