Offering exceptional cleaning services Sam Ackland (BBus(Mktg) ’16) is on a fast track to success, in a tough economic climate when many other ventures by young entrepreneurs have floundered.
The 30-year-old established Build Clean in 2018, providing professional cleaning services to many of South Australia’s award-winning builders. His innovative business approach has cleverly combined aspects of his degree from Flinders University and his family heritage.
While studying Business at Flinders, Sam simultaneously worked in his family’s cleaning business in the commercial sector, which began when his grandparents came to Australia from The Netherlands in the mid-sixties.
After graduating and working in several sales and marketing roles, Sam wanted to start his own business that could excel and grow, and realised that his skill set as a cleaner provided an opportunity to develop a new venture.
“Nobody had taken a specialist approach to providing cleaning services to the building industry,” says Sam. “By promoting Build Clean as a dedicated, professional outfit, I created a company that focused on filling a gap in the market.”
Build Clean quickly built a reputation for setting a high benchmark in service delivery, using an innovative app-based system to ensure client satisfaction.
Sam also created the Level-Up Program, to ensure consistent high-level work performance from everyone in the Build Clean team. It follows each employee’s recruitment-to-career pathway, outlining key milestones and incentives, and it has helped improve the knowledge, skills and achievements of team members, resulting in increased employee retention.
Through increasing employee satisfaction, Build Clean has also ensured consistent service delivery and achieved a 90.57% customer satisfaction score from Australian Achiever Awards.
His company’s swift success and innovative approach saw Sam awarded 2020 South Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year – and in the same week receive an InDaily Top 40 Under 40 Entrepreneur Award – for significant growth that saw Build Clean grow beyond 40 employees and defy the prevailing economic downturn.
“From the outset, I wanted everyone involved in this company to be proud of Build Clean, to want to tell our story and its place in the building industry,” says Sam. “To ensure this, I’ve been fussy with the quality of our staff. Everyone in our company knows the vision and core values – which may seem a bit extravagant for a cleaning company, but we all know where we are going and that we are heading for a bigger future.”
Sam Ackland received a 2021 Early Career Alumni Award for his significant contribution to the construction and cleaning industry, and for an innovative approach as an employer developing a positive work environment. Read more on the Flinders University Alumni Awards