'I do the jobs domestic cleaners won't go near'

A man who works as a specialist deep cleaner at premises ranging from crime scenes to homes of hoarders says the biggest compliment he gets comes in the form of a question - how do you do it?

Iain Watson's company is also called in to clean the homes of people who have died, or properties vacated by squatters, or those damaged by flood.

The 48-year-old from Cheshire said a strong stomach was needed for his line of work, as well as care, compassion and an open mind. He said he did the jobs domestic cleaners would not go near.

"You need to be able to muscle in when the going gets tough," he said, "because sometimes, some of the things we do, nobody wants to do. But if we don't do it, who will?"

But despite his approach, Watson, who started specialist cleaning to compliment his pest control work, said there was one aspect of the job that was hard to ignore.

"I don't think in the six years I've been doing this you ever get over the smells, there's always a new smell that you get," he explained.

"Certain days the smell can be overwhelming."

At a recent job, he said, there were so many bottles of urine in a property, they could have filled a bath tub three or four times over.

He was also called to clean a wedding venue where a man had cut his arm, and "he walked the entire length of the wedding venue with a severed artery and obviously there was blood everywhere".

In his line of work, he said, "you need to know what you are doing, you can't just go in with a bucket and a mop".

His team has to wear protective suits, gloves and shoes,"so we almost look like crime scene investigators ourselves to clean the area of what's gone wrong".

Cleaning jobs come via the police, councils, social housing and private landlords, along with solicitors and private citizens.

Some of the places his teams visit could be tough to endure, and take a toll mentally, Watson said.

That could come, he explained, "when you realise that this is how people live, or that the person has died potentially alone, as was most of the cases during Covid."

The jobs that stuck with him most were those involving older people who might not ask for help, either because they did not know who to ask, or did not want to feel like a burden, he said.

"Some of these people suffer in silence."

But he added that great comfort and job satisfaction came from giving back a property, knowing people were pleased with the outcome.

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