SERVICES
National brand – Grahame’ s Tees cleaning firm operates across multiple sectors, maintaining sites across the UK.
A series of career turns – from kitchen fitter to building technician and qualifying as a chartered building surveyor and later deputy chief surveyor to the Army’ s reserve forces – eventually led him into facilities management.
The idea for CASS was born from a chance conversation.
“ I was at a BMW dealership getting my car serviced,” he recalls.
“ The site was being refurbished, so I asked if they needed a project manager. The managing director said no, but he did need cleaners. That got me thinking.”
He sent over a proposal by fax and, just days later, was awarded the contract – with a start date of July 31, 1997.
“ I found myself in a North London job centre recruiting cleaners with only four weeks to prepare,” he laughs.
“ And 28 years later, that client – now Mazda – is still with us.”
Word of mouth soon brought new opportunities, including a major contract with British Midland Airways, and by 2000, his first company, Redhammer FM, had
Ambitious – Thornaby-based national firm CASS, led by Grahame Chapman, has reported an average 20 % year-on-year growth, with expansion plans underway.
grown from zero to more than 200 employees.
In 2007, Grahame returned to Teesside, rebranded the company as CASS, and shifted focus entirely to cleaning rather than facilities management. It proved to be a turning point.
Growth, values and the CASS ethos Today, CASS operates across multiple sectors – education, healthcare, industrial, hospitality and retail – maintaining sites nationwide.
The company also runs a successful sister business, Cleaning Products, led by Grahame’ s son Peter, which supplies the same professional-grade equipment and materials used by CASS’ s own teams.
Despite its expansion, CASS remains firmly rooted in family ownership and values.
“ I believe we’ re one of the largest, if not the largest, privately owned cleaning companies in the Tees Valley,” Grahame says.
“ But we’ ve stayed true to our principles— we’ re a family-run business that believes in fast, local decision-making and personal accountability.”
That hands-on ethos still defines the company’ s culture.
“ If a client has an issue or we’ re short on staff, one of our managers will step in – and that includes me,” said Grahame.
“ A few weeks ago, I was cleaning a client’ s offices in Nottingham. He couldn’ t believe the managing director had turned up with a mop, but that’ s how we operate.
“ I wouldn’ t ask my team to do anything I wouldn’ t do myself.”
Looking ahead Now 63, Grahame remains as engaged as ever.
“ Technically, I should have retired at 60,” he admits.“ But I’ m still excited about where we can take the business.”
He credits CASS’ s longevity and reputation to its grassroots beginnings.
“ Starting from the ground up taught me what our staff deal with day to day,” he says.
“ That’ s helped us design cleaning plans that really meet clients’ needs. We’ re not the cheapest or the most expensive, but we deliver great value – and once clients come to us, they tend to stay.”
And as CASS looks toward the future – with new growth targets, a possible return to facilities management and a continued commitment to quality – Grahame remains grounded in the same work ethic that started it all.
“ Where there’ s muck, there’ s brass,” he says with a smile.
“ And we’ re building something we’ re proud of, one clean at a time.”
Visit cass-uk. com
The voice of business in the Tees region | 91