Built around the bit that goes wrong.
Most cleaning companies are structured to win contracts. We are structured to keep them — which mostly means paying for cover, supervision and employment that a cheaper operator does without, and then having to explain why the quote is not the lowest one.
We learned the standard in people's houses first.
NowThen started in 2015 cleaning homes in Sheffield. That is an unforgiving place to learn: a customer who is unhappy with their own kitchen tells you within a day, and stops booking within a week.
One city, one service
Domestic cleaning across Sheffield, built on repeat customers rather than a marketing budget. That side of the business has now completed 35,611 house cleans for 1,487 households.
Commercial became the larger half
Businesses who used us at home started asking about their buildings. Commercial now runs over 1,500 cleaning hours every week — daily contracts rather than weekly visits, across five counties.
Two operations, one company
They are run separately because they are different jobs — local rounds versus dedicated site teams — but they share the same recruitment, the same standards and the same office.
The domestic figures are the ones we can publish precisely, because every clean is a booking in a system. They are a fair proxy for how the company behaves: the average household on a standing schedule has now had 73 cleans from us. Getting hired once is easy. Being kept for three years is the part that is hard to fake.
Four things we pay for that a cheaper quote does not.
Every one of them is a cost that shows up in our price and not in a competitor's. They are also, without exception, the things a client mentions when they tell us why they left the last contractor.
A relief team with no round of its own
Cleaners employed specifically to fill gaps — holiday, sickness, somebody leaving mid-notice. In a quiet week they cost money and clean nothing. That is the trade: absence becomes our problem rather than yours.
Full-time mobile supervisors
Out across contracts every day rather than an account manager who appears after a complaint. They audit against the written specification and fix what they find before it reaches your inbox.
Directly employed
Our cleaners are employed by NowThen Cleaners. We carry the recruitment, the vetting, the training, the HR and the payroll — which is why the same faces come back, and why there is always somebody accountable.
An office team, seven days a week
A named contact who knows your building, reachable at the weekend as well as on a Tuesday. Cleaning problems rarely happen during office hours, which is precisely why that matters.
There is a version of this business that costs less to run. It wins on price, loses contracts at month nine, and replaces them with new ones. We would rather keep buildings than churn them.
The whole service is one person and a set of keys.
Whatever is written in a specification, what you actually get is the individual who turns up. So the hiring is the product, and it is the part of the business we are slowest and fussiest about.
Experience
A minimum of one year's professional cleaning experience simply to be considered. It rules out a lot of applicants and saves everybody time.
Two interviews
Not one. The second exists because reliability and attitude are harder to read than competence, and they are what a contract actually depends on.
References
Checked properly, and followed up rather than filed. Right to work and identity documentation verified before anyone is offered a role.
A practical trial
An actual cleaning trial, assessed by one of our domestic managers, before anybody is sent to a customer's building. Plenty of people interview well and clean badly.
Site-specific requirements — inductions, PPE, safeguarding awareness on education sites, infection-control protocols in healthcare — are handled during mobilisation and written into the method statement for that building. We are usually hiring →
Always striving to go above and beyond, NowThen Cleaners is passionate about people and the great things that can be achieved when we all work together.Hugo Russell · Director
NowThen Cleaners Limited was founded in Sheffield in 2015 and is still directed by the person who started it. Registered office: Room 2, Cybor House, 1 Tapton House Road, Sheffield, S10 5BY. Company number 09640551, registered in England and Wales.
What comes with the proposal, without being asked for.
Procurement processes ask for the same pack every time and then wait three weeks for it. Ours arrives with the price.
Public liability insurance
£5 million, covering every visit to every site. Certificate supplied with the proposal.
Risk assessments & method statements
HSE-compliant RAMS written for your building and the tasks in your specification — not a generic document with your name typed at the top.
COSHH data
Safety data sheets for every product we bring on site, and a route to substitute anything your building cannot have.
Right to work & references
Verified for every employee before they start, and available for audit on contracts where that is a requirement.
Written specification
Areas, tasks and frequencies set out per site, which is also what supervisors audit against — so "as agreed" means something checkable.
Attendance records
GPS-verified check-in and check-out, so hours invoiced and hours worked are the same number and can be evidenced.
We no longer pay for third-party accreditation badges. They were a subscription rather than a standard, and the documents above are what a buyer actually reads.
Fair questions about who you would be signing with.
Q.01How big are you, really?
Over 1,500 commercial cleaning hours a week across five counties, alongside a domestic operation that has completed 35,611 house cleans for 1,487 Sheffield households since 2015.
Big enough to staff cover and supervision properly; small enough that the director's name is on this page and the office knows your building.
Q.02Why are you not the cheapest quote?
Because of four line items a cheaper operator leaves out: relief staff who are paid whether or not anyone is off, full-time supervisors, employment rather than subcontracting, and an office open seven days.
If the lowest number wins your process, we will not — and we would rather say that at the site visit than discover it at the tender result.
Q.03You clean houses too. Does commercial get the same attention?
They run as two operations with separate teams and separate scheduling, because a domestic round and a site contract are different jobs. What they share is recruitment, training standards and the office.
Commercial is the larger half by hours, and it is staffed accordingly.
Q.04Do you hold SafeContractor or Chamber of Commerce membership?
Not any more. Both were annual subscriptions, and neither changed how a single building was cleaned. We would rather put that money into cover and supervision.
What we do hold is £5 million public liability insurance, HSE-compliant RAMS and COSHH documentation per site, verified right-to-work records and auditable attendance data — all supplied with the proposal. If your procurement process specifically requires a named scheme, tell us at the site visit and we will be straight with you about whether we qualify.
Q.05Who would I actually be dealing with?
A named contact in the office who knows your building, plus the mobile supervisor responsible for your site. On smaller contracts that conversation often includes the director, because the company is not so large that it cannot.
The best way to judge any of this is to make us stand in your building.
Half an hour on site, then a written specification and price. No obligation, and no sales call afterwards unless you ask for one.