20 August 2026
Built on standards, shaped by OBHS
From his days at Otago Boys’ to building one of New Zealand’s most successful franchise businesses, Grant McLauchlan has carried the values of hard work, high standards and community with him throughout his journey.
For Grant McLauchlan, the path from Otago Boys’ High School to building one of New Zealand’s most successful franchise businesses began with a Commerce degree at the University of Otago.
Coming from a family where work and business were part of everyday life, Grant was naturally interested in how businesses operate, what makes them grow, and the relationship between people and enterprise. After graduating, he joined KPMG in Dunedin as a graduate accountant before heading overseas on his OE in 1988.
His time in England proved pivotal. Working in finance across different businesses and industries, Grant was exposed to the franchise model for the first time – planting the seed for what would eventually become CrestClean.
Returning to Dunedin in 1991, he joined the family business, G S McLauchlan & Co.
Alongside OBHS schoolmate David Marsh and a university friend, he began developing the idea of establishing a franchise system in New Zealand.
In 1996, Grant, David and business partner Rene Mangnus founded CrestClean in Dunedin with little more than an idea and a belief they could build something different: a business with genuine integrity that put its people first.
Nearly 30 years later, CrestClean has grown into New Zealand’s largest commercial cleaning franchise system, with 700 franchise businesses and 2,400 people from 59 nationalities operating across 19 regions and servicing more than 6,500 commercial customers.
Grant says the milestones he is proudest of are not the revenue figures. They are the people who have built businesses and better lives through the CrestClean network. "Watching someone take ownership of their first franchise and grow it into something that supports their family and helps them achieve home ownership never gets old."
Grant believes the foundations for that approach were partly formed during his time at Otago Boys'.
"OBs instilled something in me that I’ve carried ever since, a belief that standards and work ethic matter,” he says.
"The expectation to show up properly – whether in the classroom, on the sports field or representing the school – has stayed with me and shaped the way I has built the business."
Grant has continued to give back to the school in many ways. For around 15 years, CrestClean has been the principal supporter of the Old Boys CrestClean Classic Golf Day, while Grant personally sponsors three Annual Co-Curricular Excellence Scholarships recognising students who combine academic achievement with active participation in school life.
He also enjoys hosting the annual Old Boys’ gathering at the Wānaka A&P Show with his wife Tess and their sons, Harry and Lewis.
"Otago Boys’ is an important part of the Dunedin community. What happens within a school has a lasting influence on the wider community, because educating the next generation helps shape the future success and prosperity of the place we all call home.
"The school continues to produce remarkable people, and being connected to that in any way is a privilege. The pride in being an OBs boy, the sense of belonging to something with history and substance, the expectation that you carry yourself with a certain character - those things have not changed."
His advice to fellow Old Boys thinking about reconnecting is simple:
"Just start by showing up to an event, sure we may have had different experiences at school, achieved different things, lived different lives, but it is always a good time to reconnect with all those old faces, hear of new life stories and share the common ground in all of us which is Otago Boys High School."