Meet Graham Hartle | Owner of a Commercial Cleaning Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Graham Hartle and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Graham, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Let’s be honest, my company doesn’t distribute lifesaving medicine or provide food to starving children—it’s just a simple cleaning company. But that doesn’t mean we don’t provide value to our community. I believe that bringing about real change begins in the circles we actually move in. At Reliant Cleaning Services, I’ve created a space of opportunity and integrity. By leading with a worker-first ethos, our team members have the chance to not just make a living, but to build a life.

I’ve watched members of our team achieve milestones that may have once felt out of reach—from putting themselves or their children through college, to purchasing a first home, to providing for a growing family. For one, it meant the security to finally retire; for another, it was the bridge they needed to fund and launch a business of their own.

I didn’t start Reliant with really any vision for community impact, though; I started it because I had to. I was approaching 30 and trying to navigate through the wreckage of the 2008 financial crisis without a career or even a clear direction for my life. Working for companies that had no meaningful advancement opportunities was discouraging, and companies that patronized instead of empowered their workers was demoralizing. I was disheartened and overwhelmed, but more than anything, I was lost. So when I saw an opportunity to strike out on my own, I took it.

Fast forward a year, and things were going well. Reliant was growing, and I found myself in a position to start bringing on team members. I was determined to build the kind of company I actually would have wanted to work for—a place where you’re seen as a human being first and a worker second. My philosophy is really simple: happy cleaners make happy customers, and happy customers grow my business. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still mindful of profit, but Reliant is proof that you can build a successful company by emphasizing the people, not just the profit.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Every building is made of the same stuff, but every customer is different. I perform in-person walkthroughs of every commercial building to learn my prospective customers’ unique needs before we ever submit a service proposal. However, identifying the physical needs of a building is merely the first step. The real success comes from avoiding the systemic pitfalls that cause most cleaning companies to stumble and fall.

The first of these is quality dropoff—the inevitable fading in quality that happens after the honeymoon phase of the first few weeks or months. It’s easy to start strong, but maintaining that same momentum long-term is the challenge. In those early years, when I was personally cleaning every account, there were times when I was extremely motivated and times when I loathed the work. As a result, I saw the quality of my cleaning fluctuate. Not to the point where anyone else would notice, but I noticed.

I came to realize my motivation was sustained by my level of investment in the building I was cleaning, and that level of investment was a reflection of how valued that account made me feel. I knew that once I had people other than myself cleaning accounts, I’d have to ensure they felt valued so they would be invested in our success. Now, my teams stay motivated to maintain the quality of their work over the long run because I’ve given them the autonomy to manage their accounts as the professional technicians they are, provide them with support without micromanaging, and pay them fairly for their knowledge, skills, and hard work.

The second industry pitfall is the staffing revolving door—the state of a cleaning crew trapped in a perpetual learning curve because it has a new face in it every day. In an industry where the average worker retention period is a mere 3 to 6 months, it’s no small wonder that the average account duration is only 2 to 3 years. When your cleaners are changed out so frequently, the specific, tailored needs of your building are constantly being relearned and rarely being met.

Avoiding worker turnover is crucial to ensuring consistent service. One of the ways in which I ensure staff retention is by protecting my cleaners’ dignity at work. Those walkthroughs I do are as much about customer selection as they are about learning the needs of the building. Early on, when I was desperate for business, I sacrificed my own dignity to get more work. At the time, it was what I had to do to survive, and I learned valuable lessons from it. However, I refuse to put my workers through what I put myself through. I will now turn down new account opportunities if I suspect they will be anything other than a positive addition to our culture. Additionally, when my cleaners improve their speed and efficiency, I reward them by maintaining their previous pay rate. Rather than capturing that extra profit for myself, I pass the value of their innovation directly back to them. Reducing one’s pay because they figured out a way to perform their job better is antithetical to Reliant’s culture. This only deepens how aligned and invested our workers are in Reliant’s success, which fosters long-term loyalty. Our most senior crews have been with us for 8 and 9 years respectively—reaching up to 18 times the industry average.

Even if you have a highly motivated and invested team, it’s still easy to get swept up in the third pitfall–the managerial ghost ship. You’ve won a bid, but once the contract is signed, you effectively abandon it. When you’re a small business owner, it’s incredibly exciting to land a new account; it’s probably my favorite part of my job. Getting one contract signed around only increases my desire to get another. But if you aren’t careful, you can end up neglecting your current accounts, and no matter how invested in them your teams may be, their success still requires your attention.

Unfortunately, a prominent segment of the cleaning industry is composed of companies that aim to profit by bidding low to gain market share, undercutting their competition. They then hang on to those accounts as long as they can, but with nearly zero oversight—effectively operating as a managerial ghost ship. Because they pay their workers as little as possible, they suffer extreme rates of turnover. The customer then finds themselves bitten by the penny-pincher paradox: the savings seen on the invoice are canceled out by the cost of having to babysit a directionless company that was hired to run invisibly in the background. The company with the lowest bid has officially become the most expensive.

Now, I’m not saying we never mess up, because we do. The difference with Reliant, however, is our availability, accountability, and follow-through in response to our mistakes. If a customer has a question or complaint, I am the one they speak to. There is no automated phone tree, no straight-to-voicemail, no AI assistant, or gatekeeper. When you reach out to Reliant, whether it be a phone call, an email, text message, or a smoke signal, you speak with me. I make sure to listen to my customers, not just for their actively stated needs, but for any symptoms of bigger issues. I then establish a plan of action, take immediate corrective measures, and follow up personally to ensure the issue is not just managed, but resolved.

As a customer, you’re not just paying for your space to be cleaned. You’re paying for the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can focus on your job without the added expense of worrying about ours.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my favorite person, my brother, was coming into town, the itinerary would go something like this:

Day 1: Settle in, make dinner at my place, drinks and sunset on the back patio.

Day 2: Coffee and pastries at the Denver Central Market; lunch at El Borrego Negro; cruise out to Golden to splash around in the creek; come back into the city and wing it for dinner; and inevitably end up at Don’s.

Day 3: Brunch at Safta; grab coffee at Blue Sparrow on Platte, and walk along the river; pop into Malinche for a little mezcal and music experience; dinner at Fish N Beer for a taste of home with grilled octopus and PNW oysters; and then finish out the night listening to a DJ spin old school R&B and hip-hop tracks on the rooftop at Sorry Gorgeous.

Day 4-7: Throw a couple paddleboards and my dog in the back of my rig, grab some brisket breakfast burritos to-go from Smōk Barbecue, and drive west; explore little mountain and ghost towns until we hit the off-road trail and have to put it into 4WD; we explore some abandoned mining cabins, and end up at 12,500ft on the shore of an alpine lake. We stay there until I have to say goodbye and throw him on a plane to fly back home.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of all the incredible people who have been integral in supporting and championing me throughout this journey, I would be remiss if I did not give my dad the first shoutout. When he passed away in the summer of 2010, the modest life insurance policy he left behind served as the seed money that made this entire adventure possible.

I’ve always pictured this company as a tree growing from that small seed he left for me. Nurturing it over the past 13 years has given me an immense amount of pride and purpose. My ultimate goal, and the motivation for continuing to grow that seed into the strongest tree possible, is so that it may provide shade for me to rest comfortably under when I retire. My mother, JoLynda, my brother, Brett, and my step-dad, Stan, have been my bedrock. Along with friends who have lent the occasional hand along the way, their constant support has provided the steady foundation I’ve needed to grow that dream into a reality.

Owning a business is not a trait unique to me in my family, however. My grandfather and Greeley native, Bill Graham, started his own painting contractor business in the early 60’s and encouraged both of his sons to start their own respective businesses. Although it was never really on my radar as a career path, when the opportunity presented itself, I felt emboldened by the legacy of entrepreneurship decorating my family tree. Starting a business of my own not only felt possible, but was an undeniable continuation of family history.

I can’t leave this segment without giving flowers to our cleaning crews, both present and past. Their belief in me and my vision is what breathes life into this business, sustaining it every day. Without their tireless effort to maintain the level of quality expected of Reliant, I would not be here. To the team: thank you!

Website: https://www.reliant-cleaning.com

Instagram: @instagrahamtastic

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamhartle

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/reliant-cleaning-services-denver-2

Image Credits
Graham Hartle