Carlton Relf, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Maidscando Ltd, reports.
Service industries accounted for 81% of total UK economic output in the last quarter (April to June 2025). Yet beneath this outwardly strong service economy, certain sectors are feeling the strain of cost pressures more acutely than others. Commercial cleaning is one of them.
Too often, I see contracts being awarded on the basis of the cheapest possible price. This ‘race to the bottom’ does not serve clients, staff, or the wider cleaning sector well. And it's storing up problems for the future.
Short-term savings to long-term problems
Because of relentless price pressure, cleaning companies are slashing margins to win business, then over time, they struggle to deliver. They resort to tactics like cutting corners, under-staffing, or failing to comply with industry regulations. The result is short-term savings that can quickly turn into long-term service delivery problems.
At Maidscando, we have deliberately taken a different path. From the outset, our philosophy has been simple: deliver exceptional quality, prove it transparently, and hold value – while still remaining competitive.
We find that our clients stay with us not because we are the cheapest, but because we are reliable, consistent, and transparent. We have invested consistently in areas such as job service reports, photographic evidence, infection swabs, and live digital logging systems, to demonstrate our quality of performance. We believe this commitment to radical openness sets us apart – and reassures clients that every penny spent is delivering real value.
Refusing to undersell
Of course, we operate in a competitive marketplace. We price keenly, because efficiency and smart systems allow us to. But we will not undercut to the point where quality or compliance is compromised.
Why? Because:
Clients deserve better – when you pay the right price, you get proactive service, transparent reporting, and long-term reliability;
The cleaning market deserves better – as a long standing sector that needs to attract new investment and new talent, we need service providers who can raise standards, not erode them;
Our people deserve better – paying fairly, training properly, and respecting our technicians ensures high morale, low turnover, and consistent delivery.
It is easy enough to win in the short-term by offering the cheapest price. It is far harder – but more sustainable in the long term – to win it by providing the highest quality service.
Being competitive, delivering value
Holding value doesn’t mean pricing ourselves out of the market. On the contrary, it means competing on the right criteria: professionalism, transparency, compliance, and measurable results. By investing in technology, training, and systems, we can keep costs lean without hollowing out the service and compromising our ability to deliver.
This approach has enabled us to grow steadily even in a price-sensitive region of North Wales/North West England. We have seen clients who once chose “cheap” providers often return to us after disappointment, recognising that sustainable value matters more than the lowest headline rate.
As our sector continues to play a critical role supporting the UK’s economy, it’s vital that both business and the public sector’s procurement decisions reflect the bigger operational picture.
Whether you are commissioning cleaning, catering, maintenance, or any service, I urge procurement decision-makers to look beyond the lowest bid and consider the full picture, in terms of provider track record, regulatory compliance, transparency and sustainability.
Hold your value
I would say to fellow cleaning providers, we need to hold our value. When we under-sell, we all lose out. When we price fairly and deliver exceptionally, we all win – our businesses, our clients, our employees, and our cleaning industry.
The market is changing and standards are going up, driven by the work of the British Institute of Cleaning Science and the evolving NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness. Our sector deserves – and ultimately will depend on – service companies that can hold their value, solve customer problems and lift cleaning standards, rather than be drawn into a cost-driven ‘race to the bottom’. At Maidscando, that will always be our commitment.
https://www.maidscando.co.uk/