Angel Touch Commercial Cleaning: Expanding a sustainable business

Angel Touch Commercial Cleaning is a local, family-owned business. Its commitment to using environmentally friendly products, supporting the local economy, and giving to different organizations makes them Best for Colorado. We spoke with the co-owners, Natalie and Corey Nove, to learn more about this small business.

Best for Colorado: How is your company adapting during this time?

Natalie Nove: We work primarily with other small businesses, so about 40% of our clients have closed. We’ve definitely been impacted this way, but we were also fortunate to have acquired some disinfectant products that are on the CDC-approved list. We started offering a disinfectant cleaning service right away in mid-March, and we’re getting a lot more inquiries about this as businesses have started reopening. We recently acquired the best eco-friendly, non-toxic and responsible product we could find, which is on the CDC list as an approved agent against COVID-19.  We’re thrilled to begin the partnership with Clean Republic, and we plan on using their disinfectant product for the long term.

Corey Nove: We’ve invested in an electrostatic sprayer machine, which disperses a super fine mist over everything. It can be sprayed on anything you can imagine, even electronics. These were previously utilized primarily in medical spaces, but since COVID-19 the use of these machines in all types of industries has quickly emerged. We’re now using them in office spaces.

BFCO: What has been your experience managing your employees during this time?

CN: We’ve followed all the CDC guidelines. So, if we work with the electrostatic sprayer machine, we use proper personal protective equipment. On our janitorial cleans, we’re using gloves and face masks on every single job. We’ve asked our customers to let us know if they have any outbreaks, so that we can communicate that with our team. Fortunately, we haven’t had anything like that up to this point.

NN: I think our service has also been helping other businesses. They’re able to reassure their employees and customers that everything has been disinfected.

BFCO: How did you first get started?

CN: We purchased the business in 2013, and it’s been around since 1998. When we purchased the business, it was doing 95% construction cleanup. Overtime, we transitioned it over to janitorial work. We also do windows, carpets and now this new kind of disinfectant cleaning. We predominantly do office cleaning and some restaurant cleaning in the evenings. Right now, a lot of restaurants have closed, but we’re not out of business because we still work with enough businesses in other industries. We built our business for longevity. I came from a mortgage banking background, so the market crash of 2008 definitely taught me the importance of diversification.

BFCO: What made you want to go from banking to owning your own business?

CN: We decided that we wanted to build something for ourselves instead of working for a big corporation. We had two small children at the time. I was working 70-hour weeks in the corporate world, so I knew we had to make a move. We started researching a bunch of different business ventures and decided on this cleaning company because it would give us more flexibility and time with our kids.

BFCO: How did sustainability emerged as a priority in your business?

NN: When you have kids, you think about the future that you’re leaving for them. I started thinking about transitioning to a 100% green cleaning company about a year after we had it. We stumbled upon Boulder Clean (which is a B Corp and Best for Colorado company as well) and we’ve been working with them for nearly five years now.

CN: When we first started, we were using all the products the previous owner was using. Boulder Clean products are far more natural than anything we were using before, and they’re local.

BFCO: What made you want to donate to the Denver Rescue Mission and Denver’s Children’s Hospital?

CN: Our children have had procedures done at that hospital, and we’ve seen the amazing work they do. That decision was pretty easy for us seeing the ways they’ve helped our family. As far as the shelters, we have business partners down in that location and I see the amount of people that are out there in the streets. So just seeing that made me want to help in any way I could.

BFCO: What has your experience been like being part of Best for Colorado?

NN: Feeling the support of the local economy has helped a lot. Best for Colorado also gives us ideas about things we can do from a business modeling perspective and different ways we can reduce our environmental footprint.

BFCO: What do you hope your company will look like in the future, and what does success look like for you?

CN: We’ll definitely continue to grow. Most of our business right now is in the Denver metro area, but we’ve started to expand, and it’s been working well. We will continue to diversify our business and continue trying to be on the cutting edge of the green movement.

NN: We’ll also continue to expand upon our support of organizations we think are important and other small businesses we work with. Of course, we’ll continue supporting our employees by ensuring that they have the flexibility, compensation and resources they need.

Best for Colorado is a program of the Alliance Center. It allows Colorado companies to measure and improve their social and environmental impact, regardless of where they are on their corporate social responsibility journey. Best for Colorado offers programming and tools for all Colorado companies, including B Corps, to improve their practices and connect participating companies with local resources, education and support.