About Shine Time Kingston
A small cleaning firm working the KT and TW postcodes around Kingston upon Thames since 2015.
Our story
We started in 2015 with two cleaners, a car and a lot of end of tenancy work coming out of the shared houses around Norbiton. The move-out jobs are still the backbone of what we do, though the regular home cleaning has grown steadily alongside them.
Kingston is a slightly awkward place to run a cleaning round, and we say that with affection. The centre is pedestrianised and ringed by a one-way system, most of KT1 and KT2 sits inside a controlled parking zone with boundaries that follow streets rather than postcodes, and the riverside blocks want the loading bay and the service lift booked through a concierge before anybody arrives. Knowing all of that is half the job. The other half is turning up when we said we would.
We have deliberately stayed small. It means the person who quotes your move-out clean is usually the person who turns up to it, and it means we would rather tell you we are full in the last week of June than take the booking and let you down. That week and the first fortnight of September are our busiest, because of the student turnover around Penrhyn Road and the shared-house market through Norbiton and Surbiton.
How we work
The quote is the price
If the property turns out to be far worse than described we say so before we start, not on the invoice afterwards.
We tell you what we cannot fix
Some carpets are finished. Some ovens have a coating that chemicals would wreck. You get told, and you keep your money.
Same faces
Most of our cleaners have been with us for years. On regular work you keep the same person unless the rota forces a change.
Local knowledge
Permit zones, concierge rules, which blocks have a service lift and which have a lift you cannot fit a machine into.
The team
Every cleaner is interviewed in person, referenced, and works alongside somebody experienced before being sent out alone. They are employed rather than sourced through an app, which is why the same person keeps coming back to your house. Public liability cover is in place for all of them and we will send the certificate to a letting agent who asks for it.
Training is mostly practical: how to strip an oven door without cracking the glass, how much moisture a wool carpet will take, which descaler is safe on a chrome finish. It is a trade, and it takes a while to learn properly. Read what we charge on the prices page, or the detail of a one off deep clean.
When we work
Monday to Saturday, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. Sundays by arrangement.
Move-out cleans are best booked a week or two ahead. In late June and early September, make that three.