Back in 2015, Jonathan Brandle found himself at the mercy of a union dispute, locked out and facing voluntary layoff. Rather than letting that hold him back, he took the downtime as an opportunity to put his entrepreneurial mindset into action. Fast-forward to 2019, Brandle, the owner and operator of Grime Stoppers, has created a full-time career that now employees a team including the recent addition of his wife Becky.
“I had worked at Century Aluminum in Hawesville for 8 or 9 years,” Brandle said. “Back before the lockout I had borrowed a buddy’s pressure washer for my pool deck and after completing just one-third of it and realizing the time it took, I started calling around trying to find someone to hire.”
Brandle said he found three options, one was out-of-state, one serviced houses only and another was unprofessional and never showed up in the end.
“We could never find anyone to fill the job,” Brandle said. “I took it as an opportunity and I started researching.”
That research would lead Brandle to buy a company out of Louisville which, at the time, was known as Jet Monkey Pressure Washing. He left the company name and bookings there in Louisville and bought out the equipment to bring back to Owensboro.
In the summer of 2015, Grime Stoppers was established.
“We’re an exterior cleaning company that provides residential and commercial services,” Brandle said. “We provide house washing, deck cleaning, roof, gutter, concrete and even window cleaning. The difference between what we do is we provide ‘soft washing’ versus ‘power washing.’ It’s a low-pressure method.”
Brandle went on to explain that, in typical power washing, it’s a method to blast off the grime such as algae, but it doesn’t actually kill the spores, so it’s going to grow back. Grime Stoppers’ low-pressure method uses products to remove the grime in a low-pressure manner so there is no risk of the damage that pressure washing can oftentimes cause.
It’s not just the technique that has lead Jonathan’s business to be sustainable, but the pride he takes in communication with his clients.
“The service industry as a whole kind of has this negative persona and people may not be accustomed to the exceptional service that I would expect,” Brandle said. “I guess, for me, building something that combats that has been the biggest reward. I think we really provide value to people and enjoy serving people.”
Although they are in their busy season of spring, Grime Stoppers has diversified their services to include their newest division “Grinch Stoppers” for the winter months.
“With Grinch Stoppers we supply and hang holiday lighting and decorations on homes,” Brandle said. “It definitely keeps us busy, as typically with this business, the winter is slow, so it limits that downtime.”
Licensed and insured, this Owensboro business was started from the ground up by the support of the community and client referrals.
“It’s a priority for us to make sure our clients are satisfied each step of the way,” Brandle said. “At the end of the day, I’m grateful for each person that calls. The community has been very supportive of my business and I’m just very grateful.”
