Business veteran Michael Marshall has served his 250,000th customer in a career spanning more than six decades.

Mr Marshall, now aged 77 and owner of cleaning firm Marshall’s Maintenance Company, started the first cleaning company in Bermuda when he was aged just 15.

And to celebrate the milestone, Cindy Laws, of Ainslie’s Interior Decor in Tee Street, Devonshire, got her bill torn up as she hit the quarter million mark for Mr Marshall.

In a business career that has spanned shipping, construction and building supplies, Mr Marshall said he had seen a lot of changes.

He said: “The way buildings are put up today is very different — when we built Cumberland House in Hamilton it was manufactured in Canada and then brought into Bermuda — and we brought it in with no cracks or chips.”

And Mr Marshall, who still operates a network of business interests in addition to Marshall’s Maintenance, said he had no plans to take it easy, despite a career spanning 62 years. And he still goes to his offices in Pembroke’s Happy Valley Road every day.

He added: “I can’t do that — I come into work every day about 10.30am, I enjoy going to work and seeing people coming into my office who I’ve known for years and who have worked for me.”

He also started East End Asphalt, then known as Marshall’s Asphalt.

In addition, Mr Marshall owned several ships, used for cargo work and also, before a second-hand car market was allowed in Bermuda, shipping old cars from Bermuda to the Caribbean to sell on.

And one contract that sticks in his mind was a job to pave the runway at the airport, making it longer and wider.

The total number of customers was totted up using meticulously kept records dating back decades.

Mr Marshall said: “Every day was a different day — there was always something going on. We used to sell old Bermuda cars in Turks and Caicos. It was a good way of getting rid of them.”

Son Alex, who has followed in family tradition by running Team Oni Racing Club, which imports hi-tech electronic vehicles and other goods with business partner Jamie Lovell, said: “It’s exciting for me to follow in his rather large footsteps.

“Over the years, we worked out he’d had 250,000 customers. It’s a big number and something to celebrate because not everyone can say that.”