This year’s CM/Cleanfax® magazine Dream Team makes for interesting reading as we look at success stories of major players in our industry.
You will read stories of professionals who invented better cleaning chemicals, better restoration equipment, better marketing plans and much more in this year’s profiles of the Dream Team.
Our eight-member selection committee endured the hard task of picking the finalists from the nominations received.
The nominations highlighted industry leaders who:
- Reached high levels of expertise
- Built solid reputations
- Rose to positions of leadership
- Made positive differences to the industry.
The details
We’ve listed each finalist’s professional and personal accomplishments to give you the reasons they were selected to the Dream Team.
Read on and get to know the pros that make up this year’s CM/Cleanfax® magazine Dream Team.
Howard Partridge
In 1978, an 18-year-old Howard Partridge stepped off a Greyhound bus in Houston with 25 cents in his pocket.
He had just arrived in the big city from Mobile, AL.
With lots of dreams and no money, Howard did many odd jobs and eventually became a professional waiter in high-end restaurants.
Back then, there were a number of restaurants that offered “tableside cooking.” Donning a tuxedo, he cooked Steak Diane, Bananas Foster, Cherries Jubilee, and decanted bottles of wine that cost hundreds of dollars per bottle.
That was quite a difference between providing a high-end dining experience and living in lower Alabama.
Envious of others
In 1984, Howard went to New Jersey to get married. Still with no money to speak of, at 23 years old, he noticed a friend of his wife’s family riding around in a red Mercedes convertible.
“He was my age. I thought to myself, ‘I need to know what this guy does, and I want to know if it’s legal!’” Partridge recalled.
He discovered that he was in the carpet cleaning business.
And best of all, his wife is Italian and, Howard said, when you marry into an Italian family, you don’t get toasters and blenders as wedding presents. You get cash.
Enter carpet cleaning riches
“We collected $3,000 in wedding money,” he said. “As soon as we got back to Houston, I spent $3,000 on a carpet cleaning machine and a vacuum cleaner. My wife was really thrilled about that, let me tell you”
Howard started his carpet cleaning business out of the trunk of his car.
Since that time, Howard says, he has lived the American dream. He built his carpet cleaning company to be one of the most respected, experienced and highest-priced carpet cleaning firms in the world.
And best of all, he says, he is happy to say that his company practically runs itself.
“I am blessed to have great people and great systems in place to have a company that commands the highest prices and does over $2 million per year without a Yellow Page ad, without large commercial accounts, and without restoration or janitorial accounts,” he said.
Not that there is anything wrong with any of those things, he’s quick to note. In fact, many of his marketing team members are restoration contractors, janitorial businesses, and commercial cleaning firms.
His marketing company, Phenomenal Products Inc., also serves plumbers, pest control companies, air conditioning companies, window cleaning companies and more.
Throughout Howard’s career, he admits he has made all the mistakes that can be made by carpet cleaners. He uses what he’s learned to help others succeed.
Jeremy Reets
Jeremy Reets grew up working in the family business, Champion Cleaning Systems, Inc. in Sharpsburg, GA.
Over the years, he worked side-by-side with organizations such as the International Society of Cleaning Technicians, now the Society of Cleaning and Restoration Technicians.
“I had the opportunity to expand my horizons working with the ISCT as I met and worked with many of the industry’s leaders. By the time I graduated high school, I was an Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification monitor, and Master Cleaner and Restorer,” Jeremy remembers.
Special interests
For the first five years after graduating high school, Jeremy worked in the industry part-time and was involved full-time in volunteer work; at the same time, he continued to expand his industry education.
“Water damage really held the most interest for me because there was such a science behind what we were doing. I also felt that there was some information missing,” he said.
“There were also industry leaders saying that at some point in the future we would be drying much faster than we were at that time. So I started dabbling with some outside research and experimenting with the new knowledge that I was picking up,” Jeremy said.
Restorer and inventor
After years of testing and research, Jeremy developed a new drying process: The Reets Evaporation Method.
Unfortunately, there was no equipment that could apply the system.
His idea to help the disaster restoration industry was launched: The TES drying system that complemented his new drying formula. Jeremy worked in conjunction with Bridgepoint Systems to develop the machine and technology.
In addition to TES, Jeremy developed the Evaporation Potential Formula which allows restorers to analyze the elements of the drying process to see whether they are creating evaporation.
“Who knew that surface temperature was such a powerful piece of information for measuring drying potential?” Jeremy said.
Education expansion
Like many other industry players, Jeremy decided that the next step was to help others.
“There was so much new information that I realized I needed to educate others,” he said. “That moved me to form the Reets Drying Academy.”
The focus of his school is to teach students the fastest, most thorough drying system in the industry.
Where credit is due
Jeremy hasn’t done it alone. He credits his family and industry professionals such as Jeff Bishop, Joe Dobbins, Barry Costa, and Gordon Hanks.
“They have been eager to share their knowledge with me to make my achievements possible,.” Jeremy said.
Joe Domin
Joe Domin, a retired chemist who created valuable tools for the industry during the past 40 years, is one of those individuals whom everyone respects.
The carpet cleaning industry wasn’t part of Joe’s original career plan.
Joe had no intention of entering the industry until a change in management at his long-ago employer, Dial Corp. in Scottsdale, AZ, caused him look elsewhere for employment.
Reluctant beginnings
A friend knew of Joe’s plight at work and told him that Prochem was looking for a chemist.
He didn’t like the idea. Instead, he tried his hand at photography.
That didn’t work as planned.
So he decided to interview at Prochem to see what the position and company was all about. Jim Roden invited Joe to lunch and discussed the merits of this young industry.
Joe was pleased with what he heard and took the job on the spot. The rest is well-known history for most carpet cleaners.
Factoring in success
Joe attributes his career success mainly to his relationship with the customers who use his carpet cleaning products.
“I was always involved with them on a personal and professional basis," he said. "When they had a problem, I tried to solve it by developing a product or method that met their needs.”
Creating useful products, as well as upgrading existing products and reducing manufacturing costs, have always been factors in his success.
Thoughts on the industry
Joe said his biggest pet peeve is the term “carpet cleaner” because he believes that the term carries a stigma in the public eye, and that the value and importance of this work should be stressed to the public.
Instead of carpet cleaners, he prefers “health maintenance engineers,” touting the benefits they present to consumers every time they clean a carpet, and the amount of skill and experience it takes to get the job done right.
Outside the job
Joe has been married to his wife, Barbara, for 28 years and has several grandchildren — five boys and one girl.
He is an avid nature lover and photographer.
“I enjoy the environment in Arizona,” he said. “It's one of the prettiest states in the whole country.”
Which takes him back to his passion — photography.
“Arizona and close by states supply some of the most beautiful, picturesque sites in the world,” he said, enjoying his retirement.
But Joe isn’t completely retired. He still keeps in touch with his friends in the industry and provides consulting work on various challenges related to carpet cleaning.
Lonnie McDonald
Lonnie McDonald grew up in a small town in Iowa (Winterset — birthplace of John Wayne and the setting for the book Bridges of Madison County.)
Lonnie’s dad was a mechanic and also did part-time work stripping and waxing floors. Lonnie entered the cleaning business stripping and waxing under booths by hand.
On his own
In 1984, he opened Integrity Carpet Cleaning and did contract cleaning and training work for several local companies until deciding to eliminate contract work and expand into complementary companies.
In 2001, the company name was changed to better reflect what the company represented, and that included a parent company name change to Textile Care Group with divisions of Integrity Carpet Cleaning, Leather Pro and Textile Care & Consulting.
The company does leather care, chemical manufacturing, carpet and upholstery cleaning, as well as inspections, specification, consulting and teaching.
Life’s achievements
Lonnie has achieved the status of an Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration (IICRC) Master Textile Cleaner, Master Fire and Smoke Restorer, Senior Carpet Inspector and an IICRC-approved instructor. He also serves on multiple IICRC committees and the Connections board of directors.
Lonnie views the Low Moisture Carpet Cleaners Association as one of his greatest achievements. In 2000, Lonnie and four other individuals formed an entity that later became the Low Moisture Carpet Cleaners Association (LMCCA).
As LMCCA past president and current executive director, Lonnie has served as a liaison between the LMCCA and numerous other organizations including the IICRC and the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI). The LMCCA has affiliations with the World Floorcovering Association, Connections and ISSA.
Building friendships
Lonnie feels lucky to count as friends or role models such people as Joey Pickett, Mark Warner, Larry Cooper, Cary Vermeulen, John Garger, Barry Costa, Doug Heiferman, Joe Dobbins, John Holibaugh, Bill Yeadon, and many others.
He loves his time spent both on the job and off with his wife Robin, and credits her as his foundation of success, both personally and professionally.
Both Lonnie and Robin enjoy their time with the family pet Jewels, a Shetland sheepdog.
His main hobby is golf and he has played Pebble Beach, Spy Glass, Spanish Bay, Torrey Pines, Kapalua, Carnoustie and St. Andrews, to name a few. His best round was a 73 at Torrey Pines.
Lonnie knows many of the past and present Dream Team members and believes, “It is a great, humbling honor and truly a blessing to be counted amongst those who have been nominated by their peers for the Dream Team.”
