A man had earned £30k from his side hustle cleaning graves and says it is "peaceful" and "satisfying".<br /><br />Shaun Tookey, 30, has cleaned more than 100 graves since he began in May 2023.<br /><br />Families pay him between £350 and £450 to clean the headstones belonging to loved ones - and it can take him up to two hours a job.<br /><br />He got the side hustle idea while working as a tree surgeon in a graveyard and wondered who was looking after the graves.<br /><br />Shaun realised it was left to the family members and launched a TikTok page offering his services and started getting requests.<br /><br />Now Shaun has a dream of turning this side hustle into his main money maker and often cleans on the weekends or during his annual leave.<br /><br />Shaun from Hertford, from Hertfordshire, said: "I have had the idea for 12 years but I didn't have the funds to start up myself until last year.<br /><br />"Most of the jobs I do are on weekends or I take time out of my day to go clean a grave.<br /><br />"It would be my dream to go full-time with this but I am too scared to jump ship right now.<br /><br />"When I am cleaning in a cemetery people will come over to me and say they didn't realise this service existed in the UK.<br /><br />"It is such a peaceful and satisfying job - especially when you see the transformations."<br /><br />He added: "[When I first had the idea for the side hustle] I didn't have the funds to start up by myself - I was only an apprentice trainee surgeon at the time.<br /><br />"I used to work on a lot of trees in the cemetery and one day I was climbing the tree and I just wondered who cleaned them.<br /><br />"I saw a gap in the market and it has all paid off."<br /><br />Shaun estimates he has cleaned well over 100 graves and shares his transformations on TikTok - @thegravecleaner.<br /><br />Some of his clients come from word of mouth but Shaun says a lot of interest comes from his social media.<br /><br />He said: "Most of my jobs are through social media, it is such a big platform and my videos are getting a lot better.<br /><br />"I also go round posting leaflets and cards.<br /><br />"When I go to a cemetery for a job people will often come up to me and say they didn't know this service existed in the UK."<br /><br />He said: "It all depends on the type of grave, what sort of lettering it has.<br /><br />"Whether or not the family want gold leaf lettering then I can do that and if they just want paint I can supply that.<br /><br />"I have my standard rates and I do add-ons."<br /><br />Shaun cleans between two to four graves a day.<br /><br />He said: "It can vary, I also don't want to take the mick with how much time off I take.<br /><br />"I can do four a day on average but if they are big jobs I can get two done.<br /><br />"If it is a headstone I am cleaning then that can take between 30 minutes to an hour but the bigger graves can take a few hours."
