My friend has just rented a town house with shop/office space on the ground floor. The place is absolute mess and needs a serious clean up. Is there any cleaning companies around that will come in a do the job?

I think he would be better off using informal channels and trying to find a freelance maid or two. I contacted a local cleaning company a couple of days ago and after telling me they didn't offer the service I wanted ( a regular cleaner) tried to persuade me to go for their "deep clean" package at ฿9,500. I could hire a cleaner for a whole month at that price so I naturally declined.

I too, would advise against the cleaning company. A few years ago we were trying to find a company to clean our couches to no avail. We finally got in touch with a cleaning company that we saw working at our landlords house. They came and said they would show up with a crew of 6 people, clean the couches with the garden hose and soap!, clean the entire house, clean all the windows (except our 22' high bay window which is the only one we can't do ourselves anyway). The price? 7,200 Baht for the day. We passed of course. We ended up reupholstering all the couches and chairs including 9 meters of beautiful fabric from Warorot Market, for less than that!