Duct & Ventilation Cleaning Case Study

The problem

There are thousands of cleaning contractors who complete their typical day to day activities with ease. However, in my experience what many don’t realise is they are not insured correctly, or are only partly insured and not covered for all the works they conduct.

In particular, there are many cleaning contractors that complete specialist duct and ventilation cleaning.

There was a recent case of my own where I was approached by a cleaning contractor who at the time was insured with an online provider. After an initial conversation with the prospect, we established he conducted general office cleaning, but also 90% of this work related to specialist cleaning including duct and ventilation cleans in kitchens.

I was more than happy to obtain a quotation, however I advised him that if he was looking to save money, I would not be able to assist. Why not?

Firstly, we do not sell on price. We provide specialist insurance policies designed to cover all of the activities performed by any given client. Unfortunately, this cannot always be provided at rock-bottom prices and often conflicts with obtaining a cheap premium from information you have entered yourself on a website to get a quote.

Secondly, the advice I had given this potential client had opened his mind to the fact that he was currently insured incorrectly. He came to this conclusion almost instantly after realising his existing insurer had not once asked if he completed specialist cleaning such as duct/ventilation cleans, nor had they asked if he was a member of any trade associations or followed any particular guidelines.

He was aware our policy would be more expensive, but by this point he was keen to continue the conversation. The advice and information I had offered across a 10-minute telephone conversation exceeded anything his existing provider had ever given him.

He knew he was insured incorrectly, and requested I obtain a quotation to cover his general cleaning as well as his specialist cleaning.

The Solution

After several conversations across emails and by phone, I obtained the potential client a quotation costing over £1500. Keep in mind he was paying around £200 before. This is an incredible hike in price, especially for a client with a turnover of between £100,000-£200,000.

He asked me to send a formal quotation so he could read through all of the information and the terms/conditions. I agreed and immediately sent it across.

I do not like to hound prospective clients, so I left him to think over for a couple of days. When he did not respond, I tried to call him but the line went unanswered. I then sent an email, but still received no response. I eventually managed to catch him on the phone, where he advised he had received an alternative quotation for £900 from another insurer which was covering him for everything, including the duct/ventilation cleans. I politely requested to see a copy of this quotation.

We had been nothing but honest with each other since we first spoke, so he happily consented and sent it across to me to review.

I looked over the quotation and noted that the insurer was both regulated and very well-known within the market. The problem was that the business description noted the client simply as a ‘Cleaning Contractors’. It did not denote any specialist duct, ventilation or kitchen deep cleaning, nor anything along the lines of what the client carried out.

I called the client and told him of my concerns. He acknowledged and said he would look into it and come back to me.

He called me the next day and confirmed the second quotation did NOT cover him for everything he needed it to. Without my advice, he would have purchased an insurance policy which did not cover him correctly.

He later came back to me with yet a third quotation. The quotation provided to him was significantly cheaper than ours, however upon closer inspection I noticed that the insurance provider was largely unknown, and the policy was even underwritten by an off-shore insurer. The prospect had absolutely no idea who the underlying insurer was, nor the dangers and consequences of being covered by an insurer based off-shore. I explained the potential ramifications, at which point he once again thanked for my help and said he would get back to me.

The Result

The client finally agreed that the quotation put forward by myself was superb and would cover him for all his work, and at a competitive price.

I was happy to place the cover for him. Not only does my client now have the peace of mind that he is covered correctly, but he has an insurance policy placed through a broker who is available any time to give advice or help.

The prospect has now been on cover for many months. A testimonial from the client himself is below regarding the rollercoaster ride we had.

Testimonial

“I would and will definitely recommend Tom to all ventilation & duct cleaning contractors looking for the unique insurance cover that our industry requires. Tom’s knowledge of the sector and ultimately the services he provided is very impressive.

Tom managed to identify gaps in our previous cover which certainly left us exposed and did not provide the relevant cover for all of our services. I now have peace of mind and a tailored package of Employers’ & Public Liability that provides the full cover we need.

I would recommend Tom to anyone in the industry.”

Imad El Faour

Company Director