Optimal Cleaning Solutions named EPA Choice Partner of the Year

Heather Graves

Staff

November 4, 2024

STOCKBRIDGE – Samantha and Richard Smith said when they started Optimal Cleaning Solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, though it was a “humongous risk – it just made sense.”

With a singular focus on protecting the health and well-being of their clients and their community, Samantha said Optimal Cleaning Solutions has been focused on eco-friendly cleaning from the beginning.

Four years later, the husband-wife duo is receiving recognition for a job well done from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

The Stockbridge-based cleaning business was named a 2024 EPA Choice Partner of the Year – a program that recognizes companies for their achievements in the design, manufacture, promotion, selection and use of cleaners, detergents and other products with safer chemicals.

Being recognized by the EPA, Samantha said, helps further validate what Optimal has been and continues to do.

“We’re hoping that through this award, it helps signify that what we’re doing is the right thing, and it’s important,” she said. 

Wisconsin proud

The EPA recognition, Samantha said, is accompanied by a handful of additional milestones as well.

“We are not only one of the very first service companies to win this award (nationwide) but also the first company in our region and home State of Wisconsin,” she said.

As a small, woman-owned business headquartered in Stockbridge – a village with fewer than 700 residents – Samantha said Optimal Cleaning Solutions is a small fish in a big pond in the industry.

“When you look at the list of other winners, you will see several very large companies, which makes it much more humbling to us to achieve this recognition,” she said. “We’re incredibly proud to represent not only Wisconsin but Stockbridge. It puts us on the map and shows that anybody can create something big – it all starts with a dream.”

With the recognition, Richard said Optimal has the opportunity to attend the EPA Safer Choice awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

“In our industry, it’s like the Super Bowl,” he said. “It’s important for us to be able to represent our company, our clients and our communities – tell our story.”

A cleaner approach

Since its inception, Richard said Optimal Cleaning Solutions has focused on being an eco-friendly cleaning company – “which is something very different from the industry standards.”

“We knew from the beginning that we wanted to use distilled water and safer choice products – that was the niche,” he said.

Samantha said Optimal took the industry’s green cleaning trend a step further with its focus on using only Safer Choice products.

“It’s super important for us to protect the health and wellness of not only our team and ourselves but of course our clients and anybody that enters their buildings,” she said. “We have a client that brings their pets to work, and if we were using products filled with toxins, even their dog’s health would be negatively affected.”

As they began growing the business, Richard said Optimal partnered with a Safer Choice supplier – “which really understood the eco-friendly approach we were taking.”

Samantha said she, Richard and the entire Optimal team like to refer to themselves as “disruptors in the industry.”

“We’re trying to disrupt and start a new path for the cleaning industry,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realize that when they’re going into their place of work, they may be breathing in these toxins from the yucky chemicals other companies are using. If everybody was using these safer products, I think the health and wellness of our entire communities would be so much better.”

A well-rounded team

Armed with her business degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Richard’s background in the cleaning industry, Samantha said they went into business ownership with an open mind, but a strict focus on doing “everything the right way.”

The Milwaukee native said she “wasn’t going to do anything unless it was right.”

“I wasn’t going to start a business without having a ready-to-go website, we don’t cut costs and we’re always focused on people’s health and wellness,” she said.

In the beginning, Optimal focused on residential cleaning – which was partly due to a non-compete agreement Richard had with a former employer – but said it also provided them with an opportunity to build trust in the industry.

Today, Optimal provides cleaning services for residential, commercial and investment properties.

“When we first started, it was just Richard and I doing all the back-end work, all the cleaning and all the out-in-the-field work,” Samantha said. “We were wearing all the hats, as all small business owners do.”

Though the husband-wife duo still “wears all the hats,” Samantha said Optimal has added to its team over the past couple of years.

“It was about two years ago that we started hiring people and started that employee journey,” she said. 

Samantha said that included not only showing employees the processes of how Optimal Cleaning Solutions does things but also why.

“It was important to educate them on our vision, our dreams and our goals,” she said. “We now are up to a staff of four – a total of six with us – and we’ve actually gotten ourselves out of the field, for the most part.”

Learning from past experiences in the industry, Richard said it was important that Optimal implement a variety of checks and balances regarding the what, when, why and how of the cleaning process.

This process, he said, not only keeps clients in the know about what Optimal is doing but also helps provide direction for employees.

“We implemented a checklist (that employees use through their cellphones) to give that guidance to our team on exactly what is expected,” he said. “We’re not there every night – they do the hard work, so we want to give them the best tools that we can so they can efficiently do their jobs.”

Another area where Optimal stands out within the industry, Samantha said, is with its employee wages.

“We pay higher than many other cleaning companies out there,” she said. “We’re proud to offer employment to people in our local communities. They do great work, and they deserve to be paid well.”

Though obviously, the wages Optimal pays its employees directly impact the company’s profits, Samantha said, “it wouldn’t be doing the right thing to pay them low wages for as hard as they work.”

While Optimal has seen growth in its geographical reach, client base and number of employees over the years, Richard said there have been “ups and downs.”

“The economy is pretty tough right now, but our growth has been organic growth,” he said. “As a small business, that is how it has to be. You can’t just accelerate the business without learning everything.”

With being named an EPA Safer Choice Partner and being recognized on a regional and national level, Richard said the hope is to see even further growth – “because organic growth can only get you so far.”

Though the difference they are making as an eco-friendly cleaning company often goes unnoticed – “nobody really knows, per se, or can visually see the difference” – Samantha said, “it’s most important for us to protect everybody’s health and wellness.”

“This is our passion, and we’re just going to continue learning and growing,” Richard said.

Samantha said she and Richard are also proud to be a husband-and-wife team.

“As you can imagine, it can be quite challenging at times – spending a lot of our days together and then trying to take off your business hats and raise a family – is something we’re very proud of,” she said.

Check out optimalcleaningsolutions.com for more information on Optimal Cleaning Solutions.