Cleaning up

Clean As A Whistle was started 17 years ago from the trunk of a car as a carpet cleaning service. Today, the multi-faceted company has 24 employees and a stellar reputation that is music to the ears.

Judy Rider – Houston Business Journal

Choosing a carpet cleaning service from the hundreds doing business in the Houston area can be a daunting task. But Howard Partridge, founder of Clean As A Whistle Inc., believes it's as simple as "asking your friends."

"Your friends aren't going to steer you wrong," he says. Partridge credits word-of-mouth as the best kind of advertising and says his company has maintained constant growth because of it.

Before starting Clean As A Whistle, Partridge's experience was in the restaurant business, so he was familiar with what it takes to make customers happy – outstanding service. Based on that simple premise, Partridge was sure he had what it takes to run his own business.

"... I've always been an entrepreneur," he says. "When I was a kid I would go out and cut grass or sell things door-to-door. I was always trying to earn some spending money."

In 1984, Partridge and his new bride invested the $3,000 they received in lieu of wedding gifts in a carpet cleaner and vacuum. Partridge took his strong back, his commitment to great service and the thought of a red Mercedes convertible owned by his wife's cousin -- who was in the carpet cleaning business in New Jersey -- and launched Clean As A Whistle from the trunk of his car.

"Learning to run the business was mostly trial and error," Partridge says, "but one thing I always had was my commitment to great service and always, always following up with my customers. Customer service is what got me through not knowing how to actually run a company."

To keep the errors to a minimum, Partridge made it a point to learn all he could about the cleaning and care of fine carpet and fabric by reading whatever industry materials he could get his hands on and communicating with cleaning professionals from all over the country. That education and interaction ultimately led to Partridge being known as someone who was able to solve some of the industry's most difficult cleaning problems.

"This business is built on referrals," he says. "I did do a little bit of advertising, but it didn't pay off nearly as well as the referrals I was getting."

The referrals really took off, he says, when his father and stepmother, interior designers who knew his work was topnotch, started recommending him to other designers and professionals in the carpet industry.

"Word got around, and in 1997 I found myself overwhelmed with work and trying to figure out how to keep up," Partridge says.

That's when he invited a pair of Houston-area carpet professionals to team up with him at Clean As A Whistle. Scott Zack and Dennis Klager, who were single-truck operators, each brought their own knowledge of the carpet industry to the partnership. Zack's in-depth study and proficiency in all areas of carpet cleaning and Klager's many years as a carpet inspector and water and fire restoration expert were the perfect combination to help take Clean As A Whistle to the next stage of growth.

"We formed a partnership, went out and implemented our strategy and went from $30,000 to $2 million a year," Partridge says.

As the business grew, so did the staff. With 24 employees now on the payroll, Clean As A Whistle makes sure each team -- consisting of a lead technician and assistant -- sent to a job is prepared to handle whatever issues may arise.

While each new hire goes through a screening process that includes background checks and pre-employment drug testing, previous cleaning experience is not necessary.

"Actually we prefer that our new employees have no carpet cleaning experience," says Zack, a vice president of the company. "The best way to teach them to do it our way -- the right way -- is with a clean slate."

Zack, who owned and operated Viking Carpet Cleaning prior to casting his lot with Partridge, is responsible for the company's administration and finances. Klager -- also vice president of the company -- who owned and operated Kingwood-area Sir Sparkle until joining up with Clean As A Whistle in 1997, is in charge of training the technicians, scheduling the crews and keeping the company's fleet of 10 trucks in top running order.

TRAINING DAY

Clean As A Whistle's commitment to training its employees continues throughout the technicians' tenure with the company, which not only makes them better at what they do, it also keeps the company abreast of new technologies and solutions in the cleaning industry.
"We emphasize education by sending our technicians to whatever conventions and seminars are available," Partridge says. "They are constantly improving their skills."

The continuing training, he says, has turned ordinary people into extraordinary service people and has earned several Clean As A Whistle employees certification in the national Institute of Inspection Cleaning & Restoration. The number of certified technicians the company boasts, says Partridge, is "way beyond the industry's minimum standard."

Partridge attends a lot of seminars, too, but spends most of his time on the other side of the podium. "In a one-day marketing seminar," he says, "I'll go in and teach great carpet cleaners how to get the right kind of clients and how to market and manage their businesses."
Partridge, who also finds time to write articles for national cleaning magazines, says his partners make it easier for him to accept the seminar engagements since they run the company while he's away.

Klager says when he first started out in the business, he too, learned everything he could about carpet, textiles and stains, stumbling his way through and joining industry associations to continue learning.

"We're all three certified master cleaners -- all three totally different --and combined, we form the perfect partnership," Klager says. "Howard's the pitch man, Scott's the numbers man, and I take care of operations. But all of us tend to put our fingers -- and noses -- in wherever they're needed."

In fact, he says, if there were such a thing as a "computer partnership service" the three of them would come up immediately as a winning combination. Even with all the carpet cleaning competition in the Houston market, Partridge believes Clean As A Whistle stands apart.

"We're exclusively in the high-end market, working purely on reputation," he says. "We're known as the most referred company around. We get a lot of referrals from carpet professionals, interior designers and Realtors."

And the ultimate referral? Tom Tynan, owner and president of Tynan Construction Inc. and host of KTRH's Home Improvement Hotline, not only endorses Clean As A Whistle, but calls on the company to clean the carpets in his own home. And carpet isn't the only area in which the company cleans up. Clean As A Whistle also professionally cleans drapes, area rugs, upholstery and even marble and tile.

And meanwhile, Clean As A Whistle is in the process of adding a hardwood floor refinishing service.

jrider@bizjournals.com · 713-960-5930

808 Park Two Dr • Sugar Land, Texas 77478
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www.cleanasawhistlehouston.com

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