One full day of cleaning, given away.
Our cleaners are employed and paid for the full month, whether or not we have a full month of work to sell them into. When there is a day we have paid for and not sold, we give it away — to a school, a temple or a shelter here in Pattaya. We bring the machines, the chemicals and the team, and we clean it properly. No charge, no contract, nothing asked in return.
โครงการ "Community Day" — พนักงานของเราได้รับค่าจ้างเต็มเดือน ไม่ว่าจะมีงานเต็มเดือนหรือไม่ วันที่ยังไม่มีงาน เราจึงมอบบริการทำความสะอาดเชิงลึกหนึ่งวันเต็มให้กับโรงเรียน วัด หรือสถานสงเคราะห์ในพื้นที่ โดยไม่มีค่าใช้จ่ายและไม่มีเงื่อนไขใด ๆ
Cleaning in this region is usually sold by the hour and staffed by the hour. When the work thins out, people are sent home, and they are not paid for the day.
I did not want to build that kind of company. Our cleaners are employed and paid for the full month, whether or not I have a full month of work to give them. In a new city that is a real cost, and it means there are days I have already paid for and have not sold.
I could write those days off as a loss. I would rather spend them on something. So the day goes to a school, a temple or a shelter in Pattaya, and it gets cleaned properly by people who were being paid to be somewhere anyway.
It is not charity in the grand sense, and I would rather not dress it up as one. It is a straightforward decision made twice: pay people properly, then make sure the time is spent on something worth doing.
What one day actually is
- Two areas, finished properly. Usually the toilets and the kitchen or canteen — the places that affect people's health and that nobody has the budget to deal with. Two rooms done completely is worth more than six rooms improved a little.
- Everything comes with us. Combination floor machines, professional chemicals, our own water and power arrangements. Nothing is borrowed from the people we are helping.
- The same team and the same standard as a paying job. Same training, same chemicals, same uniforms. This is not the practice version.
- One day. Sometimes we decide afterwards to come back for a second. We never promise it in advance, because we cannot promise a schedule gap.
And what it isn't
- It is not cleaning an entire building. A school is far too big for one day and pretending otherwise would only disappoint everyone.
- It is not an ongoing service, and we are careful to say so before we arrive rather than after.
- It is not a sales visit. We do not bring price lists, we do not pitch, and we do not follow up afterwards asking for work.
- It is not repairs. We clean. Broken taps and dead lights are outside what we can honestly offer.
The rules we hold ourselves to
- Paying customers always come first. A Community Day only happens on a day that was already free. Your booking is never moved for it.
- We do not mention photographs until after they have said yes. Asking first would turn a gift into an advertising deal.
- A no about photographs changes nothing. We still come, we still do the full day, and we do not raise it again.
- No child's face appears in anything we publish. Not blurred, not from behind, not in the background of a wide shot.
- We do not name the place unless they want to be named. Accepting help with a dirty toilet block should not cost anyone their dignity.
Where
Pattaya and the area immediately around it, which is where our team is based. As we grow northward along the coast towards Bangkok, the programme travels with us — one of the first things we would like to do in a new town is a day like this.
Know a place that needs it?
Tell us about it. We cannot get to everywhere, and we may be slow to answer — but every suggestion is read, and the list is how we choose.