Becoming a member of the Oven Kitchen Extraction Cleaning Association (OKECA) will give you access to education and networking that will maintain your professional edge within the industry, keeping your skills current. Becoming a Member is a great opportunity to expand on your skill sets, progress on your professional development and meet likeminded professionals who can provide help when you need it.
Why is an OKECA Membership great for your business
Over the years, the oven cleaning industry has started to become increasingly populated with people who are looking to earn a “quick buck”. Unfortunately these are people who take no pride in their work, and will take advantage of anything they can. Working illegally, without any quality standards and, more often than not, offering cash-in-hand services without any accountability, they cause a huge financial disruption to legitimate companies and sole traders like you who aim for customer satisfaction and long-term business.
More and more reputable companies understand the need for industry standards to be set and adhered to. The aim here is to ensure that business owners and their technicians are properly trained, insured and able to operate legally and safely.
This is why our Membership applications are only approved on production of proof of business Liability Insurance, Police Checks, as well as with the requirement for full agreement to OKECA’s Code of Practice. We also require to see evidence of your company status (your Company House registration if you’re a Limited Company, or evidence from your accountant or tax office if you are sole trader). Our aim is to build a Members’ Directory of trusted, legitimate businesses that the public can trust and rely on to get their oven, kitchen and extraction system cleaned professionally, without the risks of low cost (but also low quality) opportunists.
In essence, OKECA is created to provide a standard of cleaning in both the domestic and commercial kitchen cleaning industry.
The benefits of an OKECA Membership
As a member you get to enjoy many benefits:
- You and your business will be listed on the Members’ Directory. A directory listing increases your business exposure as a certified, fully trained professional within the industry. The general public will be able to search for an OKECA certified member in their area, confident in the knowledge that they are booking a professional for their clean.
- You will be entitled to proudly display your Annual Certified Member Badge in your literature, website, social media and company vehicles. The badge changes each year and it is only renewed after OKECA confirm that your details are up to date and your company still satisfies our requirements. The Member Badge is an easy way to advertise that your business is not a-fly-by-night, but you operate a professional company that has quality standards.
- The Association provides networking opportunities where you will be able to discuss ideas, share information and knowledge with industry professionals.
- You will enjoy Members-Only access to our forum*.
- You will enjoy discounts from our sponsors, provided exclusively to our Members.
- You will be part of a recognised association, which gives your company an advantage over opportunistic individuals who are looking to make quick money undercutting legitimate businesses and giving the industry a bad name.
* As OKECA is a fairly new Association and Membership is completely free, we have decided to postpone the creation of a forum until we reach a significantly higher number of Members. The creation of a forum takes money, time and quite a lot of effort. It is definitely in our plans for the future.