NILES — In February 2019, Niles resident Paul Gettig opened Michiana Sanitation Specialist in his garage with the goal to clean peoples’ homes and businesses.

About eight months later, he opened an office at 320 Cedar St., Niles, to keep up with an expanding staff and business demand for sanitation services.

Now, the first-time business owner employs eight people, seven of whom are family, and serves across the Michiana area.

As Michiana Sanitation Specialist nears its one-year anniversary, Gettig plans to keep his goal the same as it was when he began his business.

“My ultimate goal for this year is to maintain our reputation at all costs,” he said. “Every company wants to grow and get bigger. That’s a goal of mine, but I want to achieve that goal without sacrificing the type of quality work that we do.”

Gettig has spent his career in the service industry, most recently in the cleaning department of Four Winds Casinos. Unhappy with his job but wanting to continue providing a service that helps those in need, he made the entrepreneurial venture.

A few months later, he moved to his current Cedar Street location. Now, he is happy to be downtown at the center of the community and has started to offer sales in tandem with area events.

To keep up with demand, Gettig began hiring family members, also in the service industry, for occasional work. Now, many of those family members work multiple days a week. His wife was able to leave her full-time job and help.

“The biggest thing that has made us successful is that we’ve taken everything that we’ve learned from being in the service industry for other businesses and figured out what works,” he said. “We’ve applied those things in our own business.”

In other rooms at the office, sister, Suzanne DeBortoli, and mother-in-law, Denise Mays, prepare for upcoming cleaning assignments. DeBortoli popped into the office to add insight in between her work.

“When it comes to honesty, trusting people to get inside of someone’s homes, those are things that are very, very important to us,” she said.

Those principles, along with expert cleaning skills, are what has led the new business to such fast success, she said.

Gettig said their quality care is captured in their positive reviews online. Those reviews, he said, can make a day of tough, gross work worth it.

When it comes to homeowners, a cleaning service can be a lifeline, he said. Sometimes, messes can become so large, a homeowner can feel helpless.

That is where Michiana Sanitation Specialist steps in. Gettig said that from his past work experiences, many companies charge by the hour and the type of services provided. Tougher cleans lead to higher costs.

At his business, Gettig charges by the time a place takes to clean only. That, he said, can keep costs lower for customers in need.

“You’re like, ‘I am their last hope,’” DeBertoli said about homeowner customers. “And then when you’re done, they’re just like, ‘Oh my god. I can’t thank you enough.’ It feels good.”

In December, skilled services connector website, Thumbtack, awarded the business the top area professional in the industry based on reviews and recommendations, beating out more than 100 other similar businesses.

Gettig has a sticker denoting their “Top Pro” status on his office window for passersby to see. He hopes to eventually line the window with Thumbtack’s stickers as a testament to his employees’ experience and expert care.