Dan Rinard started his Squee-G-Clean business in 2000, and he has his brother-in-law to thank for it. He tells the story of visiting family in Keene, where his sister’s husband had a window cleaning business. He spent a day working with his brother-in-law — Dan did the soaping, his brother-in-law worked the squeegee.
“I was the soap man, and I wasn’t very good at that,” Dan recalled with a chuckle. “He was doing the squeegee faster than I could get the soap on.”
That experience motivated Dan to start a window cleaning business in this area, going door to door, calling on businesses to see if he could get their commercial accounts. While it was slow going at first, Dan got a break in nearby Dover, where the commercial accounts grew. His residential accounts also grew and spread throughout the Seacoast area.
He joined the Cooperative Venture Workspace as a virtual member specifically because of the value of the Portsmouth address that now identifies his business.
“I was looking for something like this,” said Dan. “Now I can really be a Portsmouth-based business,” he said.
With search engine optimization (SEO), people in the area looking for window cleaning will see Squee-G-Clean at the top of the results because of the Portsmouth address.
“That’s been huge for us,” said Dan, who is shifting the business less toward commercial accounts and more and more toward residential accounts. “Our call volume already this year has been incredible.” And the Workspace address at 36 Maplewood Avenue in Portsmouth has been key. “I know we’re up on the first or second spot because we have a spot here,” he said.
According to Dan, the service area includes the coast from Portsmouth, New Castle, Seabrook, Hampton and Rye to Kittery, York and Kennebunk in Maine, as well as northern Massachusetts. It also services most of Rockingham County including North Hampton, Exeter, and Newmarket as well as Strafford County including Dover, Rochester and Somersworth and all towns in between.
Squee-G-Clean is a member of the International Windows Cleaning Association and a recent convention in Scottsdale, AZ, gave Dan the opportunity to see not only some of the latest tools but hear from experts about the importance of marketing, particularly online.
In recent years Dan has refined the look of the business with uniforms, professional lettering on the trucks, and new equipment, including a water-fed pole system that allows him to reach seven stories (“That was a game changer for us,” he noted). He also had his website overhauled.
Today, Dan and his Squee-G-Clean business offer residential and commercial window cleaning as well as janitorial services in the region. The business is rooted in the practices of friendliness and honesty, convenience, attention to detail, respect for the space, and an experienced and trained staff, according to Dan.
The Cooperative Venture Workspace is evolution of the creative, shared workspace.