When Sophie Brown finished school she dreamed of being a teacher but like many others her exams didn’t pan out as planned and she realised the classroom may not be for her.
Picking herself up and dusting herself off, she decided to start-off cleaning locally alongside completing a business course, with no anticipation of what would become of it.
Sophie Brown from Lordswood started her business in 12 years ago on her own. Picture: Sophie Brown
Fast-forward 12 years, the 31-year-old, from Lordswood, has gone from solo cleaning for friends to running Capable Cleaners, a company of 150 clients and 25 staff, alongside her husband and business partner Martin Brown.
And while the husband-and-wife duo still tackle the smallest of houses, their expertise and know-how has seen them clean Lullingstone Castle, period-style film sets and even provide a pre-and-post clean for TV star Stacey Solomon’s house transformation show – Sort Your Life Out on the BBC.
Talking of the early days, Sophie said: “I had no idea that this would be where we ended up, I had no business plan to grow a cleaning company but at the time I was in a panic about what I was going to do with my life.
“I would clean for friends, neighbours and Betty, who was an elderly lady, and it was more of a companion stroke cleaning role, so I would clean the house and perfect my poached eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs on toast for her tea before I left on a Sunday evening.”
But, after advertising in local magazines and gaining clients through word-of-mouth she took on her first employee at the end of 2012 and the company has “grown from there”.
Martin pictured with Sophie in 2017 after joining the business Capable Cleaners. Picture: Sophie Brown
Now, the couple clean for Lullingstone Castle, a job they have carried out for many years.
Talking of her first visit there, Sophie said: “I remember driving up to it so nervous, it was a really, nerve-wracking experience.”
As part of a clean, Martin spent two weeks at the historic manor house cleaning the windows and the floors, adding: “You have to be so careful with the windows, I had to clean every pane by hand because it was so fragile.”
But, the company’s main claim to fame includes being asked to clean for Stacey Solomon’s hit decluttering show.
As part of the job, Sophie cleaned before ‘the transformation’ – a part of the show where all items in a house are boxed up and taken to a warehouse to be sorted, as well as providing a clean for when the final results were shown to the family.
She added: “It was such a strange experience seeing what goes on behind the scenes, the amount of people that go into a production like that is just incredible.”
Husband-and-wife team Martin and Sophie Brown pictured alongside their range of cleaning products and industry awards
Despite their success, the couple say the role of a cleaner is often underestimated or undervalued in society, with many not appreciating the physical and mental toll it takes to make a successful living from it.
Martin said: “It’s a very underpaid as an industry, people set up for £10-12 pounds an hour not taking into account they’ve got to do invoicing, drive to the place, pay for petrol.
“By the time things start going wrong six months down the line, the car needs new tyres, all of a sudden there’s no money in the bank for it.
“You’re always up against that person who wants to undercharge, it’s hard to get past that as a bigger company. As you grow, your bills grow with it, to keep the company running.”
The 42-year-old, who previously worked as a facilities manager for a housing association, joined the company full-time in 2019 before the pandemic began.
Martin and Sophie Brown, the owners of Capable Cleaners, at the Cleaning Industry Awards Ceremony. Picture: Sophie Brown
He added: “Then, by February we had no jobs and no clients, everything had stopped and we’d just bought a house.”
To manage, the company furloughed the majority of the staff, and through cleaning a few offices it “kept them going”.
Moving forward, the company went on to launch it’s own range of eco-friendly and non-toxic cleaning products.
Business owner Martin said: “Some products will eventually fade the fabric of the furniture, and we didn’t want anything like that which is why we got them made.”
When asked what the recipe of success for their business, Sophie and Martin laugh as they say simultaneously: “hard work”.
Sophie Brown says in the early days she could start work at 5am and not finish until 9pm at night. Picture: Sophie brown
“There’s been many a time you feel like giving up,” adds Martin. “But I think every business owner no matter what industry, knows it’s blood, sweat and tears” Sophie replies.
In the early days, Sophie would start cleaning offices around 5am and finish offices at 8- 9pm at night and then do it all over again the next morning.
She said: “There’s many times where life takes a back seat because we have to roll up our sleeves and run Capable Cleaners as best as we can.
“We try to have office hours but nine times out of 10 the phone will go.”
Martin, who is originally from Bexleyheath, said: “It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, being self-employed and running this company, it’s definitely been eye-opening.”
Sophie Brown alongside her first delivery of cleaning products in 2023. Picture: Sophie Brown
“But would we do anything else?” Sophie laughs, “I can’t imagine it,” Martin responds.
Recognising the work they have put in, Capable Cleaners recently won four awards in the National Domestic Cleaning Business Network.
The company came first place for Best Social Media, second place for Best Staff Training and third place for Best Domestic Cleaning Business and Most Eco-Friendly Business, respectively.
Martin said: “It was fantastic for all the hard work to be recognised. Not everyone can just be a good a cleaner, it needs training, it needs education and its physically difficult and demanding.”
Echoing this, Sophie said: “I think people underestimate how much work goes in to delivering a really good clean.
Martin Brown working for Capable Cleaners. Picture: Sophie Brown
“Whether you’re just a cleaner or just a teacher or just a doctor, you’re just trying to provide for your family and make your life as best as you can, just because you are a cleaner doesn’t mean you’re more undervalued than anybody else.”
And as the pair tell me, there is good reason for employing someone with solid training in the industry, as they have seen some cleaners proposing to tackle a bathroom with products that can’t mix because they would make chlorine gas.
“There is so much more that goes into the theory of a good clean that people don’t realise,” Sophie adds.
While Martin laughs: “You can have someone come in your house quite cheaply but they might make a chemical weapon in the toilet, unknowingly.”