In February, Michael Brown and Matt Cooper tried an experiment that would indicate whether their idea for an online cleaning service would work.

They wanted to know whether complete strangers would go online to book cleaners, leave their credit card details and allow cleaners into their house. The key was the customer had to be a stranger, because that would tell them whether their business would work beyond a circle of friends. Within six days, they had their first customer and Clean Simple was born.

The Halifax company is an online booking service for residential and commercial cleaners, allowing people to book over the internet. It is now up and running with about 80 clients in the Halifax area. It has six cleaners on staff and is looking to hire more. The team is preparing to move into another mid-sized city in three or four months.

“We use technology to allow us to avoid a lot of the overhead that other companies have,” said CEO Brown in an interview. “We can provide as good or better services as others, but at a lower price point.”

Brown and Cooper launched the service in May, with a small investment from an individual investor, which has gone mainly toward marketing.

What Brown and Cooper are doing strikes to the heart of the startup movement, which is now aiding economic growth in Atlantic Canada and around the world. They’ve examined a trade that’s as old as time itself – cleaning services – and used simple technology to improve efficiency and grab market share. The process is known as disruption. They’ve built in the local market and now they’re planning to roll it out to other markets, bringing revenues home to Nova Scotia.  

Brown said the aim of the company is ease of use for the client. He envisages a service in which an apartment dweller, for example, can contact Clean Simple by smart phone from the airport on their way out of town. If the keys are left with the superintendent, the cleaners can go into the flat and the customer comes home to a clean apartment.

By advertising on such sites a Kijiji, Brown has grown a solid client base and he said many customers returning to the service.

And by holding down overhead, he said the company has been able to hire and retain experienced cleaners by offering flexible hours and paying above the going wage in the industry. The cleaners must have their own cars and cell phone so the head office can check in with them when they’re on a job.

The Halifax area has proven a good city to develop the business and work out the kinks, and now Clean Simple is looking to enter another mid-sized city, this time in Ontario. The candidates are Ottawa, London and Waterloo.

Clean Simple for now plans to avoid the large cities like Toronto as there is already a competing service targeting the world major metropolises. Brown believes the cities with 200,000 to 500,000 citizens present an attractive market that is allowing the company to grow.

And growing it is.

“Last week, we had more booking in one day than we had in an entire week a month ago,” he said.