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A power washing drone being tested by PowerWash.com, a 51-year-old Fort Worth company that started life as RHASCO Cleaning Systems. (Courtesy photo | PowerWash.com)
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Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here. 

Contact information:

PowerWash.com

2313 Cold Springs Road

Fort Worth 76106

Phone: 800-433-2113

PowerWash.com, a subsidiary of Delux Cleaning Supply Inc., is based in Fort Worth and offers equipment and supplies including detergents for all aspects of power washing, including truck washing, kitchen hood exhaust cleaning, house washing, concrete cleaning, wood restoration, awning cleaning and more. The company also provides comprehensive hands-on and online training for industry professionals with its own PowerWash Academy through the Washaholic Program. Business editor Bob Francis spoke with CEO Christopher Blann and Frederick Reynolds, marketing director. 

Bob Francis: How was the company founded? 

Frederick Reynolds: The company was founded in 1973 by Robert Hinderliter as RHASCO Cleaning Systems. The company was later purchased by his son, Michael Hinderliter in 2010, who changed the name to PowerWash.com. 

Francis: Tell us about your company and how it came together.

Christopher Blann: Robert Hinderliter had been a mobile power washing contractor for 10 years when he recognized an opportunity to sell and repair pressure washing equipment. He passed away last year. When he got out of the Air Force, he was looking for what he was going to do to feed his family. He was an entrepreneur at heart. He found that contract cleaning was underserved and undervalued.

He saw there were pressure washers and people doing contract work, but there was really no training, no service. It was mainly just a lot of independents. So he thought to start a company that sold equipment, supplies, service and training to contract cleaners. He was one of the first people to put training videos on VHS tapes and sell them trying to teach people the right way to do it, and how to be a professional and how to price their jobs, how to start and run a company. That was his life’s work. He helped start the nonprofit trade association, Power Washers of North America as a founding member.

Francis: What makes PowerWash.com different from other companies? 

Blann: We serve people all over North America that are either getting into the business or that happen to be in the business. We train them, not with VHS tapes or DVDs anymore, but a full learning management system that’s customizable. People can sign up and learn online or they can come here for classes that we give right here in Fort Worth on Cold Springs Road. 

We train them and get them into the business or we train their employees. We also provide all the equipment and chemicals to do their jobs efficiently and cost effectively. Because the name of the game is to do the job at hand and do it very well and do it very efficiently. A lot of people make millions of dollars in this business. 

The company also provides power washing services in the area and in different specialities, such as kitchen exhaust system cleaning. 

It has also been demonstrating how to use drones for power washing, particularly in places it can be used to make the job site safer. 

The thing that this company has done all along is be an innovator. The drone stuff is kind of the next generation of what’s coming down the pike. You can use drones for power washing, and really increase safety. The way it’s done now, if you’ve got a church steeple or a big dome or a water tank that needs cleaning, you’ve got to get a cherry picker and bring your crew up into the air for five to 10 stories. Inherently there’s some risk in that and the drones kind of solve that problem. We’ve tried at PowerWash.com to be at the forefront of technology. 

In the next few years, power washing will likely become more automated and we’ll be there. 

Reynolds: We recently unveiled its latest innovation to help companies comply with California’s recently enacted small off-road engine (SORE) regulations, a high-performance, commercial grade, fully electric hot water pressure and soft washing integrated system.

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.