This stood out to Steve! Rarely had he ever encountered someone who would suggest something like that. Later that year, at Christmas dinner, Steve began speaking with his brother-in-law, Richard Amador, who was discussing how poor the construction industry was. Rich was interested in pursuing something else for work, when Steve told him about the conversation he had with Jerry about starting a kitchen exhaust cleaning company. Steve asked Rich if he would enjoy this new venture together and they agreed to pray on it.

After a few weeks, Steve and Rich decided to move forward with the hood cleaning company plan. Steve had a credit limit of $20,000 and Rich had a 2002 Dodge 2500 family van. Thus, Dependable Hood & Duct Cleaning Company, LLC was formed in February 2009. Jerry helped out, as promised, but not with Asian cuisine customers. Jerry introduced them to Joe Dunn with Dunnwell Company, a national management company for the larger restaurant chains, colleges, and venues. After six years of kitchen exhaust cleaning, they decided it was time to diversify.

In 2014, Steve began buying products through KEC Supplies and made friends with the owner, Jason Wellman. They would talk at length about business and found each other to be a good, rare friend in a pretty lonely industry. Over the next two years, Jason talked a lot about his filter exchange business, FilterShine USA. This was the exact opportunity Steve and Rich were looking for to diversity the business. In July 2016, they sent Jason the down payment for the New England territory and in October 2017 had their FilterShine New England operation installed.

They began servicing their first FilterShine customer in early December 2017. They took the next eighteen months to convert their existing and new Dependable Hood customers to include their new FilterShine Exchange program. Due to the EPA’s increased interest in the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry, specifically the mishandling of contaminated gray water released into the environment, they have taken a proactive approach to protect the environment, customers, and the companies’ exposure to this liability.

Dependable’s future goals include expanding the FilterShine New England operation into the city of Boston in hopes of building a strong, successful route down the I-93 corridor. They hope to have between four and six New Hampshire & Maine routes, with another six to eight Massachusetts routes, and three to four Sprinter Vans with eight to twelve FilterShine employees. They also anticipate having two to three full-time hood cleaning crews comprised of their signature three-man work crews with an office staff of eight to ten. Over the next three to five years, they are looking at purchasing land to build an industrial flex building to move their operations. Steve hopes to sublet to other trades to diversify, while simultaneously creating an exit plan for Steve and Rich to retire while their sons take over the family business.