Latest / Momtalk Maryland / Fresh at the Curb: Clean Bins Without the Effort

Transcript

Fresh at the Curb: Clean Bins Without the Effort · Momtalk Maryland

0:00
SPEAKER_03: Hey friends, and welcome to Mom Talk Maryland.
0:02
SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom.
0:06
SPEAKER_03: And this is your spot for real conversations, local love, and a whole lot of community.
0:10
SPEAKER_03: Whether you're folding laundry, running errands, or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in.
0:16
SPEAKER_03: Alright, you ready?
0:18
SPEAKER_00: I think so.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
0:20
SPEAKER_03: Let's do it.
0:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm so excited to have you here, Josh.
0:23
SPEAKER_03: This has been in the making for us.
0:25
SPEAKER_03: This has been in the making.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: We've known each other for years now.
0:28
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that crazy?
0:29
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's what's kind of like even more exciting and why I love to do the podcast.
0:33
SPEAKER_03: You've obviously done many podcasts too, but ru one of the reasons why I love doing the podcast is it's like we get to go a little bit deeper.
0:40
SPEAKER_03: We get to like, I always love starting off with an origin story.
0:43
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, I know your business in and out, but you've also grown and evolved over the years too.
0:47
SPEAKER_03: So, and you're kind of like kicking off your season now.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: So it's just actually it's like perfect timing, really, because your seasons basically just kicked off, um, which we'll talk a lot about.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: Um but, anyways, to without further ado, we have Josh Levy of Maryland Clean, which is you you I'll let you talk about the evolution of that.
1:06
SPEAKER_03: But tell us about your business, and then I want you to go back because I want to know how and why, like why bins?
1:16
SPEAKER_03: Why cleaning bins?
1:17
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
1:18
SPEAKER_03: Like of all the things you could do with your life, you know what I mean?
1:21
SPEAKER_03: But I mean, I think it's incredibly interesting, and that's why it always caught my eye.
1:25
SPEAKER_03: But let me toss back over there.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: All right, no, I appreciate that.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Um interestingly enough, so it started during COVID.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Um obviously we were all home.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: I was on TikTok.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Um I saw a video about bin cleaning, and I thought it was interesting.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Conceptually, I thought it was a cool idea.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Didn't really know if it would take off, if everyone needed their bins cleaned.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, long story short, I found out that there was a manufacturer of these bins down in Miami, Florida.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Gave the guy a call, I reached out to the owner of the company.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: We had a conversation, he's originally from New Jersey, where I'm from.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Um his corporate story kind of resonated with me.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Same old story, right?
2:00
SPEAKER_00: He was his wife was having a party, they wanted the bins cleaned, he got after with the hose, cleaned it, realized that there had to be a better way.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Long story short, he's now the number one manufacturer of these bin cleaning trucks in America.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: I threw him a deposit.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: I really didn't think too much of it.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I talked, she's like, dude, we live in Howard County, great area, a lot of good secure jobs with the government and everything.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: So we jumped in.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: There was no real big plan.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: We just said, hey, we're gonna buy a trash bin cleaning truck, and we were in.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I I never had um uh experience with the service industry, never had owned a small business.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: Um but I figured it was a problem, right?
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Everyone has trash bins.
2:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, typically they're dirty, they're trash bins.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, nobody really wants to clean them.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: And I looked in the area, there were four bin cleaners in the uh three in the state of Maryland when I first started.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: So I was the fourth bin cleaner in Maryland.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously really big in the warm weather stage, Florida, Texas, California.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: But growing up the East Coast and growing in the colder weather, and um, you know, I had always coached my kids sports.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: I have four kids combined with my wife and um blended family, and I had always coached sports and been involved, worked for Howard County government.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Yep, yep.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, wanted to do something that I f that could connect me with the community that I could give back in a way.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And um, so here we are now.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: This is this is year four, just started uh end of March.
3:21
SPEAKER_03: We have, and I think that's funny because we also started business around the same time.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
3:26
SPEAKER_03: So because I'm coming into my yeah, the summer will be four years.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: That's so funny.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: And you you and I connected, I think year one, and you've been a great supporter of my business.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for that.
3:36
SPEAKER_03: And um, well, I just remember seeing it pop up and I was like, what is this?
3:39
SPEAKER_03: Because again, you're it's crazy to say that you're the fourth in Maryland.
3:42
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's I wonder I well, you might know geographically where they are, because again, like I haven't definitely seen maybe are they are there some like on the east coast?
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there's one on the eastern shore.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: That was the short.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Um there's another guy down in kind of PG County.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's another guy out towards Westminster.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Now now there's quite a few of us.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: There's probably 10 plus in the state now.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Um but I'm Howard County's first and only still.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Um we cover all of Howard County, parts of Anna Rundel County, and a little bit into Carroll County, is kind of my area.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: And most of us on the state of Maryland will throw referrals to each other.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: We kind of respect each other's service territories, and it's been a great community.
4:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's wild.
4:17
SPEAKER_03: Um so four years in business.
4:18
SPEAKER_03: Now, originally you were Maryland Clean Bins was your was the OG name, and then you guys evolved a little bit.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it you know, we wanted to name it MD Clean.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: That's what we called MD Clean, and and originally it was MD Clean Bin and Dumpster.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Um we don't love cleaning dumpsters.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: We'll do them, obviously.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right, right.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: We've had a couple local restaurants, we do some work for Howard County government at the Atlanta Phil.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: So we've do we do do some dumpsters, but the truck specifically is meant for residential banking.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we focused on.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's why we bought this specific truck.
4:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
4:50
SPEAKER_03: Um so you've talked uh to me about like some of the different services that you guys have and how that's evolved.
4:58
SPEAKER_03: And I'm curious, I don't know if that's evolved anymore since the last time I talked to you, but you know, now that we're in year four, what's that looking like for you?
5:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it has.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, look, again, like I said, bin cleaning is the core business of what we want to do.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we've gotten into we do some commercial work, so we do trash chute cleaning, so apartments that have trash chutes in them.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: We have a special device that cleans and sanitizes the trash chutes.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, we've gotten into power washing.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: Our truck is in essence a giant power washer.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, specific, you know, has the lifters on the back that lift the bins, but it's a giant power washer.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: So now we've gotten more into surface cleaning and house washing and fence cleaning.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: We've done some fleet washing.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if anybody has a lot of vehicles out there, we've done fleet washing.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, really anything I call it exterior cleaning that involves water, right?
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: That's that's basically our niche and our specialty.
5:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, and I feel like that puts Maryland Clean together so well, you know what I mean?
5:46
SPEAKER_03: And I remember um uh I think it was I think was it going into year two is when you started being able to do like the trash shoots.
5:52
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's really cool.
5:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: And it's grown, it's grown.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: We have, I mean, we have customers and commercial-wise, we'll travel, right?
5:58
SPEAKER_00: So I have some property managers that we work with in Annapolis, down in DC, Silver Spring area.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So for that, we'll travel.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, but again, for the residential bin cleaning, it's really more focused on the Howard County.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
6:08
SPEAKER_03: No, that makes sense, especially when you're doing like, you know, um either hopefully, you know, groups of neighborhoods and things like that.
6:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's I mean, that's that's the big thing, right?
6:17
SPEAKER_00: If we can get in, I mean, uh it's a service industry, we're driving around fuel prices we were just talking about are through the roof, right?
6:24
SPEAKER_00: So, what makes us when we started the business is you know, we would take almost any customer that wanted our bin cleaning service, right?
6:30
SPEAKER_00: We were trying to get our name out there.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: But if you know Howard County, driving from Mount Erie border all up to Elk Ridge is is some windshield time, right?
6:37
SPEAKER_00: So we've started to work with some communities, some HOAs in the area, and really try and condense those routes.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: We work with some local realtors, um property managers, because that's the biggest um efficiency in my business is getting multiple people within a community.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And then we can offer discounts to communities and funny story if I could, real quick.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you asked me kind of how I got started.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: So one of the funny stories that I have is that I brought the truck to the Harris Teaters in Maple On.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Um used to bring it there on Sundays, I do my food, grocery shopping, just you know, some branding and advertising.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: And a guy stopped me, came outside, and he's like, I have to ask, you know, what is this truck?
7:11
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen it before.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: So we started talking, and long story short, he happens to be on the board of a local HOA where you have to keep your trash bins inside the garage.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Do you work for it?
7:22
SPEAKER_03: Was he local to that area?
7:23
SPEAKER_00: He is, he's part of Wincopia Farms, which is over towards Maple Hill area.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Um but anyhow, Daryl was uh one of the first people I've ever met who asked questions about my my truck.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: He thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: Daryl, still to this day, I'm giving him a shout out.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Daryl, Daryl Lemons, I'm giving you a shout out.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: He has been a huge supporter, just like you.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: He's followed my business since day one.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: He even just texted me recently and said, Hey, I want to put, you know, um in our community Facebook group a shout out to you and remind people how great your service are.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's customers like Daryl, there's people like you that have just been, you know, proponents of it and helped get the word out there.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: And so I I I I I thank Daryl for that because when Copia Farms now is a community that we've grown from you know one customer to probably 10, 20 customers in the neighborhood.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: I just I love that stuff.
8:08
SPEAKER_03: And that that's like the best part of it.
8:10
SPEAKER_03: And actually, I was just well, I mean, obviously I had you on the podcast today too, but like with the weather being warmer today, I'm pulling in my trash bin and like I mean, I have a sticker, you know, on my so I always think about it, but I was just like, but the warm weather, you know, is when you start to think about it.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, and again, of course I'm always gonna plug your business, but you know, before I knew about your business and what it did, you know, to be honest, it was never something like a service that probably most people don't necessarily think of or think to do.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: And yes, in the warmer states you probably think of it a lot more because you're gonna be even more prone to like rodents and more animals.
8:41
SPEAKER_03: In our area, not as much.
8:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, maybe like, you know, maybe in like Western Maryland when you've got you know, they got more bears and stuff like that.
8:50
SPEAKER_03: But you know, in our butt you know, we're still prone to like lots of insects and things like that and just smell.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's it you're right.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: You you hit the nail on the head.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when we have our warmer months here in Maryland, right?
9:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, more towards we got a warm week right now, but it's really, you know, July, August that it heats up, that's when our phone really starts ringing.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Right.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, um the warm weather brings you know the germs and the bacteria, which ultimately leads to the maggots and the smell and then the insects and the rodents.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's usually when we get a lot of calls, is is more you know, warmer weather.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: But there's also, and I and look, I say this to everybody, right?
9:23
SPEAKER_00: It's not for everybody.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Not everyone cares.
9:26
SPEAKER_03: Right, and it doesn't have to be, right.
9:28
SPEAKER_03: Then that's totally fine.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: But there is people that you know do care about maintaining their bins, whether it's like you know, maintaining their car or their house, right?
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Some people are like, oh, it's a trash bin, it's meant to be dirty.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Pull in a nasty trash can in a you know 95 degree summer day with some leftover food and the smell.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: And and I'll be honest with you, it's actually our recycling bins that are typically worse than the trash bins.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Because trash bins most people bag their trash, right?
9:52
SPEAKER_00: But the recycling bin, milk containers, and and all this other stuff just gets all in the bins and they could be they can be pretty gross.
10:00
SPEAKER_03: That is so true.
10:01
SPEAKER_03: Well, and also again, when I first met you and started um with you guys too, we had two kids in diapers, or at no, yeah, four years ago, my dad might well, what's her age?
10:12
SPEAKER_03: She's gonna be eight.
10:13
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
10:13
SPEAKER_03: No, maybe she was out of, but still, like, you know what I mean?
10:16
SPEAKER_03: Or she was still in pull-ups, you know what I mean?
10:18
SPEAKER_03: Or at night.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I was like, you know, uh diapers in heat is just like the worst, you know what I mean?
10:27
SPEAKER_00: That's what we hear from people like Darrell again, just to use Daryl as an example, or even a Maple on community.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: We work with um if I can give another shout out, Brian.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Brian Saver has been we're getting ready to team up with Brian again this year.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: He's kind of the realtor of Maple Lawn, and we have grown our relationship in Mapleon.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: But again, communities, and I'm not saying it's just for communities where people keep their trash bins in the garage, but yes, if you have kids in diapers, if you have just even me.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: I have uh an elementary and middle school and two high schoolers.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: They come home, they just throw their stuff in the trash bin, they don't put it in bags, right?
10:57
SPEAKER_00: And and you get those warm weather days, and it just and then if your trash bin's in your garage and you're touching your trash bin, or you're touching the handles to your car, or you're touching the doorknob to go into your house, you're carrying those germs and bacteria, or grabbing your little baby out of the backseat, right?
11:10
SPEAKER_00: You're right.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: You're contaminating everything with those same germs and bacteria.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: Well, and and that's what I think is neat about it, is like, you know, yeah, any one of us can like, you know, hose our stuff bound, but like I d I don't think there's any part of me that would ever want to take my hand and a rag and wipe down my own.
11:27
SPEAKER_03: Like, I'll use the jet function on on from on my hose and I'll point it in there, but I don't think I want to do anything else.
11:33
SPEAKER_03: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: But even that, you know, so we tell people all the time Yes, you could take a hose and you can do your trash.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: You could take a broom or a mop, you can scrub it out, you could pour some bleach in there.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you're gonna do with it, because if you pour it out you're gonna say that's you can't pour it into the storm drains, right?
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Because they go to the Chesapeake.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: You can't pour it on your grass, it's gonna kill your grass.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: And the good thing is, I don't want to do that either.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Our truck does 99% of this work for you.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: So we come to your curb, you leave your bins out for trash or recycling, we come later on in the day, we pull up curbside, we basically power wash the outside of your trash bin, we raise the trash bin over our truck, we use 200 degree water, which you don't have at your house.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: We use almost 3,000 psi, that's the pounds of the pressure of the water that we use, and we basically blast the inside of the bin 360 degrees and we capture all of that dirty water, right?
12:19
SPEAKER_00: So we take that dirty with us, um, we dispose of that properly to Howard County um water reclamation plants.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: But we are basically using the high temperatures, kill 99% of the germs and bacteria, then we deodorize it with a nice citrus smell, um, and then we dry it off.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: So you couldn't do that uh, you know, doing it yourself at home, right?
12:38
SPEAKER_00: You don't have the water, the pressure, and the the means of what we do.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: And and I'll tell you, we've had some pretty nasty trash bins.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: And most customers after we're done think that it's a brand new trash can.
12:48
SPEAKER_03: Oh, it absolutely does.
12:49
SPEAKER_03: And I was gonna say, like, I mean, we're I was gonna say when we first started, we're we were new.
12:53
SPEAKER_03: We're I mean, now we've been here seven years, which is wild.
12:57
SPEAKER_03: Uh actually almost to the day.
12:59
SPEAKER_03: Um but uh you know, so four years ago, yeah, we would only been in it been here like three years in, you know what I mean?
13:06
SPEAKER_03: So like, you know, so they were newer to us, but but still, you know what I mean?
13:10
SPEAKER_03: I was still like amazed.
13:11
SPEAKER_03: I was like, wow, you know what I mean?
13:13
SPEAKER_03: Like, but it's also but just like you said, it's the um deodorize and sanitize, like it's that combo.
13:19
SPEAKER_03: You know, I think like you think w when you're cleaning your bins, like the most important part is like getting it clean, getting the smell out, but it's like literally being sanitized.
13:28
SPEAKER_03: And that I think is so key, you know, regardless of, you know, like you said, maybe, maybe here in Maryland, maybe we're not immensely prone to like lots of the critters or a heavy amount of insects.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: Because I think the majority of us have to keep our bins like either up by the house or or in the garage kind of thing.
13:45
SPEAKER_03: So I think we're again less prone to as many of those here, but still like the smell and just the idea that I know that it's it's not just clean smelling, it's literally clean.
13:55
SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
13:56
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that is like that's something I would have never thought of.
14:00
SPEAKER_03: And it's sort of like, especially during the warm months, it's kind of like that out of side, out of mind, like knowing and okay, when you can talk about this now too.
14:07
SPEAKER_03: You have the services that's kind of like it's like a built-in monthly, so you don't even have to think about it.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we offer, you know, so people can call us, they have a a party or a crab feast or some event, right?
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: And they want their bin screen, they can call us and just get a one-time bin cleaning.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: But we do offer all kinds of packages monthly, quarterly.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: We've done custom packages.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: I have one lady who's bi-weekly, she wants them done every other week.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have people every other month.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: So we will customize a package, but by far our quarterly service is to me what makes the most sense and what most people sign up for.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: Um you don't really need your bin cleaned every single month.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: It's uh at that point we start coming and and the bins are pretty much clean when we get there, right?
14:42
SPEAKER_00: But quarterly seems to make sense.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: And then you're maintaining it as well, right?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: If you just do the one-time service, you're cleaning it, it's getting gross again.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: But whereas you do it monthly or quarterly, you're kind of maintaining it and you're keeping that nice clean bin, and it's usually not smelling too bad.
14:55
SPEAKER_03: Right, absolutely.
14:56
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the most times that we've done it, we've like especially like during the season, we did monthly, because it was like, okay, it's like, you know, it's hot, you know, it's warm.
15:03
SPEAKER_03: So again, it's kind of just like done and taken care of.
15:05
SPEAKER_03: But I feel like either of those options are great, like the monthly or the quarterly.
15:09
SPEAKER_03: Again, it's sort of like sort of done for you.
15:11
SPEAKER_03: And and this is not an and this is just my plug to you and to everybody.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: Like this is not an expensive service.
15:17
SPEAKER_03: Like it's great, like it's it's really cost effective.
15:20
SPEAKER_03: It's something you can just easily like add in.
15:23
SPEAKER_03: And again, like it's then it's just kind of done for you.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: It prices start at like$35 a month, so it's not expensive.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, a couple Starbucks coffees, I like to compare it to.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: But you know, it is, it's like uh, you know, it's it's set it and forget it, right?
15:36
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna text you the day before as a reminder we're coming.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: We text sometimes in the morning just saying the driver's in route, reminder, leave your bins out.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: We text you when we're complete.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Um we just switched over to a new software, so now it saves um before and after pictures in your account.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: You can go in, you can add scheduling.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it gets that.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Getting better with the times, much better software for us, much easier for people to sign up, schedule, yeah.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Um and see when your next you know um scheduled cleaning is, or to even sign up for additional services.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, again, we mentioned power washing, house cleaning, window screen cleaning.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: We have a special little device that cleans window screens.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Um so any of that now you can do right there in your customer portal or again, you know, on our website.
16:17
SPEAKER_03: That's nice.
16:17
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say because like, yeah, again, this is also power washing seasons.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: Everyone you know wants to be outside.
16:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, I was gonna say we were talking about pollen too.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: It's like we want to be outside, but we're fighting for our lives a little bit.
16:26
SPEAKER_03: But you know, it's like the time to get your like you know, your front stoop or like for half of Columbia, all of our concrete driveways.
16:34
SPEAKER_03: It's got a lot of concrete driveways.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's the other thing too, just like bin cleaning.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: You can power wash yourself as well, right?
16:39
SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of people out there that go to Home Depot and buy, you know, um, you know, your DeWalt power washer or whatever it is, and that's fine as well.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: But again, you know, our equipment uh is professional grade equipment.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: We use professional grade, you know, both uh chemicals and soaps, depending on you know what we're cleaning.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Um and and we're professionals, right?
16:57
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do, we're licensed and insured, we're gonna do a really good job.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, happy to give anybody a proposal for any of that work.
17:04
SPEAKER_03: Right, absolutely.
17:04
SPEAKER_03: Well, and I do think, like, again, if anyone anyone who has ever done power washing, I have not.
17:09
SPEAKER_03: Um, God bless, because I always had babies and I was like, I'm not gonna be standing outside in this heat.
17:14
SPEAKER_03: Um and like, you know, for how long it takes.
17:16
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I can't there I know there's bigger brushes, you know, as opposed to just some of the little ones or whatever, but um but it's it's very it's very time consuming, you know what I mean?
17:23
SPEAKER_03: And it's like I look at it too, you know, especially with kids, like it's your time or your money, like on the weekends, you know.
17:28
SPEAKER_03: And I know that we're in quite a state of economy right now, too, to be able to say that.
17:32
SPEAKER_03: But you know, when when you've got kids and whether regardless of whether you've got sports, when if it's a nice weekend, do you want to be out power washing or do you want to be with your family?
17:40
SPEAKER_03: That's it.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, and we just had we had a couple, I mean, that's a great example, right?
17:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you and I were just talking about our kids and sports, but um I just had a really nice couple call me from Odington the other day.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Um the husband has power washed the deck in the fence every year for the last couple years, and he's getting older and he's like, you know, it it's a pain, right?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I don't want to go out there, put all this stuff outside, bust my butt, you know, on a Saturday or Sunday.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Um he's like, I have better things.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: Like, I feel like four hours is what I think it will take.
18:07
SPEAKER_03: It's all day.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
18:09
SPEAKER_03: It's all day.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: And to your point, go do something better.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the weather.
18:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, and like again, like my father's very fit, my my father-in-law, they're both fit.
18:17
SPEAKER_03: But like, I'm like, they are cooked, you know, by the end of it.
18:21
SPEAKER_03: And I that would probably they they probably put in at least eight hours.
18:24
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
18:24
SPEAKER_00: That's just what I look like when I come home from a power washing job and how I pay.
18:28
SPEAKER_03: Right, right, exactly.
18:29
SPEAKER_03: So but you also have high-end equipment, so that I would think that like for the stuff that yes, it's still time consuming, but you have very high-end and efficient equipment that I think is going to get the job done probably a little bit better than your own.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what I was gonna say is the efficiency, right?
18:44
SPEAKER_00: The time and the effort that it takes me to do it, getting the right supplies, the right materials, the right process of doing it versus you going out there and trying to figure out how to do it.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have a very clear process that we follow when we're doing residential house cleaning and and it's a pretty efficient process.
18:57
SPEAKER_03: Well, that and I'll say too, is like you mentioned like deck, um, I feel like that's something you have to be careful of depending on the type of deck you have.
19:03
SPEAKER_03: Like we have like a wood deck, or I don't know what type of wood, but it's it's real wood or whatever.
19:08
SPEAKER_03: So like compared to the wood.
19:09
SPEAKER_03: Right.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: So when my father-in-law um power wash it one time, like it was like it looked like you know, um very like fresh, but it was splintery.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: Splinter, yep.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
19:19
SPEAKER_03: And we have little kids, and so like and then when we have people over, it was like a death trap.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, um because you know, of course, during the during the summer, like we want to I mean, half the time we're in shoes when we walk out there.
19:31
SPEAKER_03: But you know what I mean?
19:31
SPEAKER_03: So now I really want to like I it desperately needs to be power washed again, but I'm terrified to do it.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is it you it's so funny.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we warn people when they ask us about wood decks.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: We actually replaced our wood deck with like a Trex.
19:46
unknown: Yeah.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: But you know what the funny thing is, so we replaced our deck and we love it, and it's gorgeous, and we back up to the woods and we use it a lot.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: But with the Trex deck, for us, right, the way we get the sun or we don't get the sun because we're shaded by some of the trees, we get a lot of mildew on the deck.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: So a nice white deck now looks green typically at the start of every season.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: So power washing, right?
20:07
SPEAKER_00: We come in and we take that green algae growth off the side of your house or off your deck.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: We just did a job in Columbia this weekend where we did a front and back patio.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wish I could show you the before and afters because their front patio was basically black, their back patio, pavers kind of um patio was was really green and dark.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: It almost changed the color, it changed the whole curve appeal with their house, you know, when everything was clean and nice like that.
20:29
SPEAKER_03: It does.
20:29
SPEAKER_03: Well, and it's so funny you say that about the uh so we I mean w we back up to we have houses on the other side too, but we have like a big birch.
20:38
SPEAKER_03: Um our neighborhood clearly loved birch trees.
20:42
SPEAKER_03: They're great because they're like they're massive trees, so they'll take up a lot of like space, but they just dump they dump everything for the whole season.
20:53
SPEAKER_03: We cut down four birches and our our neighborhood lost their mind, but it was necessary.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: And anyways, but the the birch that we have next to us is our neighbors, and anyway, so that whole side of our deck is just green.
21:05
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
21:06
SPEAKER_03: And so that's where it's like it starts, and it we have that like I don't love the color, but it's because it was you know, um we bought the not bought the house to use, but you know what I mean.
21:15
SPEAKER_03: We were not the original owners.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: So it's got like that reddish wood.
21:17
SPEAKER_03: So now it's like reddish wood and like green, you know what I mean?
21:20
SPEAKER_03: So I'm like but but yeah, no, and then again, like half of Columbia, like 90% of Columbia is concrete patios, concrete driveways, concrete stoops, you know what I mean, that gets like, you know, even if I power wash it last year, but still by this time.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: And then a lot of people, you know, you I drive through Columbia, I drive through Elkett City on you know on a daily basis, and you see these houses, and you can always tell like the north facing wall, which doesn't get a lot of sun, is like that one green wall, and you can drive through a neighborhood and every other house has got this green wall.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Some people don't care.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Some people, like you just said, you know, if you do pay to get it cleaned or you clean it yourself, you're right back at it another year later.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: You know, we do offer people kind of a maintenance program too, like if they want to sign up for you know, you know.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: An annual house cleaning, we give it at a significantly discounted offer?
22:03
SPEAKER_03: That's uh see I think again, that's probably another great like do it and don't think about it because again, if you're like us again, some people don't care.
22:11
SPEAKER_03: It's not that it's one of those things like, oh, I don't care, but then like we love to spend our time out there and then looking at like, I'm like, I just power washed that a year ago.
22:18
SPEAKER_03: How is it black again?
22:20
SPEAKER_03: Because again, it also depends on where your trees are, and we get a lot of shade in that part.
22:23
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
22:24
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: But it's just like getting your lawn cleaned, right?
22:26
SPEAKER_00: If you knew at the beginning of spring spring every year, Josh and MD Clean was gonna come out and clean up your house as you bring your grill out and you start people over at the pool and everything.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: It's just another thing to not have to worry about.
22:36
SPEAKER_03: I know, exactly.
22:36
SPEAKER_03: It's like we don't think, of course, like we have like, you know, a landscaper that comes.
22:40
SPEAKER_03: Because I'm not dumb not we're not.
22:41
SPEAKER_03: I also said like my the first year we moved in, we didn't hire a landscaper because we were like, oh, let's just see what it's like.
22:46
SPEAKER_03: And then I was like immediately let's like, nope, we always like we are not gonna spend our time.
22:50
SPEAKER_03: Like, we want to spend our time with we had a brand new baby, and I was like, no, like we are not spending hours out here.
22:55
SPEAKER_03: Like we deserve to like relax.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing it every year until this year, and Jess and I had a conversation last weekend and she's like, you may want to pay someone to get the lawn cut.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, you just don't have the time, right?
23:05
SPEAKER_00: And I can't believe you were doing it that long.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: So I I enjoy doing it.
23:09
SPEAKER_03: To be honest with you, there's something there are a lot of men that really do.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: I have four kids so far.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: I could put my AirPods on and go disappear for a few hours.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, it's it's my time.
23:18
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
23:18
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, this is this is what I told you, we were gonna have tangents.
23:20
SPEAKER_03: This is one of the tangents.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: Um so the we had um my son in June 2020, and um that was a year I don't think we we got the we have cedar wood planking on the house too, which um and we got so we had the house repainted, we had the fence repainted, and we're we're doing all of that.
23:38
SPEAKER_03: And um and I so I'm like inside with the baby, and um I swear with that summer when he would come home, he'd be outside for hours.
23:44
SPEAKER_03: Again, we had long cutter, but I'm like, what are you like can you come inside and hold this baby?
23:49
SPEAKER_03: Like, I've been at home for hours with this child.
23:51
SPEAKER_03: And then like my second my son was not the sleeper.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: My daughter was like the angel.
23:55
SPEAKER_03: She was a sleeper, and I was like, I don't think you understand that I've been I was like, I love this baby, but I've been in a living hell.
24:01
SPEAKER_03: Come inside and hold your child.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: But he'd be he'd come home and then be like picking up sticks and blowing leaves.
24:06
SPEAKER_03: And I I had to give him a quota of like, you can only blow the leaves once a day.
24:11
SPEAKER_03: You not not two, three times.
24:13
SPEAKER_03: Like, what who are you blowing these leaves in the body?
24:15
SPEAKER_03: It's very rewarding to blow your leaves and have this clean.
24:18
SPEAKER_03: I know he's got all he's got multiple batteries, so he never has to run out.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: And I'm just like, no, you can't like blah, blah, blah.
24:25
SPEAKER_03: Then so it's funny, I was um we were talking about sports a minute ago, and I was like running around picking up all these chairs, and um I pick up and this guy who was out there with his lawn, and um what day was it?
24:37
SPEAKER_03: Friday.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't super hot, it was actually kind of nice out.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: And um uh I said, like, oh yeah, like our landscapers um, you know, had just come by too.
24:44
SPEAKER_03: He was like, Yeah, we used to have a landscaper, but I, you know, he's like from from working, he was like, he's like, I realized I don't have any hobbies.
24:51
SPEAKER_03: He was like, I just need something else.
24:53
SPEAKER_03: He's like, I needed something outside of work, and I was like, that is the most sorry to put you guys in this category, the most man thing to say, but also like I'm so like I'm probably like glad for his wife, like to have realized, like, because I think about like my dad sometimes, like, you know, yes, please do something else that isn't your job, like blah, blah, blah.
25:11
SPEAKER_03: True.
25:11
SPEAKER_03: But he, I mean, he was out there, he was sprinkling by hand, and I was like, you know what?
25:15
SPEAKER_03: That's good.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, I look at I have two neighbors across the street from me that are both retired and their lawns are immaculate.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, that's their hobby now, right?
25:21
SPEAKER_00: They love taking care of the lawn.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: As much as I love the couple hours of going, it's still you're still busting your butt.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you are.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I come in again, talk about power washing, come in from cutting your lawn, you know, you're sweaty, you're nasty, you're dirty, you need a shower.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: So now suddenly it's like a three, four-hour, and so it's the same thing with the wife.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, well, who's making dinner, who's doing this?
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Can you help?
25:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: If you're someone's doing that, then when you own a side, you know, when you own a business, and you know this obviously, right?
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Um time is money, right?
25:47
SPEAKER_00: I I can work 24-7.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: I seem like most nights I fall asleep with a laptop on my chest.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I wake up first thing, make my coffee, read a book, and then I'm back on my laptop.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: So you know, time is is is is valuable, right?
26:00
SPEAKER_00: And again, we have kids and I want to spend my time with the kids.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: I want to spend I want to travel, I want to do those things, I want to grow my business.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: Um and when I'm sitting home cutting the lawn, I'm not really doing any of those things, right?
26:10
SPEAKER_03: I know, I know.
26:12
SPEAKER_03: But uh I I hear you, and and you know, and I that's where it's so funny to hear you say, like, you know, you doing it too, but it's it is about like where you want to put your time.
26:23
SPEAKER_03: And again, like as as a mom, as you know, someone with little kids, you know, and whether you know you're the mom that's like, you know, enlisting these home services or you know, thinking about like your husband and the or your if you have like like me, like a father or father-in-law that's gonna be spending hours out there, you know what I mean?
26:40
SPEAKER_03: Like this is the I mean, A, you'd be supporting local, you know, but it's the like I just think uh I I want my time with my family.
26:49
SPEAKER_03: You know, we were just talking, like you have like you're doing college tours, and I'm like, you know, I have a kindergartner and a first grader, and as soon as the weather's warm, I'm like, I want I'm ready to do stuff.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: I want to be with you guys and I want to have fun, you know what I mean?
27:01
SPEAKER_03: And it's like how can you take and again, these are like really cost effective services.
27:06
SPEAKER_03: This is not backbreaking services.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing too.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: I tell people all the time, right?
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Like, wait, Jess and I really want to get our kitchen redone or someone wants to get their roof redone.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, those are those are huge investments, right?
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Big financial time-sucking investments.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Um for this, again, like whether it's to get your husband back or to give your stepfather, your your grandfather some time back.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Right, we we are a local business, we're very connected with the community.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Our prices are not outrageous, right?
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, we are always willing, especially if we know somebody who again lives in a community and maybe they're neighbors, they have some friends in the community and they say, Hey, you know, me and Miss Smith and and another lady, you know, two or three of us want to go in, would you give us a discount?
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, right?
27:46
SPEAKER_00: We want to work, we want to make it affordable, um we want to give people the chance to get some time back.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and um you know, it doesn't have to involve a lot of your time and effort.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: You can pick up the phone, go on our website, give us a call, give us an email, send us a text, and we'll be out to help.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: I know.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: Are you doing um any other like events this year?
28:07
SPEAKER_03: I know we all we always love to see you in the parade and stuff like that.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean my kids are like, Dad, I don't know if I want to keep doing it.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because now they're too cool for it.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: That is it.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: They are too cool for school.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: But yes, we love, we have done the River Hill um parade every single year that we've been in business.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: Um we absolutely love it.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: We give out these little trash cans filled with with you know treats, and our truck gets like mobbed.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: Like people come like running up.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Do you have the trash bins?
28:31
SPEAKER_00: So we got extra trash bins this year.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's awesome.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Um but the July 4th is is our biggest event, it's our favorite thing.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: We did the Piney Orchard Um Street Festival last year.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do that again this year.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Really great turnout, really great community support in Piney Orchard.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: But we'll do touch-a-truck events.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: There's a temple in Maple Lawn, we do a touch-a-truck event with them each year.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, we were just invited up to probably won't go, but up to the Frederick Fairgrounds.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: They're doing a big touch-a-truck event, a little outside of our service area.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: So it's really appreciative of the offer.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: But um, but yeah, anything.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: If you have a local school, daycare center, kids like trucks.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: We come, we do a little touch-a-truck thing.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, we'll let them make a mess in the trash bins.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: I bring like mustard and ketchup and they squirt it all.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: All the kids love it.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: They make a mess.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: I have them uh hold the remote control, they can lift the bins up, they can lower the bins, they see the before and after.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: The parents love it.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: I give the kids some candies and a little maze and some things.
29:22
SPEAKER_03: That's so cool.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: Now, wait, why have I not thought of like pre-Ks?
29:27
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna okay, I'm gonna make that my hardware connection.
29:30
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wait, that would be like so cool.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, and because it's interactive for the kids, absolutely the kids love it, but those are the type of things I think also people don't necessarily think about about trash bin cleaning, right?
29:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the residential homes that we serve, right?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Restaurants, daycares.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: We did we worked with the old Ellicate City Partnership two years ago, and we cleaned all the buildings and their trash bins up and down um Ellicott City, right?
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Old Ellicate City Main Street.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: So um so many different opportunities.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: EW Bex, we do some work for them, restaurant right here in Carroll County.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's so many different opportunities for our service, you know, again, commercial, residential, bin cleaning, power washing, commercial, you know, apartment buildings, all kinds of things.
30:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, oh my gosh.
30:11
SPEAKER_03: Um I know now I feel like my wheels are spinning.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: Like that's like so cool.
30:16
SPEAKER_03: Well, and I was gonna say, I th I know I went to an event in the fall, um, maybe it was Parks and Rec.
30:21
SPEAKER_03: I think there was like the Halloween event, and they had a bunch, I mean, it was some of their like tractors.
30:25
SPEAKER_03: Drunk retreat.
30:26
SPEAKER_03: Trunker tree.
30:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but they had like because they had a bunch of different types of trucks out there.
30:30
SPEAKER_03: And like, you know, my son is five and he's, you know, um kids are so funny.
30:35
SPEAKER_03: I was like, and I'm sure you guys are the same way, it's like in no way have I ever pushed gender on my kids, but it is just pure biology.
30:43
SPEAKER_03: Like this kid went from like, as soon as he turned like three, it was like trains, right?
30:48
SPEAKER_03: And trains are still like they're not not a thing, but like hot wheels and dinosaurs and anything with wheels, really.
30:56
SPEAKER_03: And we have, and I thought that we would be the way that like, you know, trains came onto the scene and then we kind of moved to cars.
31:02
SPEAKER_03: I thought we would be on to the next thing, but I was like, no, we are stuck with it.
31:05
SPEAKER_03: Oh, we are in the wheels phase.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: That that includes buses, that includes planes, frankly, it includes boats.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just it's just everything.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: We have a really good uh uh uh couple that we're friends with, and their son, John, is like obsessed with trucks.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: The kid just watches videos after videos.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: I can go over his house, show him pictures of my trucks.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's just a boy thing, right?
31:24
SPEAKER_00: It's fire trucks, dump trucks, they love it.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like so uh into it.
31:29
SPEAKER_03: Oh my God.
31:30
SPEAKER_03: Um and I know that they've like obvious like well actually we'll we'll be here for 4th of July.
31:35
SPEAKER_03: We were debating about whether we um because it's a Saturday this year.
31:38
SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, it's perfect timing.
31:39
SPEAKER_03: But as when I was doing like the vacation math, and I was like, my husband, like the hit their office is usually open Saturday, so they'll close Saturday, which means he would have to work Friday.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, that July 3rd, I think will be the worst travel day of the entire year.
31:56
SPEAKER_03: So I was like, no.
31:57
SPEAKER_03: I was like stay home.
31:59
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
31:59
SPEAKER_03: I was like, I'm and my mom's like, you don't even bother because they have a place on the Eastern Shore.
32:02
SPEAKER_03: She's like, it's not even worth it.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: She was like, it's mobbed down here anyway.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
32:07
SPEAKER_03: I was like, no.
32:08
SPEAKER_03: So actually, well, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna I'll take the kids, we'll go Monday to Friday.
32:12
SPEAKER_03: Well, come home Friday.
32:14
SPEAKER_03: So we'll and we have the pool anyway, so we'll we'll we'll be here, so we'll definitely be able to see.
32:18
SPEAKER_03: So we'll see you again only.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Exactly, every year.
32:20
SPEAKER_03: I know.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: That is our favorite, I mean, by far it is our favorite event.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: We decorate the truck, you know, make it all look genuine and um the candy, the giveaways.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: It's just a great, a great event to be honest with you.
32:30
SPEAKER_03: I know.
32:31
SPEAKER_03: Um, and the other thing I was gonna say too is, you know, and not just plugging your your business, because I know you've already done some of the stuff of just like, you know, kind of like any green initiatives, because I know you've got been involved in some of those events too.
32:43
SPEAKER_03: And just kind of a plug for anybody else that's like listening or thinking about it, whether, you know, whether it's a pre-K or a school or just other organizations, like I know you've done some things like that too, because yes, you're you're cleaning bins, but I think it's a you're also being um, you know, responsible and you know with the the products that you're using, you know, how you're disposing of you know the water and the chemicals, and you know, yeah, we're cleaning recycling bins, so it's also a great opportunity to kind of you know talk about it.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it uh it I thank you for that.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean we did we we actually won an award at Howard County's Green Fest a couple of years ago.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Um which was you know rewarding for me because it is again, the company is locally owned and operated here in Howard County.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: We are focused on our community.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: But to get a green initiative, you're right, right?
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Because we um we're using um environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals or soaps.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Um we're we're not putting any of that water back into the storm drains, right?
33:36
SPEAKER_00: We're disposing of that properly.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: Um we're reducing the landfill, right?
33:39
SPEAKER_00: What happens if your trash bin got really, really bad over time?
33:42
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna go to Home Depot, you're gonna spend sixty, seventy dollars, you're gonna buy a new trash water.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: And where's that trash bin going?
33:48
SPEAKER_00: Over to the landfill as a piece of plastic that's not gonna you know biodegrade and and and go away over time, right?
33:53
SPEAKER_03: So like again, it I think that sounds like for some people, like on on very and this is not downplaying your service, but on very like basic level, like cleaning a trashman.
34:04
SPEAKER_03: Like, what like okay, like why do you need to do that?
34:06
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
34:06
SPEAKER_03: But like when you think about it in that long-term way, right?
34:09
SPEAKER_03: If you because it kind of goes for everything life, if you take care of what you have, you know, you can increase the life of those things.
34:18
SPEAKER_03: And and this sounds like kind of wild, but like if we are gonna have plastics in our life, which we can't avoid, you know, this I I hate what I'm about to say.
34:28
SPEAKER_03: We need to take care of the plastics because we don't want to have multiple.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: Create more, right?
34:33
SPEAKER_03: Right.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: So if like if we're going to have plasti, it's like, you know, it's like when I buy sandwich baggies, um, which I really I try not to, but I will reuse I've when I was growing up, I used them for everything.
34:45
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm so selective about it.
34:47
SPEAKER_03: You know.
34:47
SPEAKER_03: So, anyways, if we think about a massive piece of plastic, right?
34:50
SPEAKER_03: You probably think, yeah, I'm gonna have this for like 10 plus years, which you probably will.
34:53
SPEAKER_03: But granted, like again, depending on your HOA, your neighborhood, you know, where where you store it will also determine part of its life.
35:01
SPEAKER_03: But the other determining factor of its life is up.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: The maintenance and upcape.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and people make the argument, well, Howard County gives us a recycling bins, right?
35:09
SPEAKER_00: So why do I care to clean it?
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Or if it breaks, they're gonna bring out a new one.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: But again, it it's just like anything else.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: You clean your car, you clean your house, you're maintaining it, you're prolonging it, you're you're like you said, you're the life expectancy or the lifetime that you're gonna have, that product is gonna be longer.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: And again, too, if you let your house, we were talking about algae and a house turning green, if you just let that wall go clean and you left it for years and years, right?
35:32
SPEAKER_00: I may not be able to clean it at that point.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: At that point, you may have to get your house resided, right?
35:36
SPEAKER_00: If you really if it bothers you.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: But again, if you maintain it, right, a couple hundred dollars every year and you keep your house clean, number one, curb appeal, right?
35:43
SPEAKER_00: How you look, how your neighbors look at your house.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: But then again, the longevity of it.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: And even though it is a trash bin, again, go to Home Depot and see what a trash bin costs nowadays.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: They're not cheap.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, fast forward like you know, within the last year, right?
35:56
SPEAKER_03: Not even seven years ago.
35:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, exactly.
35:58
SPEAKER_03: Well, and you know, it's funny, I think about like the quote unquote green or like black spots like um on our property, and it's primarily again the cement areas, like um, but you know, we've also invested in trying to take care of our house.
36:10
SPEAKER_03: But I was like, man, if you have those dark green spots in your house, like again, we have cedar planking.
36:15
SPEAKER_03: So we and we our neighborhood is riddled with like the woodpeckers, the carpenter bees.
36:20
SPEAKER_03: Um we have um we've patched up many spots on our house because of you know those critters getting in.
36:26
SPEAKER_03: So like you want to talk about like I think like, okay, so power washing the black off my cement is vanity, right?
36:32
SPEAKER_03: Like that's not necessarily gonna grow to be a massive problem necessarily, but if it's on my house, like again, I have cedar planking, you know, so that would be a major issue.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: But you also mentioned like step, you know, your stepparents or you know, your grandparents that are a little bit older.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Algae, when it gets wet, gets very, very slippery.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: So I see front steps.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Um there's a community near our house, and they all have, they're all like the the front door is up, you know, a little bit of a staircase.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: And I drive around and I look at the stairs, and most of them are like just gray, black, you know, covered in algae.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: You see a few clean ones where people have actually power washed them.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: But those steps get really dirty, you know, if it gets wet outside.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: So it's it it it can be a safety thing as well, but it is more cosmetics as a whole.
37:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, but that's no, that's a really good point because that's actually sort of true.
37:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, again, not as maybe as bad, but we get more of the sun in the back of the house, which is like good because that's where our pool is, which ironically gets pool gets fully shaded by three o'clock.
37:28
SPEAKER_03: But like our house is sunblasted, whereas the front gets a little bit more shade.
37:33
SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, so you think about the balance of your property and things like that.
37:37
SPEAKER_03: So for a lot of homes where you kind of your house is situated sort of similarly, yeah, you could be in the same issue with your front steps.
37:43
SPEAKER_03: And again, you might not you might be thinking like, oh, like I'm in my 30s, whatever, like I'm well able-bodied and thing like that.
37:49
SPEAKER_03: Again, that might be totally fine.
37:51
SPEAKER_03: But just it's thinking about it down the right.
37:53
SPEAKER_03: Again, if you don't think about it now and it's extra and it's got that like, you know, layer of like, you know, moss and algae that come the winter time when you have you know, when you already it's already going to be slippery, that's it.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: It's got like no traction.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: Right.
38:06
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
38:07
SPEAKER_03: So it goes back to like, you know, your like if you have cement, just like if you have asphalt, like there's no way around it.
38:13
SPEAKER_03: It's like cement I've learned, I was like, it's so annoying to upkeep because visually it turns black immediately, but I've realized that's just the price of having it.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Asphalt, you can just get it real you know, seal coated, right?
38:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's black again.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Concrete, you gotta put some work into it, you gotta put some love into it.
38:28
SPEAKER_03: You know, and but that goes like, you know, we're talking about power wash, talking about our homes, we're talking about our bins, you know.
38:33
SPEAKER_03: Again, um, these sound like you know, not necessarily like the mandatory services in our life, but they they do make a difference.
38:41
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
38:41
SPEAKER_03: They make a difference.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Garage floors, right?
38:43
SPEAKER_00: We had a lady call us last year.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: She she was spring cleaning, she pulled everything out of her garage.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she had kids, so it was like the tennis rackets, the basketballs, all the all the stuff was outside of her garage, and she's like, My garage floor looked horrible.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: She called me up, we came, we surface cleaned it, and she's like, I have like my garage.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: She didn't want to bring anything back in her garage.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: It looked so well.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: So she ended up putting like the shelves up and put everything on the ceiling.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: But you know, people take a lot of those things.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, it's not a necessity.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: I clearly admit you don't have to get your trash bin cleaned, right?
39:14
SPEAKER_00: But it's like anything else.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Right.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Again, I go back to, you know, I'm not going to compare your your your trash bin to your bathroom, right?
39:21
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you're going to clean your bathroom because you're going to use it all the time.
39:24
SPEAKER_00: Of course, of course.
39:24
SPEAKER_00: But it's the same maintenance, it's the same mentality of of keeping it clean, healthy, longevity.
39:30
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
39:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, and I just go back to, again, your services are so affordable, it's so reasonable that it's like, why not do like the set it and forget it?
39:39
SPEAKER_03: Because it because you have the recurring, it just makes it easy.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
39:43
SPEAKER_03: So it's just, it's an easy thing to add into your life.
39:48
SPEAKER_03: And and hopefully you're taking it off the burden of whether it's your partner, uh, your dad, your father-in-law, whatever, or or you're doing it for your parents or a neighbor, you know what I mean?
39:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's a goal too, right?
40:00
SPEAKER_00: We also offer gift cards, right?
40:01
SPEAKER_00: I'll throw that out there.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: So if you know your neighbor's house, really, you don't love your neighbor's house, right?
40:05
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can give them a little nudge.
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Or if you do have a friend and family member in the in in in the area, you know, you can give them a gift card.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you and I have ran promos and different events together.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, and we'll continue to do that.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, ultimately, again, for me, I started this business in a way to kind of it's a business, right?
40:23
SPEAKER_00: I want to make money, I want to grow it.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: I want to give something back to the community.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to do something.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: I joked around this kind of like a tagline, right?
40:30
SPEAKER_00: Is we're like that business that you didn't know existed, but now you can't live without, right?
40:35
SPEAKER_00: That's how we want to tag it.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: And that's the hardest thing for me, is and that's why, again, thank you so much for these type of opportunities, because it's getting the word out, right?
40:43
SPEAKER_00: 99% of the people that sign up for my service are like, I had no idea it was a professional bin cleaning service.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Most people don't.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: No.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: And even now, we have grown significantly year over year over year.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is our fourth year.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: But when I look at my numbers and how many people have tried my service, it's a fraction, right, of how many live just in Howard County alone, right?
41:06
SPEAKER_00: So we're hoping that the organ organic growth keeps uh keeps coming right.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we obviously do a lot of marketing and Facebook ads and all that type of stuff costs a ton of money, right?
41:16
SPEAKER_00: But but we hope that grassroots, right?
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Organic opportunities like this, doing community events, just getting the word out there, having look, we're we're nearing 200 five-star reviews.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: Like that that's a huge thing for me, right?
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Like when I get and I I'll share with you a couple that I just got over the last few days.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: One was from a single mother who was like, This business is a godsend, right?
41:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't have the time, my bins were gross.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: And she was like so thankful and appreciative.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: She gave my driver a tip, which you know is a new thing.
41:44
SPEAKER_00: We can give drive my driver's tip this year.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: But the the point being was like, she was so thankful.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: She had never heard she saw our truck in the neighborhood.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, she's like, I'm gonna give it a try.
41:55
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, You have a customer for life now.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: She's like, This is she was telling all of her friends and neighbors about us.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: She, you know, so the the point is that's what that's what makes it so rewarding to me, right?
42:05
SPEAKER_00: Is I see those Google reviews, I see people sign up.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I have people call me for touch a truck events or different things.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's when I know we're getting traction, and that's when I know it's a service that people do care about, people do want, people do love it.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, we just hope to see that continue.
42:22
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
42:23
SPEAKER_03: And it will, and it will.
42:24
SPEAKER_03: You're four is my lucky number, so I think I'm gonna be sending that energy out for both of us.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we touched on my obsession with number four, but I am like this seriously, like my birthday is May 4th.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: Everything around me revolves around the number four.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest with you, you know, you I'm sure you can appreciate this as a small business owner, um, an entrepreneur.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: Like, over the winter I had those thoughts going through my head, like, you know, do I really want to do this again?
42:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, it's exhausting, it's a lot of work.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: Do I just want to like last year before my daughter goes to college?
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Do I just want to really kind of just chill?
42:56
SPEAKER_00: Right.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: And my wife looked at me and she's like, You know what year this is, right?
43:00
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No, what are you talking about?
43:01
SPEAKER_00: She's like, This is going into year four.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: And everything in my life revolves.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: So it's funny that I just had to give it like locked up.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm locked in, I'm ready to go.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's make year four the best year possible.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: And um, so I'm really, really excited.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: It started off well.
43:15
SPEAKER_00: Um I took on a lot of stresses this winter.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: I redid my website, I switched CRMs, which is our router software.
43:23
SPEAKER_00: I did it all, and of course, I I'm a procrastinator, so I waited, I waited, I waited.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Our season started March 23rd.
43:30
SPEAKER_02: You're like, okay, yeah.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Beginning of March, and I'm like, uh, but everything's gone great without a hitch, off without a hitch.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: My new driver, Marcus, is doing absolutely phenomenal.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, so grateful to have found a a a good driver.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we call him a service technician.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: He's the one out there.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: So if you see Marcus out there, king, give him a shout out, give him a hello, welcome him to the MD Clean family.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: But um, no, we're really excited for this year, and that's great to see what we can do.
43:57
SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, I don't, I don't, I think you were absolutely not.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: alone in the well and again I realize you know yeah you're you're you have a business where you have like your main season right not that there's no work on uh during the off season but so it's I can imagine it's very easy to slip into those thoughts because like you know you kind of like settled down for a little bit but you know same one I mean a quarter one was slow slow for me I think slow for most businesses in the area too um and then you know again the uh the economy hits last year was brutal for every episode elections the economy it was definitely a tougher year for us oh for sure you know people tightened up the belt buckles a little bit right and it was like okay well if I'm not gonna go to Starbucks maybe I don't need to get my trash bin cleaned and again that's that's that's fine.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: We we had when the government shut down you know we definitely had a few people say hey unfortunately I've got to cancel this service but you know like you said for us we typically start end of March we typically go you know towards Thanksgiving December we're contemplating staying open year round um and we would if there was enough of demand it it gets there's plenty of people out in Ohio and and Chicago that run year round um you know you are working with water so it is a safety thing as it gets below freezing temperatures right and then and then you're dealing with weat like that kind of weather too so you know and then it's not safe to drive the truck or at that point truthfully in the middle of December do you really care how clean your trash band is cold it's freezing.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: The smell isn't the smell's not as bad but you know um um you know we we are pretty busy throughout the year and then again obviously when it gets a little bit warmer that's when the phone that's when people start exactly exactly so yeah there's nothing wrong with aligning it with that so well cheers to year four cheers to you looking forward to another great year another great season for you so again okay if people where can they go to find you uh sign up all of that so easy so our website is www.mdclean.us um website is very easy to navigate if you go to the website and you scroll down a little bit there's our basic trash code cleaning the one time the month that we're recurring you hit sign up it's gonna ask you what your address is just to make sure you're within our service zone from there if you uh you know clicks of the mouse the end of your information it's gonna tell you what date you're getting your bins cleaned and then you're gonna get a text reminder the day before um so you can go to our website you can text me you can call me our local number is 410 844 8143 um or 866 uh dirty bin dr tine yeah yeah yeah um but uh and last thing I would say you can email me right hello at ndclean.us um smoke signals whatever it is yeah like you like I will show up I will show up I I'm happy to you know come out and give an estimate for power washing services um happy to come out and meet with a community or HOA board you know do a demonstration show you what we're capable of um happy to offer discounts you know um for friends family communities but other than that go to the website give me a call check us out whatever we can do to help cheers love it well thank you so much Josh thank you for being here today and uh can't wait to see what you have in store for year four thank you let's hope it's success I appreciate it exactly thank you for all your support thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mom Talk Maryland if you loved it leave a review share it with a friend or tag me at the dot ColumbiaMom on Instagram I'd love to hear what you think and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode.
47:18
SPEAKER_03: Until next time keep showing up keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom woman human that you are