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Alina Pop (left) with one of her staff, Otilia Moise, at the recent Expat Expo fair in Geneva.

10% discount for knowitall.ch readers on their first cleaning session!

If you’ve lived in the Lake Geneva area any number of years, and you don’t have the time to clean your own house, then you will realise just how difficult it can be to find and keep a good, reliable cleaner.  Good ones are nearly always fully booked and the rest seem to come and go as they please. The best ones can also get away with charging steep hourly rates, because they know you are desperate!

As a busy international economist and EU lawyer, originally from Romania, Alina Pop knows only too well how hard it can be to keep on top of the housework. Traveling frequently between the States and Switzerland, she has had plenty of time to reflect on the problem and consider how she may help others in a similar situation to herself.  So in March 2015, she created Zenali Property Management, a professional service, with trusted employees, who can act promptly to requests, and who won’t charge a small fortune to do so!

Alina told knowitall.ch, “All my team are my employees, not just some names from a list that I call when I have cleaning requests. They are all legal, holders of Swiss working permits, with AVS and paid taxes, health insurance, work accidents and work damage insurance. We are a big family in Zenali. All workers have their own cars, provided by the company, to go to work, in order to be able to serve clients not only in Geneva, but up to Lausanne and also across the French border, where plenty of expats live.”

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25% discount on all Gardening Services booked through ClickDeal before 25 March 2016!

Have you ever thought how nice it would be to have just one company to contact every time you ever needed any work doing in the home? If you don’t speak French, it can be hard work contacting any company, but if you need someone to mow your lawn, another to do some plumbing work in the bathroom, and another to sort out your broken fridge, it can be a real nightmare!

Set up in 2013, ClickDeal is a home service provider which gives you access to a wide range of services “at the click of a button”. The company website includes an unusually large array of services for just one company, all of which can be sourced for you by ClickDeal. What is more, every month there is a special deal on one of the services to encourage you to try them out.

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20% off professional organizing services for knowitall.ch readers (see conditions below)

How many times have you wondered what it would be like if you had more time to organize your belongings and bring some order to your life? How much calmer would you be, if all the unnecessary clutter was removed from your home?

Well, now you can find out!  Virginie Dor, founder of Space of Mine, offers a professional organizing service designed to help individuals take control of their surroundings. Expert in clutter control, work flow, space planning, and time management, Space of Mine uses proven organizing principles to create customized systems and processes for its clients.

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5% discount on labor charges for work booked with Suretek before the end of 2015.

If you need an electrician or plumber that can speak your language when it comes to understanding what needs to be done, then Suretek may be just the company you are looking for.

Set up a few months ago by Wayne Grigg, a UK-qualified electrician and experienced maintenance engineer, Suretek offers a friendly, flexible and reliable service for all your electrical, plumbing, and heating needs. So whether you have a small, emergency repair job or a larger renovation project in mind, Suretek eliminates the need for calling out additional tradesmen to work on the job.

Wayne told us, “Suretek will undertake all aspects of plumbing from new installations through to maintenance and repair. One of the most frequent calls we get is to unblock and repair faulty drains. However, electrical installations and repairs are also a core part of the business and whilst we currently aren't able to carry out gas installation and servicing, we will carry out all other work on heating systems and liaise with a registered and qualified gas specialist to carry out the gas connection.”

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10% discount for www.knowitall.ch readers (see conditions below)!

If you are looking for reliable workmen to carry out high quality maintenance and renovation work at a reasonable price, then R & M services could be just what you are looking for!

Having received a number of glowing recommendations for this popular business, we couldn’t resist sharing some of them with you. Having undergone a number of home renovation projects ourselves, Lisa and I know only too well how difficult it can be to find good contacts for this type of work!

Established in 2013, R & M services is run by two British nationals, Colin and Jay, who, between them, hold over 30 years experience in property maintenance, renovation and project management.   Serving Geneva, Vaud, and neighboring France, Colin and Jay do much of the hands-on work themselves, but also draw on the services of a wider network of experienced tradesmen to fulfil both large and small projects in the home.