Adelaide Cleaning Supplies: From backyard shed to full-time business

Adelaide Cleaning Supplies' Peter Ryan speaks to INCLEAN about growing his part-time, family-owned business into a thriving full-time enterprise.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the cleaning industry, it wasn’t long before Peter Ryan was able to grow his family-owned business Adelaide Cleaning Supplies from a part-time operation out of a backyard shed to a thriving business in Edwardstown, South Australia. INCLEAN’s Lorraine Day reports.

“Running a franchise taught me everything I didn’t want to do in business. It made me realise I wanted to do something different,” Peter said.

After taking over a small cleaning franchise in a Westfield shopping centre which Peter said offered little possibility for growth or return, he decided he wanted something more.

“I had identified what was missing in the Adelaide cleaning market and, having a strong retail background, I wanted to create a fresh looking business that would best serve my customers.

“While I still had the franchise, I made contact with Cleanstar. Their support and help made me realise that I could run a business myself without the franchise system. While there wasn’t enough money left to start again [after running the franchise], we were able to build the current business [slowly] with some very clear goals and visions for the future in mind.”

Adelaide Cleaning Supplies began as a part-time operation out of a backyard shed, and while there has been no formal marketing of the business to date, it has grown into a steady business. It recently acquired the distribution rights for water-fed window cleaning systems manufactured in Melbourne.

“We really seem to have hit a niche with window cleaning equipment and we can hardly keep up. Our systems, compared with other brands, are extremely price competitive but top quality.”

Last year, Peter became the sole operator of Adelaide Cleaning Supplies, with help from his wife Kristen. However, he said that this wouldn’t last long due to the growth expected in 2017.

The business has just moved into spacious premises in a commercial precinct of Edwardstown. Peter said that when the present premises became available about six months ago, it was a bit sooner than he had expected.

“We had been growing rapidly and the previous space we shared with an automotive business was nowhere near big enough,’ he said.

*This article first appeared in the July/August edition of INCLEAN. Click here to keep reading.

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