On any given day, Sheila Barry can be seen tearing around Toronto, cleaning homes and helping to get them ready to go on the market. But Barry’s company, Run Around Town, is no ordinary cleaning company. It’s a one-stop shop that also offers painting and small handyman services, such as tub recaulking and wall patching, so agents don’t have to worry about hiring multiple companies to get the job done.
Run Around Town initially marketed its services to homeowners and businesses but Barry’s real estate agent friend suggested she get into real estate cleaning. Barry’s friend hired her for a job, and news about Barry’s exceptional cleaning standards spread as one agent hired her, then referred her to another and so on. Although she has advertised on Facebook, the majority of her business is referrals.
The company’s big break into the high-end real estate market came after stager/designer Carolyn Switzer of Carolyn Switzer Designs hired her to prepare a house for staging. “Everyone wants to have the person the top agent uses,” Barry says, adding agents value that she’s detail oriented and supervises jobs herself. She is even hands on, often doing the kitchen cleaning herself. “I’m known as the kitchen witch.”
Run Around Town has seen an explosion of growth after the initial COVID-19 lockdown, says Barry, who at 56 started the business after working on Bay Street as a trader for 35 years.
She is fanatical about her attention to detail and personally trains her staff to her own high standards. The company follows COVID-19 protocols.
Run Around Town services Toronto, west as far as Etobicoke, from the lake north to Lawrence Park and east to Scarborough and Pickering.
Barry is also offering gift cards (the perfect closing gift) with part of the proceeds to go to charity. Visit her website for more information.
Connie Adair is a contributing writer for REM.
