Auckland-based Scrubbing Solutions does the sort of work you only notice when it hasn’t been done – when the rubbish is left to fly around the car park, for example, or the factory floors accumulate unhealthy levels of grime. Established 13 years ago by Shane and Hayley Wilson, Scrubbing Solutions has grown from Shane operating a single trailer to where they are now with six operators, an accounts manager and a sales rep, as the company continues to evolve and grow.
“Companies now have to take a lot more environmental responsibility, and we provide solutions for that.”
When Shane arrived back in Auckland in 2011 after a decade in Perth, he already had years of experience in the management and maintenance of large-scale facilities, such as recreational centres, gyms and council pools. He started working with Impact Scrubbing, which he ran as operations manager for 18 months before launching Scrubbing Solutions with Hayley as co-director, helping with sales and admin while running the Wilson household.
What started as a small, family-owned and run company has steadily expanded over time, which Shane puts down to providing a good service and an expanding sweeping and scrubbing industry. “We’ve always worked on the principle of do the job right the first time. If you have to go back and do the job again, no one’s winning, and we’ve grown as the industry’s grown.”
“Companies now have to take a lot more environmental responsibility for things like rubbish lying around, and leaves blocking drains, all the way through to MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) regulations increasing around bio-security and food hygiene, and we provide solutions for that.”
Shane and Hayley know the key to doing a good job the first time round is the calibre of the people who are doing it. As owners of a family business, Shane and Hayley take care to look after their staff, providing the sort of safe and relaxed work environment that encourages them to stay. All their training is provided in-house, and the staff demographic is typically older, hardworking and reliable, many with a trade background.
“The machines aren’t cheap, but once we’ve trained them, we put our trust in them and don’t micromanage. We pay well, and we offer flexible hours so that employees can work more than their standard 40 hours if they want to. It puts more money in their pockets and helps us grow as well, so it’s a win-win,” says Shane.
Over the years, the Tenant Brand machines have transitioned from diesel to LPG and electric, and the facilities-maintenance side of the business has grown alongside the core business of sweeping and scrubbing. Water-blasting facilities like car parks (outside or underground), ongoing grounds care and maintenance, including lawns, trees and gardens, and car park line-marking are all services Scrubbing Solutions has to offer, along with straightforward car park and building maintenance; it’s all part of making it easy for clients, who appreciate receiving a single invoice for multiple services.
They do a lot of work keeping big warehouses clean and well serviced, including what they call a construction handover, doing a thorough clean of the floors and walls once construction is finished and before the final handover to the client, such as for the recently completed 60,0000-square-metre East Tamaki warehouse facility.
It’s all in a day’s work for Scrubbing Solutions, who pride themselves on their reliability. They understand that it’s easier to retain your existing clients than find new ones, and retaining them can be as simple as turning up on time and doing a good job. It’s one of the many things they do well.
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