Fire and security
£32,200 a yearof remedials found and never quoted: 140 defects at £460 each, and half of them never followed up.
For owners of established cleaning, fire and HVAC businesses
A business that makes more and needs you less.
We find the money your business is quietly losing and build the systems that stop everything coming back to you. So it's worth more to a buyer, and easier to own, whether you sell next year or never.
You'll speak to Kash, the founder. No preparation, no obligation.- Fixed fees, no retainer
- Money back if we don't find twice our fee
- Nothing goes out without your approval
Where are you right now?
Easier to own
Three starting points.
One result.
Wherever you start, the work is the same, and so is the result:
- More profit from the work you already do
- A business that runs without you in the middle
- Your time back, and far less stress
- Ready to sell whenever you choose, if you ever do
Why good businesses don't sell
Picture two almost identical businesses. One has a buyer within a month. The other is still for sale two years later.
Same trade, same twenty years, same turnover and profit. So what's different? What a buyer can see.
Has a buyer within a monthStill for sale two years later
The ownerTook a fortnight off. Nothing broke.Big customers still ring the owner's mobile.
ProfitProfit for every contract, on one page.One profit figure, hiding 3 loss-making contracts.
CustomersNo customer a buyer would lose sleep over.Two customers make up half the turnover.
ContractsEvery contract signed and on file.Half the work runs on handshakes.
The teamSupervisors handle cover and complaints.Cover and complaints wait for the owner.
The numbersMonthly figures ready the day a buyer asked.Every buyer question took weeks to answer.
Buyers don't pay for hard work. They pay for certainty. Every line on the right knocks money off an offer, or ends the talks. It's a big part of why up to 80% of attempts to sell a small business fail.
Every one of them can be fixed: some in weeks, some over a year. And fixing them starts taking the business off your shoulders straight away.
Source for the 80%: Professor John Colley, Warwick Business School, September 2026
Not selling? Read the right-hand column again. It's the same list that leaks your profit and keeps you on call. The fix is the same. See what we fix“Everyone lives in my head.”
— A business owner trying to sell, 2026
To a buyer, a business that runs on its owner is a job. And nobody pays much for a job.
It happens to anyone who builds something from nothing and has always been the one who knows. It's also one of the first things a buyer checks, and one of the easiest things to change.
Selling or not, it's why you can't switch off.
Where the money goes
The money's already in your business.
You've built a profitable business. That doesn't mean every contract is. Most of what you're missing isn't out in the market. It's inside: work done and never billed, prices that didn't move when costs did, and quotes nobody chased.
Contract cleaning
£10,800 a yearlost on one £30,000-a-month contract after April's wage rise. Margin down from 11.7% to 8.7%, and nothing went wrong.
HVAC and maintenance
£22,000 a yearof engineer time given away when planned visits priced at 3 hours take 4: 400 hours across 400 visits, at £55 an hour.
If you sell, it counts several times over. Buyers pay a multiple of profit, so every pound of profit you recover, once it shows in your accounts, can add several more to the price.
Leave it, and it happens again next April.
How the Profit Review finds itWhat we fix
Five things we fix. Each one pays you now, and again when you sell.
They're connected. The first two are there to find the money that pays for the rest.
01Revenue
Get paid for everything you do
Collect the money you've already done the work for.
- Every quote and renewal chased
- Extras and remedials billed
- Lapsed customers won back
NowMore cash in, without more customers
When you sellRevenue a buyer can see growing
02Margin
Make every contract pay
See what each contract really makes, and fix the ones that don't.
- True margin by contract and site
- Prices reviewed after cost rises
- Overruns and unpaid hours stopped
NowMore profit from the same work
When you sellProfit a buyer can check
03Workforce and recruitment
Hire, train and keep good people
Recruiting, onboarding and cover that run without you in the middle.
- Hiring that keeps applicants coming
- Onboarding, training and how-to guides
- Cover sorted before 6am, not by you
NowFewer gaps, less overtime, no early phone round
When you sellA team that stays when you go
04Your time
Stop it all coming back to you
Move the know-how out of your head and into the business.
- Pricing and decisions written down
- Supervisors handle what came to you
- A fortnight off, nothing breaking
NowYour evenings and weekends back
When you sellA business, not a job
05Trust
Numbers you can trust
One clear picture of the business every week, from the systems you already use.
- A one-page Monday view
- Monthly figures, on time
- A buyer-ready information pack
NowProblems spotted every Monday, while they're small
When you sellDue diligence in weeks
Where to start
The Profit Review
Two weeks and about two hours of your time. If it doesn't find at least twice its fee, you get the fee back.
How it worksWhat you'd actually get
Your whole business on one page, every Monday.
No new software to learn. We pull it together from the systems you already use and send it to you and your managers before the week starts. When something needs you, it says so. When it doesn't, you can leave it.
elmstead / Monday view
ExampleCleaning, fire and maintenance, 64 staffWeek 11
Owed to you
£48,20014 invoices over 30 daysThis weekMargin this month
12.4%Target 15%This weekQuotes waiting
9£36,400, oldest 12 daysAct nowRenewals in 90 days
4£212,000 a yearOn trackShifts to cover
2Both filled for TuesdayOn trackNeeds you
1Down from 9 in JanuaryOn trackThis week's actions
Contracts to watch
ContractWorkPer monthMarginSince AprilNext stepStatus
Harbour HouseCleaning£18,4006.1%−3.2 ptsRepriceAct now
Kingsway Retail ParkMaintenance£1,2009.8%−1.4 ptsReview visit hoursThis week
St Anne's SchoolCleaning£9,60014.2%−0.6 ptsRenew at +6%This week
Riverside EstateFire£6,90021.5%+1.0 ptsChase the remedials quoteAct now
Example: an illustrative business. Built from your job system, payroll and accounts.
Published results
What this technology has already achieved for others.
One from each trade, published by the businesses and the suppliers they used.
Fire protection · Cumbria
Defect quote conversion doubled. Gross profit up 36% in 12 months.
Beacon Fire Protection, after moving from paper to fire-specific job software.Source: Fire Industry Association, 2022Cleaning and restoration · US
Cost per hire down 40%. Interviews booked within 90 minutes.
Stanley Steemer, using an AI recruiting assistant across 115,000 applications a year.Source: Workday customer storyHVAC · Texas, US
Revenue up 30%.
Arctic Air, after an AI phone assistant started answering and booking calls, including out of hours.Source: Podium case studyHow it works
Four steps. About two hours of your time to start.
- 01
A 20-minute call
You talk to Kash: where the business is, where you want it to be, and what's in the way.
Your time: 20 minutes - 02
The Profit Review
Two weeks. We sign an NDA, take a data export from your systems, and show you where the money and time are going, in your own numbers.
Your time: about 2 hours - 03
Recover
Chasing, billing and renewals first, with any repricing timed to each renewal, so money starts coming back early.
Your time: your approvals - 04
Systemise
We build what stops the leaks and takes you out of the day-to-day. In your name, on your systems.
Your time: a short weekly check-in
Our guarantee
If the Profit Review doesn't find at least twice its fee in annual value, you get the whole fee back.
Value means money a year that the business is losing or not collecting, in its own numbers, using a method we agree with you before we start. You don't have to act on any of it to claim, and whatever you decide, you keep the report.
You stay in control
- A fixed fee, agreed before we start
- Your systems stay. We work alongside them
- Everything goes out in your name
- Nothing is sent without your approval
- An NDA before we see any of your data
- We never contact your staff, customers or broker without permission
Where we use AI, it drafts and sorts. People decide.
Book a 20-minute callWith Kash. No preparation, no obligation.
With Kash. No preparation, no obligation.KM
Kash Majid, founder
Who you'll be dealing with
I spent more than ten years in financial services, talking to people about their future. Hardly anyone had a plan. They built and built, and the plan was always for later.
My dad was a market trader. He worked until he was 70, up before five most mornings, and died two weeks before he was due to retire.
The owners I talk to have built far more than he ever did. But I keep hearing the same thing: it all still comes back to them.
That's why I started Elmstead.
Why I started ElmsteadQuestions
No. Most of the work is about profit and time. A business that pays you more and needs you less is also one a buyer will pay more for. Selling becomes something you choose to do.
Twenty minutes. One honest look at your business.
Where it is, where you want it to be, and what's in the way. You'll leave with at least one thing worth fixing, whether or not we work together.
Book a 20-minute callWith Kash. No preparation, no obligation.Not ready to talk? Take the 2-minute sellability check
With Kash. No preparation, no obligation.