ROCKING up to Scott McTominay’s house and have him make dinner for you sounds like the dream for any teenage Manchester United fan.
But for Zack Ditchett, it was his first day at work.
The Mancunian kid has now set up his own business cleaning, valeting, polishing and detailing cars – and McTominay is one of Dirt2Clean’s most-famous and long-standing clients.
But on his first outing to McTominay’s house as a fresh-faced 13-year-old coming out of the first Covid lockdown, it was Zack who got the A-list treatment from the Premier League footballer.
He told SunSport: “You can imagine how surreal it felt it to be doing his car at 13. He trusted me.
“My mum took me, he came out and met me and made me some pasta. I had no idea footballers were so nice.
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“Scott is one of the best lads, a proper genuine guy.
“I go to his house every week or two, we’ll have a game of golf out the back.
“I’m comfortable with him, I almost don’t see him as a client. We’ve got a friendship.
“He gives me advice, we have a laugh. I do a lot of work for Scott, he likes his cars! At the minute he’s got a Mercedes GLE 63S, a brand-new Range Rover and an Audi RS6.
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“He will call me and let me know what needs doing. He messages me saying, ‘You hero. You’re the man.’ He loves the job I do.
“At the start, I felt quite a lot of pressure but now I know I do a good job.”
Zack grew up in West Manchester but was involved in a shocking car accident aged just ten when his seatbelt snapped out in a collision and he flew head-first into the windscreen.
He needed counselling to help recover from the trauma and was “scared” to get back in cars, instead choosing to walk whenever possible.
It is almost ironic, then, that he now spends his life in and around cars, making them look absolutely perfect.
And absolutely perfect is a guarantee for any Dirt2Clean client – for Zack has OCD and it was that need for everything to be spotless that led him into his business venture.
He explained: “I’ve got obsessive compulsive disorder so I’ve always loved cleaning since I was a kid. Everything’s got to be spot on.
“The house would never be dirty because since I was six I was cleaning all day, I would clean my room, make my bed, hoovering.
“Every time I got out of the car, I would get a little hoover and hoover it. Mum got me a car-cleaning kit one Christmas. That’s where it all stemmed from.
“I’ve made my OCD into a positive. It is helping me clean cars, I love what I do. I have a passion and I have OCD.
“I see stuff the human eye doesn’t see. I go into every little detail to ensure the car is 100 per cent clean.
“School was a brick wall for me, I’m not academically clever, I’ve always been hands on.”
Zack taught himself how to valet and detail from YouTube videos and started washing family and neighbours’ cars on his driveway.
He then secured a space at a local pub aged 13 – as well as beginning to visit clients’ homes – before securing a unit for himself this month, weeks before turning 17.
Business is booming, helped by a local artist putting him in touch with some famous clients.
He now looks after the likes of “really nice” Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Tommy Fury, Molly-Mae Hague and a host of other Manchester United players with McTominay providing a glowing reference.
The teenager, who used to have a season ticket at Old Trafford, added: “The Tommy one was mad really because he DM’d me on Instagram.
“Molly-Mae and him are proper down to earth, she helped me out with some shoutouts. They see a young local Manchester lad trying to do his best and they’re helping push me to succeed.
“At the start it was crazy, I have never interacted with celebrities. Once you get one, it’s like a snowball effect.
“When I go there, they are the most genuine people ever, they are normal, they don’t think they are bigger than anyone else.
“I go to United games and then I’m at their houses having a laugh with them, they’re like friends.
“It feels normal now as I see them often but when I tell people who my clients are they’re like, ‘Wow.’
“I had Dan James while he was at United, he was buzzing with the job.
“I’ve got a gallery of about 30 signed shirts and two pairs of Scott’s boots, including a pair he scored in. They’ve still got Old Trafford turf on bottom.
“They are memorable and mean a lot. It shows how far I’ve come from starting on my driveway.”
Zack understandably takes pride in his work – especially his football pitch-style striped carpet finish – and certainly feels good when he sees pictures of his customers driving into the Carrington training ground in their sparkling motors.
He loves the Bentley Bentayga and new Range Rover Vogues but insists “you can’t beat a Lamborghini Urus” because it’s a supercar and a 4×4 rolled into one machine.
Dirt2Clean’s services range from a £35 standard valet all the way up to the full works including paint enhancement and correction, which costs £800 and takes three days.
But Zack insists he can get a 2015 plate looking like a brand-new motor fresh from the factory.
And now he has secured a permanent base for his five-man company, he is desperate to expand his repertoire to include wrapping, for which he is already qualified.
The teenager added: “I aspire to be like Yiannimize, he started off valeting and detailing like I did and then wrapping. Look where he is now. He’s smashed it. Scott said I can wrap one of his.
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“Waiting to leave school held me back, waiting for my licence, too. But I’ve left school now, I’m turning 17.
“My plan is to get a van and get on the road so I can do more mobile stuff and then I want to expand. More vans then franchise it off to London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Scotland. Dirt2Clean all over England, that’s my dream.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
