Michael Waterman and Nate Andorsky want to clean your room.
Well, not quite, but they do want to make it easy for students to find professional cleaners for a fair price.
Spurred by GW’s decision to eliminate cleaning services for freshmen last May, Waterman, a senior, and Andorsky, an alumnus, founded DC College Cleaners to give students who don’t like mopping a chance at a clean room.
“We were looking to start something new and when cleaning services in Thurston were discontinued, we realized that the student market was underserved,” Andorsky said.
Students were asking for a cheap, quality cleaning service available on short notice, Waterman said. The problem with other cleaning services, Waterman said, was the high prices they charge students living in residence halls. The pair were able to set lower prices for students by contacting local services with layout samples from GW’s largest residence halls – Thurston Hall, Ivory Tower and South Hall. Basic cleans will typically start at $60 depending on the room’s size.
Andorsky said making outside services easily accessible to students is “eliminating that additional step.”
If the business takes off at GW, the pair said they would like to expand to other schools in D.C. Andorsky said the two have “big plans, big aspirations,” especially in pushing green cleaning.
“We’d like to go green. use efficient vacuum cleaners and nontoxic products,” Waterman said.
The company also has a philanthropic business model. If students use the promotion code “Pike’s Fireman’s Challenge” when filling out a service request, the company will donate $20 from that service to the charity.
“Our fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, has their flagship philanthropy, Fireman’s Challenge, every April, where they raise money for the DC Firefighters Burn Foundation,” says Waterman. “We felt that this would be a good way to help out a great cause.”
The company first received requests from International House and South Hall, and plans to begin cleaning in the next week.
“We want to intertwine the company with organizations and student life,” Andorsky said.
