South Canterbury franchise owner, Navjot ‘Navi’ Kaur, leads a dedicated team of 10 staff. Recently, two of her team members, Chanpreet Singh and Dharwinder Singh, received high praise from their customers at Ararira Springs School and Prebbleton School.
Both schools take part in CrestClean’s Cleanest Classroom programme, which motivates students to keep their classrooms neat and tidy. The cleanest classroom at the end of the term is rewarded with a pizza lunch.
Navi and Chanpreet recently launched the Cleanest Classroom programme at Ararira Springs School, hosting a morning tea to engage with staff and discuss the details of the programme. Navi says hosting a morning tea at participating schools is a great opportunity to showcase her team’s professionalism and build trust with her customers.
“It always leaves a great impact and lets our customers know we’re qualified to work there,” says Navi.
“It gives us time to introduce ourselves as a team because they leave their premises to us. We can also show them how we care about health and safety too.”
Ararira Springs Principal, Claire Howieson, took the opportunity to personally thank Chanpreet for his outstanding work.
“It makes such a difference to have a team that we can rely on to do a great job, and that they keep on top of the little things so easily too!” says Claire.
Chanpreet was overwhelmed by Claire’s support and kind words. His work is appreciated by all staff at Ararira Springs School.
“They call him Champion,” laughs Navi.
“He works very hard and I’m very proud because I rely on my staff.”
Dharwinder Singh has made a similarly positive impression on staff and students at Prebbleton School.
“The kids are happy, and they love Dharwinder. They always greet him. Everyone knows him. I went there and nobody knew me, but everybody knew him,” laughs Navi.
During the recent Cleanest Classroom awards, Navi and Dharwinder were surprised to learn the winning classroom was a combined class of 88 students. Given the size of the group, the cleaning team was especially impressed by how well the students had maintained such a tidy classroom throughout the term.
“The classroom is very clean. The students and teachers are very hardworking,” says Navi.
Navi tries to implement the Cleanest Classroom programme in most schools.
“It helps kids acknowledge that after they leave school, someone else comes in and cleans. It’s all about helping each other. And it saves time,” says Navi.
Navi has been a franchise owner for four years. She initially purchased a franchise to generate additional income, but when COVID-19 struck, Navi and her husband Navdeep focused on building the business to secure a strong financial future.
The couple juggled their full-time jobs during the day and their cleaning sites in the evenings. Within a year, Navi and Navdeep had left their jobs and were running the franchise full-time.
“I was working 126 hours a week for nine months, but that hard work has put us four years ahead of where we expected to be,” says Navi.
After four years of hard work, Navi now oversees her business, visiting each team member weekly to provide support and ensure high standards are consistently met. Navi says her team of ten is extremely loyal and reliable.
“I’ve hired good, reliable people,” says Navi.
“I help my team, but I go unannounced to make sure we’re meeting a high standard of cleaning every day no matter what.”
“It’s been a lot of hard work, but all of our customers know us and love us.”
Navi values the support she receives from CrestClean, especially from South Canterbury Regional Master Franchisee, Rob Glenie. She has ambitious goals and, with Rob’s help, she’s on track to achieving them all.
