Island Cleaning Solutions is a big hit in Discovery Bay not least because the founders are islanders and they like to recruit locally
PHOTO BY Sarin Ale
Island Cleaning Solutions is a big hit in Discovery Bay not least because the founders are islanders and they like to recruit locally
PHOTO BY Sarin Ale
When Matthew Bentley and Jason Crisp co-founded Island Cleaning Solutions (ICS) in August 2020, they did not specifically set out to target Discovery Bay but the cleaning and wellness firm has quickly become a go-to for home and business owners across the community.
“This has everything to do with the nature of our customer base,” Matt says. “Our services include cleaning of air-conditioning units, soft furnishings, upholstery and leather, as well as whole-home/ office deep cleaning and disinfecting. We are geared towards those who appreciate attention to detail and high standards.
“I also feel like our brand image, service pillars and uniforms go a long way to getting our teams recognised within the community,” Matt adds. The fact that Matt is a DB resident and Jason is a former DB resident, now living in Peng Chau, further explains the firm’s local appeal. “Jason and I have a lot of contacts in the area and most of our first clients were DBers,” Matt says. “At the start, all of our advertising was through word of mouth. When a customer is impressed with our service and gives a personal recommendation, for instance through one of the local Facebook pages, like DB Mums, it has a big impact.”
Matt and Jason also like to keep it local when recruiting staff. “When we were looking to expand our team, we reached out to the community and received a lot of interest,” Matt says. “We continue to use DB Facebook groups for recruitment: we’ve employed a lot of DB residents full-time and we also offer internships – part-time employment to DB students returning on gap years.”
THE DB TEAM
At the time of writing, ICS has three DB residents on staff: Andrew Escott (supervisor), Brandon Samuels (supervisor) and Jayden Gough (technician). Andrew came on board three years ago, during the pandemic, when the company he worked for was in trouble – he was recruited by Jason. Brandon, a former sports coach, joined at about the same time – his dad and Jason are buddies. Jayden was recruited just 10 months ago when he was fresh out of school and waiting tables – he and Jason got chatting in a DB coffee shop.
Ask the DB trio what they get out of working at ICS and they all focus on the enjoyment they gain from being part of a dedicated team. “At ICS, we have a really good bunch of guys,” Andrew says. “We’re all striving for the same thing; we’re very ambitious about what we do and there’s great camaraderie in the company.”
“We follow five core pillars at ICS,” Brandon adds. “We call it DIRTA: Development, Integrity, Respect, Transparency and Ambition. Learning these has made me more responsible, punctual and disciplined. That’s why I’m a supervisor now.”
What then makes ICS so successful according to the core DB team members? “When we go to a client’s house, we explain exactly what we’ll be doing and we clean everything to our full potential; we also tell our customers if there’s a problem, for instance if an aircon needs replacing,” says Brandon. “And we always show up on time,” Jayden adds with a grin. “I think our customer service is great.”
Andrew elaborates: “First of all, we take each other very seriously, and we hold each other accountable. My personal background, like Jason’s, is the British military, so we approach the job with military bearing in terms of punctuality, what we wear, the way we conduct ourselves. That, coupled with the camaraderie, makes for a very good working environment and it means we work to a very high standard.”