If you run a cleaning company, you’re not “just a cleaner.” You’re a builder.

That’s the heartbeat of our recent Five Door Media podcast episode with Ricky Regalado, founder of Rozalado Services, co-founder of Route, host of the Cleaning Cocktails podcast, and one of the loudest voices in the home-service world.

What started as a small janitorial operation has grown into a multi-million-dollar ecosystem: a cleaning company, a tech platform built for cleaners by cleaners, a media brand, and a movement around pride in blue-collar work.

In this blog, we’re pulling out the biggest leadership and entrepreneurship lessons from Ricky’s story so you can apply them directly to your own cleaning business.

Let’s be honest. SEO pricing can feel all over the place. One company says $300 a month. Another says $2,000. What gives?

If you own a cleaning business and you’ve ever wondered why SEO costs vary so much, you’re asking the right question. Because like most things in marketing (and cleaning), you get what you pay for.

Welcome back to the Five Door Media Podcast Blog, your go-to resource for the cleaning and home service industries to connect, learn, and grow. This season, we’re diving into the future of cleaning through the lens of technology, software, and AI and our latest guest knows exactly how data and people intersect.

We sat down with Martha Woodward, co-founder of Quality Driven Software (QDS), to talk about how cleaning business owners can build stronger, more accountable teams, improve retention, and use technology not just to run operations, but to lead better.

If you’ve ever wondered how to turn software from a “nice-to-have” into the backbone of your company’s culture, this episode is for you.

If you run a cleaning company, you've probably asked yourself:

“How much do Facebook Ads actually cost, and do they really bring in new clients?”

The short answer is: it depends. Facebook Ads are flexible. You can technically spend as little as $5 a day, but if your goal is lead generation, not just brand awareness, you’ll need a more realistic budget.

This article will help you understand what Facebook Ads cost, what affects those costs, and how much you should plan to invest to get actual results.

Running a cleaning company already demands your time, managing schedules, hiring staff, and keeping customers happy. On top of that, you have to figure out marketing.

So what’s the best approach?

• Do it yourself?

• Hire a freelancer?

• Or partner with a marketing agency?

Each option has clear pros and cons. The right choice depends on your budget, your goals, and how quickly you want to grow. Let’s break it down.

In this episode, we sat down with Tom Stewart, CEO and Co-Founder of Maid Central, one of the most powerful software platforms built by cleaning professionals for cleaning professionals.

Tom’s story is unique: before building software, he built one of the most respected residential cleaning companies in the country, Castle Keepers. He knows firsthand the day-to-day realities of running crews, managing customers, and trying to squeeze profit from an unpredictable schedule.

Now, he’s leading the charge on how technology, data, and AI can simplify operations - and make cleaning companies not just bigger, but smarter.

Here’s what stood out from our conversation.

Every cleaning business wants to grow faster — more leads, more clients, more revenue. It’s the most common conversation we have at Five Door Media: “How do I grow my cleaning company fast?”

You can’t grow fast without a sales process that’s ready to grow just as fast.

Even the best marketing in the world won’t move the needle if your team isn’t ready to capture, close, and serve the leads coming in. In this article, we’ll cover the most effective marketing investments for cleaning companies that want to grow fast, and the one thing that matters more than your ad strategy: your sales readiness.

In this episode of the Five Door Media Podcast Blog, we sat down with Christopher Maurer, Co-Founder and CRO of Model Rocket Technologies, to unpack how artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and smarter systems can help cleaning and home-service companies scale without adding chaos.

Maurer’s message is simple but powerful: AI isn’t about replacing people. It’s about giving business owners the tools to make better decisions, protect margins, and serve customers faster using the team and resources they already have.

If you’re a cleaning business owner who wants to grow sustainably (not just bigger, but better), here’s what you can take from our conversation.

If you’re running a cleaning company - whether you offer house cleaning, commercial janitorial services, power washing, or window cleaning - you’ve probably asked this at some point:

“What does it really cost to run Google Ads?”

And like most things in marketing, the honest answer is: it depends. Some folks say you can run ads with just a few hundred bucks. Others say you’ll need thousands to see real results. So what’s the truth?

In this blog, we’ll break down the actual components of running Google Ads as a cleaning company so you can make informed decisions, set a realistic budget, and avoid surprises.

If you’ve ever wondered whether software and AI can actually make your brand feel more human, not less, this episode was built for you. In our latest Five Door Media Podcast, we sat down with Michelle Jeppesen, Director of Business Development at SendJim, to unpack how today’s smartest home service operators are scaling trust, retention, and referrals using multi-touch marketing, personalized automation, and practical AI.

Automation isn’t a shortcut for connection - it’s the system that makes connection reliable.

Hiring a marketing agency is a little like dating. At first, they say all the right things. They promise they’ll always be there for you, they brag about how many other people adore them, and you’re thinking: “Wow, where have you been all my life?”

And then, six months later, you’re staring at your credit card bill wondering if you’ve been catfished.

Look, there are plenty of great agencies out there. But there are also some red flags you should know about. Here are seven that cleaning and pressure washing companies run into the most.

Welcome back to another episode of the Five Door Media Podcast. This season, we’re diving headfirst into one of the biggest shifts the cleaning industry has ever seen: the rise of AI, automation, and software that make companies run faster, leaner, and smarter.

Our guest this week, Roland Ligtenberg, isn’t just talking about that future, he’s helping build it. As Co-Founder and SVP of Growth & Innovation at Housecall Pro, Roland has spent the last decade helping home service pros simplify their operations and scale their businesses through technology that actually works.

From AI “team members” to data-driven coaching and recurring service plans, Roland shares how the pros who lean into automation now will outpace everyone else tomorrow.

If you’ve ever searched for “house cleaning near me” or “maid service in [your city]” and didn’t see your company listed, you’re not alone.

Most cleaning businesses struggle to appear on the first page of Google, and if you’re not on page one, most potential customers won’t find you.

The good news is that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can help level the playing field. With the right local strategy, even small cleaning companies can compete with big-name franchises.

This guide covers the proven SEO strategies that help cleaning companies rank in their local markets.

Today, we’re diving into a powerful conversation with Holly Moore, founder of Maids and Moore and creator of The Cleaning Software.

Holly has a rare perspective: she built one of the nation’s largest residential cleaning companies, scaling it to more than 150 cleaners and $10 million in revenue, and then turned her operational know-how into a software platform designed specifically for residential cleaning businesses. In our conversation, she shared how automation, AI, and smart integrations are reshaping the industry, and what every cleaning business owner needs to know to stay ahead.

You’re running ads, your website is live, and leads are coming in — but they’re not turning into paying customers. If you’ve ever felt like your digital marketing is driving traffic but not revenue, you’re not alone.

In the home service world, especially cleaning, this is one of the most common frustrations we hear: "I’m getting leads, but they’re not converting."

And here’s the hard truth: If your leads aren’t converting, it usually means one (or more) of five things in your marketing and sales process is broken.

At Five Door Media, we call this the 5 Door System, and in this blog, we’re going to focus on Door 3: Targeting, Door 4: Engagement, and Door 5: Sales — because that’s where lead conversion lives or dies.

In a recent episode of the Five Door Media Podcast, we sat down with Omar Santana, CEO of Automaid, a software platform that helps cleaning companies streamline scheduling, dispatching, payments, and customer experience. Omar has worked with thousands of service businesses across the country and has a front-row seat to how technology is transforming the industry.

This conversation is packed with insights for any cleaning business owner looking to simplify operations and scale with clarity instead of chaos.

If you’ve ever run ads on Google or Facebook for your cleaning business, you’ve probably noticed: costs can change, sometimes fast.

It can feel random — but it’s not.

Ad spend changes based on real, trackable factors. And if you understand what drives those changes, you can make smarter decisions with your budget and avoid unpleasant surprises.

In this guide, we’ll break down the top reasons ad costs go up or down, and what you can do about it as a cleaning company.

If you run a cleaning company and feel overwhelmed by software, AI, and the never-ending promise of tech that "does it all," this episode is your lifeline. Libby DeLucien, cleaning industry powerhouse and software founder, knows the real-world challenges of running a home service business, and she’s on the front lines helping owners implement technology that actually works.

If you run a cleaning or pressure washing business, you already know the hustle. You’re scheduling crews, dealing with equipment that always seems to break mid-job, and trying to keep bleach from ruining yet another pair of sneakers.

And then, somewhere between payroll and clogged vacuums, someone reminds you: “You really should be doing SEO, running Facebook ads, and posting on social media.”

That’s when the question hits: Should I just hire a marketing agency?

Let’s walk through the pros and cons.