When it comes to clean living, Lodi company means business
A new Lodi company is on a mission to clean up the city.
Clearview SoftWash is an outdoor cleaning and sanitizing company affiliated with SoftWash Systems, which trains and supplies businesses. The service washes and sanitizes building exteriors and roofs, windows, gutters, solar panels, sidewalks and playground equipment.
Clearview offers an alternative to traditional pressure washing, which can erode surfaces.
“(We were interested in SoftWash) because you didn’t have to possibly damage the surface to clean it,” Clearview owner Kelly King said.
The Clearview process starts with basic cleaning. First, workers clean surfaces with soap and water in order to remove layers of dirt and grime. Then, a layer of sodium hypochlorite is left on the surface to dry, which sanitizes it. The amount sprayed complies with the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, King said.
King said he and his colleagues are trained in three main concepts: cleaning, disinfecting and sanitization. Each has their own definition and process, and should not be confused with “sterilization,” which is utilized in medical practices such as hospitals and dentist offices.
According to King, sanitization “lowers the number of germs on a surface or objects to a safe level, judged by public standard,” a definition he jotted down in his notes during a SoftWash training.
Clearview’s SoftWash sanitizing truck has a built-in unit, which can wash up to a 100,000-square-foot surface. Clearview and No Moss, Inc., another SoftWash Systems-certified washer in Elk Grove, work closely together and are able to combine their services and equipment for larger jobs.
The SoftWash Systems certification allows King’s staff to continue to study and attend multiple trainings on the network’s procedures for using sanitizing chemicals and equipment.
“Each employee has to earn their own credits and it’s cumulative with the business. Our company has to earn these to stay certified,” King said.
Clearview also works with a series of third-party companies, such as background checkers and remote answering services. Background checks are handled in this way for accountability, since Clearview often works on homes and private properties, King said.
So far, the business has reached out to Lodi and surrounding cities, hoping to clean and sanitize public areas. King has received inquiries from Modesto about playgrounds, and Galt about concrete surfaces.
He hopes to get business from local cities for regular playground cleanings once the coronavirus pandemic is under control and play areas are open again. He has even reached out to the City of Lodi in hopes of being able to regularly sanitize city playgrounds once they’re back in use.
Other SoftWash affiliates have been washing and sanitizing stadium seats in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, King said. He would like Clearview to take on similar work, since they have the capabilities, he said.