Keeping West Central Wisconsin ‘Oso Clean’ since 2013

Rich Palzewic

Staff

April 28, 2025

HUDSON – After more than a decade running operations from River Falls, Oso Clean Janitorial Service has relocated operations to Hudson.

It’s a move that, Owner Maren Valentine said, “made sense.”

“We started in 2013 out of our house and were there for almost two years,” Valentine said. “We eventually moved into a very tiny office in a larger multi-tenant building, but then over several years, it seemed like every year, we expanded our office a little bit.”

From there, Brad Valentine – general manager and husband of Maren – said as equipment needs grew, it was clear that it was time to upgrade again.

“It was our home for 10 years and a really nice space,” he said. “There was a change in ownership of the building, and the use of the building changed, so it was also a good catalyst for us to take the jump and purchase a building. We had been renting for all those years. One of the biggest things was wanting to own a building compared to renting.”

Brad said the new place is part of a condo association.

“We’re one of six businesses in the building,” he said. 

Making the jump from River Falls to Hudson (726 US-12, Suite 102), Brad said, was “pretty easy for us.”

“Even though we had started in River Falls, we’ve got a pretty substantial book of business in Hudson,” he said. “For a lot of our staff members, the new location is also a closer drive compared to where we were before.”

Humble beginnings

Maren said when she and Brad started Oso Clean in 2013, it was a two-person show – “it was just Brad and I.”

At that time, she said they combined their skills of residential painting, residential cleaning and handyman work.

“We got our start in property management, doing apartment turnovers and common area cleaning,” she said.

When they started Oso Clean, Maren said she and Brad were both at turning points with their jobs.

“I had been laid off, so I started the business, and then Brad left his position about six months in to join me,” she said.

Maren said her background was in architectural painting and sales, while Brad had a background in plumbing/heating.

“It was just the two of us doing everything, but then I think about midsummer the first year, we got enough work where it made sense for us to scale up,” she said. “We hired our first employee about eight months in, and then our second one came on about two months later.”

At the same time Oso Clean was gaining momentum, the couple said they also became active in the community.

“We would be part of the local parades, and we joined the (River Falls) Chamber of Commerce (and Tourism Bureau),” she said. “That’s how we really started to network with the community.”

Maren said they even got their sons involved in business promotions.

“We have three sons, so we made magnets, and they plastered the lockers in the school with them,” she laughed. “We actually got a few clients that way.”

Because of the growth it was experiencing, Maren said within the first year, they dropped handyman services from Oso Clean’s repertoire. 

“In year two, we had the opportunity, with our efforts through the chamber of commerce, to begin some commercial accounts,” she said. “We started to hire more people, and our residential cleaning really picked up – as did our painting. But by the end of year two, we looked at everything and said, ‘We don’t want to be painters anymore.’ That was hard because at the time, painting was a substantial part of our gross sales.”

By this time, Brad said Oso Clean had built up an “awesome residential cleaning clientele.”

“During those early years, we were burning the candle at both ends – working in the field all day, and then we’d have to come home at night and do all the administrative work,” he said.

As the business evolved during its first 10 years, Maren said another pivot came in 2023.

“At that point, we decided to drop residential cleaning and focus solely on commercial cleaning,” she said. “We had a big book of business, but what we didn’t have were employees. (With) the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was very much a ‘we can’t show up to work today because somebody (in our family) got COVID.’”

Maren said it was a “very difficult decision” to drop residential cleaning services.

“We had people who had been with us since the very beginning as residential customers,” she said. “When we made that decision, I called probably five or six other residential cleaning companies in the area and started sending people to them.”

Though a hard decision, Maren said eliminating residential cleaning services streamlined Oso Clean’s operations.

“We were able to open up commercial services more,” she said. “It’s easier to staff commercial (projects) because you can hire people who can work at night. You can’t clean residential areas at night, for example.”

Though residential cleaning “was a substantial part of our gross sales,” Maren said it was again “the right choice for us.”

During COVID, Brad said cleaning was considered an essential service – mostly.

“We were essential workers on the janitorial side, however, on the residential side, it was not considered essential service,” he said.

Brad said the relationships Oso Clean had built up over the years with its distributors “basically saved us during COVID.”

“Otherwise, we would have had a hard time staying in business over those few months when everything was in flux,” he said.

Today, Brad said Oso Clean services a 25-mile radius from its homebase in Hudson.

“We don’t even have to cross into Minnesota to do service,” he said. “We’re always blown away by how much work there is and how many opportunities there are right here in our own backyard. We aren’t looking to expand into Minneapolis and St. Paul – there is a lot of work right here in western Wisconsin.”

Thriving today

Brad said Oso Clean currently has eight full-time and 17 part-time employees.

“We’ve got a very loyal operations manager who’s been with us for 10 years and is the glue of the place – she’s amazing,” he said. “(Our employees) could work anywhere from five or six hours a week, up to 25 hours a week, depending on which cleaner it is and where we fit in their life.”

For some Oso Clean employees, Brad said this job is their livelihood.

“(And then) some of our employees take us on as a second job,” he said. “We have students, and we work around their schedules. (We also) have retirees just looking to keep busy and keep moving and get out of the house a little bit.”

Brad said it’s important to him and Maren to keep Oso Clean’s employees working locally.

“We like to keep people working in spaces they resonate with,” he said. “We want to make sure we are fitting into our team’s lives, where some employers may say, ‘This is what we’ve got – take it or leave it.’”

The couple said they clean a wide variety of commercial properties.

“We have office buildings, medical clinics, dental offices, museums and houses of worship,” Maren said. “We also do some car dealerships. It’s pretty much anything requiring a standard clean, which includes dusting, wet wiping surfaces, vacuuming, washing the floors and cleaning the restrooms and break rooms.”

In terms of frequency, Brad said that also varies.

“For some customers, we’re in daily, twice a week, three times a week, once a week, etc.,” he said. “We go out of our way on the customer side to cater our services to meet both their needs and their budgets – there is a happy medium there.”

More growth?

The couple said, though they aren’t looking “to take over the (cleaning) world,” they would take on additional work if the situation were right.

“With our move, we’ve got room for the right partners now,” Brad said. “Honestly, one of the key components to us is a grateful customer. It is a big deal for our teams to come in and do this work.”

Though it’s not always the most glorious work – Brad said when “you’ve got customers who are genuinely grateful for what we’re doing… it really makes everybody’s life more enjoyable.”

Maren said there is another side to the equation in running Oso Clean.

“You must have the proper amount of sales and the proper number of employees – the workforce behind it,” she said. “We’re always striving for the correct definition of what is enough and then working to keep our people moving. But we also don’t want people to burn out. Our staff is definitely the lifeblood of our business.”

About seven or eight years ago, Maren said they were able to begin offering employee benefits – a proud moment for them. 

“We were able to offer paid time off and holiday pay to our full-timers,” she said. “We really want to take care of our people and make sure they’re comfortable in their places, but we also really want to create a team environment. Our operations manager, Melanie, does a really good job of forming these strong relationships with our employees. I think it makes everybody feel as comfortable as they possibly can.”

Maren said employee longevity is also tied to another “fun thing we do for our workers.”

“We have a program where if you’ve been with our company for longer than three years, you get a bobblehead made in your likeness,” she said. “I believe we’re going to add five more this year – plus two dogs – to our collection. That will bring us up to 26.”

Maren said that is an “exceptional testament” to Oso Clean’s employee culture as a janitorial company.

“We take pride in the fact our team sticks (together),” she said. “We make two copies of the bobbleheads. We keep one here at the office, and then the (employee) gets to bring one home. It’s one of those things our team is really proud of. Our employees look forward to that third anniversary.”

For more information on Oso Clean Janitorial Service, visit osoclean.net or find it on Facebook.