Family-owned business cleans and disinfects during COVID-19 pandemic
As many businesses closed their doors due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mad Dog Cleaning shifted its services to include disinfecting at several facilities to keep the family business open, as well as the places they cleaned.
The Peplow family purchased Mad Dog Cleaning in 2019 after the previous owners retired. The company started out providing only residential and commercial cleaning in Peoria, but a lot changed after the pandemic started taking its toll.
Since the company provided services to some essential businesses like food processing plants, they did not have to completely stop working once quarantine orders started in early 2020. However, Terri Peplow and her son Jake Bowers said they took a big hit when it came to private commercial business and residential services.
Peplow quickly started the process of including disinfecting as one of their services, and the family team went through training with the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) to be certified with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) for disinfecting services.
Peplow said the training went through how to deal with hazardous waste and getting rid of harmful bacteria. “It was a good training to have, and we felt a lot more comfortable and confident in going out and offering disinfecting,” said Peplow.
They filled in at the Peoria Airport’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) towers for a few weeks while their cleaning staff was out with COVID-19.
Afterward, Chicago Midway International Airport urgently asked for their services in November. Peplow and Bowers got in the car to start disinfecting at Midway that night. The trend continued with Mad Dog disinfecting O’Hare International Airport and other Illinois airports including DuPage and Champaign airports.
At first, it was just Peplow and Bowers in Chicago cleaning while also running the business in the Peoria-area remotely. They hired over 20 employees to work in Chicagoland, doubling their staff.
Mad Dog Cleaning continued cleaning and disinfecting in the Peoria area at facilities such as a private school and the Uftring Automall.
Additionally, the company uses green, eco-friendly products that aren’t harmful, which makes it easier to disinfect around people since FAA facilities are running 24/7. “It was important to us and the FAA to implement effective products that are safe for everyone around them,” Bowers said.
The company received help from Bradley’s Illinois Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) with the government contracting needed to work in facilities owned by federal, state and local governments. Peplow started talking to the director of the Illinois PTAC, Keli Krueger-Huhra before the pandemic hit to discuss government contracting. She said Krueger-Huhra was a big help in clearing up questions with the government documents.
“It’s a lot as far as the federal government, the local, state government, trying to work through their certification processes and how to bid on contracts and all that,” Peplow said. “[Krueger-Huhra] helped a ton [to] just lay it out and have it all make sense.”
PTAC is also helping Terri with the process of getting female-owned and veteran-owned certifications for Mad Dog Cleaning.
Currently, the biggest challenge facing Mad Dog Cleaning is hiring personnel. They are receiving fewer applications, but they are trying to overcome this by having current employees tell people how to apply.
“We’re finding right now that either people aren’t wanting to work or that they’re finding other jobs where they make a lot more money,” Peplow said.
Mad Dog has stopped residential cleaning services to focus on commercial work. Some disinfecting services have decreased, but intense disinfecting will continue with the FAA through September of this year.
The cleaning service signed a year-long contract with the Peoria FAA to clean the air traffic control towers and offices. Peplow hopes this can expand to opportunities with other FAA facilities and airports. Mad Dog Cleaning also recently signed a contract with Woodford County that will have them cleaning government facilities including the courthouse and jail.
Peplow hopes for additional government contacting around Central Illinois and is also up for the task of expanding services throughout the Midwest.
