How it started
I started my first cleaning company, Patriot Maids, in 2017, while I was working as a software engineer. At the start, I cleaned houses myself. I wasn't very good at it. Cleaning is hard on your body, and it's easy to damage things like tile or hardwood if you don't know what you're doing.
What I was good at was pricing and marketing. So I set the business up a different way: as a two-sided business that connects customers who want a cleaning they can trust with independent cleaning professionals who are great at cleaning but don't want to spend their time on marketing and sales.
I kept my software job until the end of 2023. Now I run the business from home, with a laptop and a phone.
Remote doesn't mean passive
Running it from home means I don't have to be at every cleaning. It doesn't mean the business runs itself. Somebody still answers the phone, handles the problems and keeps customers and cleaners happy. That somebody is me.
Building a second company, in the open
In October 2026 I started a new company from scratch: Blank Canvas Cleaning, a value brand next to Patriot Maids, my premium one. It's new and unproven, and I share how I'm building it on YouTube: the pricing, finding cleaners and getting the first customers.
Experience at a glance
- Founded Patriot Maids in 2017 and has run it from home since. Today it operates in 26 states and 40 major cities.
- Cleaned houses himself at the start, then rebuilt the business around independent cleaning professionals.
- Software engineer until the end of 2023, which is why so much of the business runs on booking software and simple systems.
- Has taken the business into new cities remotely, including Boston and Oklahoma City, and talks openly about which markets worked and which didn't.
- Founded Blank Canvas Cleaning in October 2026 and is building it in public.
How the answers on this site are made
Every answer starts with something I've said myself: a Short I recorded, my own scripts, or my interviews about how I run the business. Some pages are drafted with AI from that material, then checked against strict rules: no income claims, no made-up numbers, and legal topics marked as education only. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell me in the community and I'll fix it.
What you'll find here
Straight answers to real questions, from someone who runs this kind of business every day. No income screenshots. No promises. Legal and tax topics are education only, not legal advice.
If you have a question, ask it in the free Facebook community. A lot of them turn into videos.