Mainers often hear the backbone of the state’s economy is the small business owner. Seems around any Lincoln County corner there’s a small, quiet business just going about doing its job, keeping the “boat afloat.” Such a business is Rite Way Cleaning of Waldoboro, a family-owned cleaning business specializing in oriental rugs.
Owners Tina and Mike Fairfield might call themselves business-owners, but they are actually the definition of entrepreneurs. Mike particularly, is always looking for the next thing to grow the business or branch out into a new one.
His current flagship is a niche-market service: cleaning oriental rugs – the recently purchased, or the priceless antique. It wasn’t however, always his specialty.
Around 1990, under the name Fairfield Cleaning, Mike was doing the bulk of his rug and upholstery cleaning and maintenance services contracted to a commercial business.
In the late 1990s, an opportunity presented itself that launched Fairfield solidly into the oriental rug cleaning niche. “Rite Way Cleaning had been in business since 1967,” Fairfield said, and at the end of the deal, he owned the name and, “had that customer base list” he deeply wanted, he said.
Working with that solid residential customer base, one customer asked if he cleaned oriental rugs. Fairfield, never one to turn down business, took on the job.
“I had no idea there were oriental rug cleaning secrets,” he said remembering the outcome when he asked for cleaning tips from another operation. Seems cleaning oriental rugs is no easy task, and with a modicum of advice, he set to work to essentially figure it out for himself.
Since Rite Way Cleaning was based out of his home, the cellar of his antique cape in Union would become oriental rug cleaning central. “I just barely clear the ceiling down there [when standing up], and there wasn’t any room,” he said.
Cleaning an oriental carpet is labor intensive, and is comprised of a rigid process of steps. First, loose dirt must be removed through a type of beating process, called “dusting.” Next is cold water washing, using hose and brushes and wool cleaners, followed by a long process of cold-water rinsing. The heavy, wet carpet is hung up to drain, and finally must be dried, using warm blowers to gently dry the carpet, which generally takes a day.
The rug is thoroughly inspected and if there is still any dirt or odor present, the process is completely repeated until the carpet is truly clean.
“If you can believe, I did all the steps in one area [in his home cellar],” he said. He also somehow had to come up with equipment to remove the dirt in the beating process and later gently clean the rugs.
An amazingly handy guy, Fairfield modified numerous vacuum cleaner power heads in the search for efficiently removing loose dirt. He also rigged up blowers and dehumidifiers to assist in the drying process.
This home process was okay for a few small rugs, but if the business ever grew he would be in trouble for space.
Meanwhile he was also experimenting on the cleaning process. Most often the biggest challenge to cleaning any sort of rug is pet stains. “You take an oriental rug with pet stains and if after cleaning there is still the odor of urine, that’s a huge problem,” Fairfield said.
Using commercial carpet stain removers for that purpose was cost prohibitive, Fairfield found. “It was sometimes more than $20 a gallon, and it still didn’t work sometimes on the odors and stains,” he said.
With more experimentation, he came up with old-fashioned white vinegar for sealing the rug’s colors and tackling pet stains, topped off by a special enzyme to finish eating the last of any organic material.
Little by little, his niche business was growing, but he was limited on the size of orientals he could clean because of the space restrictions.
He had seen a warehouse building in Waldoboro on Chapel Road and when a “for lease” sign popped up, he cut a deal and moved in. It was in rough shape, but within a short period, he had rooms set up for each step of the cleaning process.
Providence was with him when he was able to land some pricey equipment to help him out. “A woman in Camden was selling some equipment, and I got the “Badger,”” he said of the heavy dusting machine that slaps the carpets and kicks out the dirt.
“In the beginning we were doing about $60,000 in rug cleaning [residential, and not including other janitorial services], and about $10,000 or so in oriental work,” he said using his hands to symbolize a scale. “Now, it is way the other way around, and still growing,” he said.
Most consumers don’t realize many oriental rug sellers in Maine offer rug cleaning services, but don’t perform that service onsite – they send them elsewhere to people like Mike Fairfield. As he perfected his cleaning technique, he is now in demand.
Years later, Fairfield is still growing his business, but now he owns the warehouse building at 36 Chapel Road in Waldoboro.
In the oriental carpet business, his stepbrother, John Bennett, of South Hope, is full-time help, with a small part-time staff of eight for other residential cleaning jobs, along with picking up and dropping off rugs.
Summer is a big rug-cleaning time, and Caleb Reed, of Nobleboro, is also working alongside Bennett and Fairfield to keep up with the demand.
The price for cleaning an oriental rug? “It’s about $2.50 a square-foot,” said Bennett, and considering the time and labor intensive work, it is well worth it.
Fairfield and Bennett recall a 100-year old antique rug they were cleaning. “We got more than 50 pounds of dirt off that [just in the dusting process],” Bennett said. Fairfield said, “You just can’t go that long without cleaning it at all; it was basically the dirt that was holding it together.”
Some customers drop off their rugs for cleaning and never pick them up. After a considerable amount of time of trying to work with the customer, Fairfield is often told to keep the rug, and he’ll sell them.
Under the Fairfields, the Rite Way building is now home to three businesses. The Fairfields use a portion of the building for the mentioned rug cleaning business, then there’s the rental space for boats and cars, and finally below stairs the Rite Way Scouring company, begun in 2008.
The Fairfields run one of the very few fiber mills for scouring (cleaning) alpaca and sheep wool.
Rite Way Cleaning is at 36 Chapel Rd., in Waldoboro. Hours are Mon.-Fri., 8:30-4 (please call before coming) at 785-3484 or 542-4231. The main office is at 127 Depot St., Union 04862, or visit www.ritewaycleaning.net, or email info@ritewaycleaning.net.
