Owning a CrestClean business has given a young Auckland couple a head start in life and enabled them to get a firm foothold on the housing ladder.
Ifraaz and Hasyana Ahmed, who have been franchisees for 10 years, say it’s been the success of their business that has enabled them to be able to afford a home in New Zealand’s largest city where property prices are sky high.
They were one of the youngest couples to become CrestClean business owners in 2009 when they purchased a franchise, says Viky Narayan, CrestClean’s Auckland South Regional Manager.
“They joined CrestClean as a very young newly-married couple and they’ve worked really hard on their business.
“They do an outstanding job for their customers and we get great feedback about the quality of their work.
“They have managed to buy a home of their own with the extra income from their CrestClean business. It’s a great achievement.”
Ifraaz, 34, has a daytime job at PlaceMakers as a manager and Hasyana, 33, is near the end of her training to become a registered nurse.
Ifraaz says their business has given them a sense of financial freedom. “Because we had a second income through our cleaning business it helped us get a mortgage. It’s all worked out really well for us and we’ve also managed to buy a rental property as well.”
The flexibility of a job that fits around family life is also a big factor for Ifraaz and Hasyana. “You don’t have be at work at a specific time,” he says. “We have two young kids and we drop them at my parents’ place before we start.
“Most other jobs you have to be there at a certain set time. Having a CrestClean business works out really well in terms of timing. It gives me a lot of family time and I don’t have to work at the weekends.”
The couple, who have looked after a number of their customers for the past 10 years, get frequent positive feedback about the high quality of their cleaning.
It’s always a highlight to know the customer is happy, says Ifraaz. Recently a letter from a school where they clean praised their work.
“They said we have done an awesome job for many years. It gave us a sense of real pride to hear that. We feel really proud of what we have achieved through CrestClean.”
To mark their long service, the couple received a $2,500 bonus from CrestClean. It will go towards a planned holiday to Fiji later this year.