Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Howard.
Hi Evan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a transactional attorney by trade and previously handled mergers and acquisitions for small companies and large companies in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. I had my law practice, where I worked closely with clients looking to acquire or sell their businesses. I noticed the need for more businesses focused on everyday blue-collar type jobs/businesses. From there, while simultaneously running my law practice, I started acquiring businesses on my own through Howard Business Holdings, LLC.
Howard Business Holdings was founded to seek out underappreciated businesses and business owners who still needed a succession plan by handing down their businesses to a younger generation. As a way to continue the extremely important blue-collar businesses and strive to treat employees fairly – something that I felt businesses started to lose sight of. My first venture was with my mentor and prior law processor focused on in-home healthcare. We acquired two businesses and rolled them together into a thriving company with locations in southern Illinois and Iowa. I later sold my interest in that business. I acquired a roofing company in Missouri where we paid our employees union wages even though they were not part of a union. I then acquired and merged another law firm into my law practice to hire associate attorneys in St. Louis right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and attorneys were getting laid off left and right.
During the pandemic, I was searching for my next venture, and cleaning companies struck my interest as an important need at all times, including during a pandemic. I spent three (3) years scouring the internet and speaking with business brokers to find that perfect business to acquire and start building into what I believed could be an amazing alternative to the typical franchised-based cleaning companies.
That search finally led me to a commercial pest control company with a small cleaning division that cleaned apartment complexes’ leasing centers and common areas and handled move-out cleaning. The division was tiny and barely profitable, but the one thing that attracted me to the division was the management team and workers. Managing the day-to-day operations was a woman name, Aliya Jay. Not only was she the individual handling all the incoming customer calls and scheduling all the cleans, but she was also out in the field cleaning herself. I also met one of the employees, who had her own cleaning business but worked part-time for the division, Kim West. I saw the potential this cleaning division had with a little bit of direction and investment into these key employees. I acquired the cleaning division on June 5, 2023, and rebranded it as its own company, Coastal Cleaners of South Carolina. Within days, I knew my gamble on these employees was worth it. Kim West was convinced to come on board full-time and has been promoted to our Field Supervisor. With her help, we have implemented a training program for all existing employees and future employees to ensure we have standards across all employees to exceed our client’s expectations.
Our “tagline” is “Professional & Reliable Cleaning Company,” but this is more than the typical “tagline.” This is our mission statement. What I have learned from our customers is the lack of reliable cleaning companies that show up and clean their properties correctly. Apartment cleaning is a very unique and unforgotten niche market that can have grave effects on apartment complexes – a potential tenant wouldn’t want to live in an apartment which dirty leasing facilities, and if a new tenant moves into their new apartment, that isn’t clean, it effects the apartment complex perception from the new tenant and all potential tenants.
We also focused on working with property managers and maintenance managers to work more as a partner with them versus a typical vendor, understanding the longer it takes for the apartments to get cleaned, the longer it takes the property to turn those units. This becomes extremely frustrating when there are tenants on a wait list for upcoming units.
Next, I focused internally on the employees and evaluated their pay and working conditions. Currently, I am working on increasing wages for our employees and, hopefully, will soon be implementing a benefits program consisting of health care insurance and 401K retirement. I want Coastal Cleaners to be a company. Future employees are waiting for positions to become available, and properties can rely on good cleans from honest workers.
Coastal Cleaners is a stepping stone into future growth and opportunities not only in the Charleston area. We also have a smaller group working in Columbia to build out that area. I still have my eye on other small cleaning companies throughout the east coast, which I would like to acquire and roll into Coastal Cleaners. We are also expanding our offerings to more than just apartment complexes and offering cleaning services for residential customers as well as short-term rental customers. In all, this is a very crazy and exciting time for Coastal, and I believe with my team and the more employees we hire, we could grow into quite a large organization, employee people and providing quality services from an industry that has been forgotten.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It was extremely tough. When I took over, I soon discovered that almost every client was ready to drop us as their cleaners. Some customers had already dropped us; others were looking for a new company. I had to scramble from day one to convince customers to stay and give Coastal a chance. So far, everyone has stayed. Quite a few customers that dropped us (while under the prior ownership) have come back.
Also, the properties were not cleaned to the standard I would have expected under prior management. Two of our employees quit right when cleans were starting to pile up. Luckily Kim stepped in and saved us from quite a bit of these problems, and now we have training new employees (to our standards), and things are starting to move in the right direction.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Coastal Cleaners is a professional and reliable cleaning company based in Charleston, SC. Our main goal is to employ people and provide a quality service that most in Charleston have thought to be extinct. What sets up apart is the work we do with our customers in the apartment community as a partner versus a typical vendor. We are trying to look ahead to what apartments are coming up, the complex’s waitlist, and the priority of which apartments need to be cleaned and turned so our customers can do their job easier. For our residential customers, we do not employ contractors. All of our cleaners are employees of Coastal Cleaners and have been fully trained, and I would trust to allow them into my own home.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the history of Charleston and the historic architecture throughout the city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.coastalcleanerssc.com
- Instagram: @coastalcleanerssc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093195136131
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/coastalcleanerssc
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coastal-cleaners-of-south-carolina-charleston
