E19: Cleaning with Care: Dust, Determination, and Dirt Doctors

What makes Tim Maloney with Dirt Doctors Cleaning Services a good neighbor?  

What happens when life's setbacks become your greatest opportunity? Tim Maloney, founder of Dirt Doctors Cleaning Service, joins Leila Carter to share how being fired from his job in 1994 with a two-week-old baby at home became the catalyst for launching a successful business that's still thriving nearly 31 years later.

Tim takes us through the origins of Dirt Doctors, which began as a residential cleaning service but evolved into a comprehensive commercial cleaning operation serving offices, churches, event spaces, retail locations, and medical facilities. With refreshing candor, he dispels common misconceptions about the cleaning industry, particularly the notion that companies secure contracts only to provide diminishing service over time. His company's 30-day out clause keeps them accountable and focused on consistent quality.

Beyond business insights, Tim opens up about his personal journey of entrepreneurship, sharing how he's overcome the mental challenges of maintaining confidence through difficult periods. He credits his success to what Angela Duckworth calls "grit"—the powerful combination of perseverance and passion—along with the support of business communities like Truth at Work. As Tim says, "You can't do it by yourself." His story serves as powerful testament to how relationships, genuine care, and staying the course can transform a moment of career crisis into decades of business success.

Want to build a business that stands the test of time? Listen to Tim's journey and discover how caring for clients, team members, and vendors creates the foundation for sustainable growth. Check out Dirt Doctors at dirtdoctorscleaning.com or find them on social media to learn more about their services.

To learn more about Dirt Doctors Cleaning Services go to: 

https://dirtdoctorscleaning.com/

Dirt Doctors Cleaning Services

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a commercialcleaning business?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor
Tim Maloney with Dirt DoctorsCleaning Service.
Tim how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Great Thanks for having me on your show.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thanks for being here .
We're excited to learn allabout you and your business.
So tell us about your company.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
So Dirt Doctors was founded in 1994 by me and a
partner named Scott Gossick.
We started out as a residentialcleaning service, but today we
are a full-service janitorialand commercial cleaning business
.
How did you get into the?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
business.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
That's a good question.
It all started being fired froma job.
I was fired from a job in July28th 1994, and had a two-week
baby at home and thought this isthe perfect time to start a
business.
So actually it was a littlemore of a journey than that.

(01:19):
I had the inclinations ofwanting to be an entrepreneur
for many years and I reallythought this was the opportunity
to do it, because I just beenputting it off and it took like
a moment of like you don't havea job, so you got to do
something to actually make, makemake me focus and really like

(01:40):
nailed down Like what do I wantto do?
I want to be an entrepreneur.
But I didn't have any idea andthat just came through a process
between praying and doing someresearch.
And my partner and I, scott,said you know, the cleaning
business is a great business toget into because every building,
every house, everything you see, somebody needs to clean it

(02:03):
right.
So we thought it was a greatmarket and a great opportunity
and September of 1994, welaunched Dirt Doctors.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Excellent.
So what are?

Speaker 3 (02:16):
some myths or misconceptions in your industry.
There are definitely a few.
I think the biggest one is thatall cleaning businesses are the
same.
You guys come in, you get thecontract and then you just don't
care about it anymore becauseyou're tied into this contract.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth for us.
You're tied into this contract.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth for us.

(02:37):
I can't speak for everycleaning business, but basically
our contract is you have a30-day out, so it might be a
year contract, but if we can'tsatisfy, we can't fulfill your
needs, then it's really a 30-daycontract.
So what that really does isthat keeps us on our toes and
makes sure that we arecontinuing to provide a great

(02:59):
cleaning service day in weekend,month in, month out.
So that is a misconception thatI hear a lot.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Right, so you mentioned that nearly everyone
needs this service, but who areyour target customers and how do
you track them?

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yes, you're right, we can't clean for everyone.
So we have narrowed it downover the years through, I think,
trial and error and just likewe might have been doing
residential for a long time butwe decided that commercial is
more where we wanted to head.
So when I say commercial.
We're really talking about, likeoffice cleaning, a variety of

(03:40):
facilities that we will cleanfor churches, event spaces,
retail, medical facilities.
So sometimes it's easier for meto just to say this is what we
don't do.
So we've decided that we don'twant to be in the restaurant
space and we also don't cleanfor schools.
But beside that, if it's acommercial building, that is our

(04:02):
target market.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Very good.
So I know it might seem a bitunconventional for me to ask
this have you ever thought aboutdoing your own podcast?

Speaker 3 (04:14):
That is funny.
You mentioned that I actuallyhave.
About 10 years ago it was, itwas a goal and somebody told me
something that made me justcompletely turn away from it.
And that is like once you starta podcast, you need to be
committed to it, like you can'tjust like do it when you want to

(04:36):
.
If it's a weekly podcast, youknow you need to be doing this
every week and with my busyschedule of everything else that
I'm doing, I decided that thatprobably wasn't going to be a
good fit in my life, but it's.
It was a dream at one point.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
So outside of work.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
What do you do for fun?
What do I do for fun?
Well, I really like gettingtogether with family and friends
, especially on the weekends,just hanging out.
My wife and I really love totravel, so we try to go
somewhere interesting a coupleof times a year schedule
permitting a couple of times ayear schedule permitting.
And something I took up duringCOVID is I started playing the

(05:17):
guitar.
Don't ask me to perform for you.
I'm still learning, but I enjoythe process of it.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
You didn't bring it on the show here today.
I was expecting a little tune.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
You want a little tune?
I'm sorry, you have to prepareme for that one.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
All right, tim, so let's switch gears here.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you
overcame and how it made youstronger?
What comes to mind so when youdo something?

Speaker 3 (05:44):
for almost 31 years.
You're obviously going to havesome struggles, right.
You're going to have some lifehardships, like parents passing
away, you know medical issueswhich I've had but I think the
biggest struggle for me was justpersevering.
I'm reading a book right nowcalled Grit I don't know if

(06:05):
you've heard it by AngelaDuckworth.
It's fantastic.
I wish I would have you'veheard it by Angela Duckworth.
It's fantastic.
I wish I would have had it like20, 30 years ago.
But Grit is basically havingperseverance and passion in the
same direction and staying withsomething which apparently I
have because I'm still doing it.
But there was just many timeswhere things were not going well
and I think the struggle ishere in your head.

(06:30):
Like you can lose confidence,you can start having a head full
of doubt that this can actuallybecome something bigger and
better than it is today.
So just pushing through, Ithink it's not something you do
on your own either.
I've had great friends.
I've been in like roundtablegroups with other business

(06:52):
people who have been invaluable.
One today that I'm in is calledTruth at Work, and because you
can't do it by yourself, youknow, even though owning your
own business, you are, I guess,the top guy, the buck stops here
, type of thing.
You still need people in yourlife to guide you and help you

(07:13):
through the tough times and thegood times.
So I guess bottom line it's justthe struggle of keep on
believing that you're doing theright thing and stay in the
course.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
for me, Certainly that's such a good nugget of
information.
Yeah, I love that you said that.
So, tim, please tell ourlisteners how they can learn
more about Dirt Doctors CleaningService.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Well, if you type in Dirt Doctors Cleaning Services,
you're going to find a lot ofinformation about us.
So we have a website,dirtdoctorscleaningcom, facebook
page, linkedin page, instagrampage, google a lot of
information on just our Googlelisting.
I'm sorry to say, for thosethat are a big X user, formerly
Twitter, I have chosen not to beon that platform, but almost

(08:05):
everywhere else you certainlycan find out a lot about us.
And please tell our listenersone thing that they should
remember about Dirt Doctors,clean Service.
I think the one thing that Ihope people even just from
hearing me speak today is thatwe actually care.
I am passionate about servingour clients, serving our team

(08:28):
members and even relationshipswith our vendors.
You know it's arelationship-driven business, to
be honest with you.
I mean, a lot of people canhave a mop and a broom and clean
, but it's maintaining thoserelationships, maintaining the
quality over a long period oftime and keeping communications

(08:49):
open with all parties interested.
So hopefully people can tellthat we care and we do really
want to serve our client.
So that's what I'll leave youwith, I guess.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Very good.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
It's Dirt.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Doctors, the caring cleaning company, that's right.
Well, Tim, I really appreciateyour time today and having you a
guest on the show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Thank you so much, lila.
It was great speaking with youtoday and it was fun, so thanks.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnppittsburghcom.
That's gnppittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.