When a Cambridge University college reached out locally for a solution to remove candlewax from dining chairs, St Ives independent contractor Luke Morrow leapt at the chance to apply some of the knowhow he had picked up from training with Prochem.
Luke completed a two-day carpet cleaning course at Chessington last year after returning to the UK from Australia. The former car mechanic, starting over again, had joined up with his carpet cleaner father to set up Aqua Bright.
Specialising in carpet and upholstery cleaning for both residential and commercial spaces, the duo has clocked up 10/10 ratings on Google and Checkatrade in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford and the surrounding areas.
Luke was contacted by the College facilities manager to come and quote to clean 300 dining chairs.
Used for corporate dining events, many of them were not only soiled but splattered with candlewax.
“Apparently when guests were blowing out the candles, they were doing it rather violently, so the hot wax was getting splattered about,” says Luke.
Luke and his dad set to, working predominantly with E840 Citrus Gel. A solvent-based gelled product, E840 Citrus Gel is effective at removing wax, grease, oil, tar, gum and many other solvent soluble spills. Luke applied the gel and agitated with a bone scraper, helping to liquefy the waxy residue before extracting.
For chairs unaffected by wax spills but still needing to be cleaned, Luke chose Prochem’s B108 Fabric Restorer as a pre-treatment and then rinsed out with B109 Fibre & Fabric Rinse using his trusty Bravo BV100 extraction machine.
“It took us a week but we got the job done and the FM was very pleased,” reflects Luke. “We are now getting more work in the locale including from other colleges on the back of the job.”
Luke meets up with Prochem’s Phil Jones at The Cleaning Show earlier this year
He feels that professional training from a high-profile provider is a real asset when it comes to marketing a cleaning business.
“That course not only gave me knowledge but confidence,” he says. “Training means you can trust that every job is done to the highest standard as we follow industry- approved cleaning methods and techniques.”
Using Prochem solutions predominantly, Aqua Bright services the region’s domestic market and aims to pick up more commercial work.
“And next year we may take on an apprentice,” says Luke – but right now he is off to kit out a new, bigger van!
Those dining chairs, before…and after