The values SteamMaster Restoration and Cleaning uphold align with the Better Business Bureau’s eight standards for trust.
SteamMaster’s BRIER values of Balance, Responsibility, Integrity, Excellence and Results reflect BBB’s focus on building trust in the marketplace by telling the truth, being transparent, honoring promises, and being responsive.
“The acronym itself is a testament of trustworthiness and integrity, everything we are about as a company,” said Raj Manickam, CEO and co-owner of SteamMaster with Matt Monica, president. “Our credibility works hand-in-hand with what they stand for.”
SteamMaster, founded in Minturn, Colorado, in 1978, joined the BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming in 2000, earning the Torch Award for Ethics in 2014. The company, which serves nine mountain counties in Colorado, focuses on restoration and specialty cleaning for its residential and commercial customers.
The company provides 24-hour emergency response for water, sewer backup, fire and smoke damage, hard surface cleaning and restoration. The hard surface work involves stripping, cleaning, honing, diamond grinding, power washing and polishing hard surfaces like marble, flagstone, tile and grout. Its other services include carpet cleaning and remediation work for real estate transfers to ensure homes pass inspection.
“We’re really good with hard surfaces,” Manickam said. “We can make them look brand new.”
SteamMaster follows service ethics of being ready, willing and able to respond to requests, making sure staff are on call 24-7 on a rotating basis.
“People know us and people trust us. Trust is a big word with us,” Manickam said. “We have the longevity, integrity and background to do the work.”
When new employees come on board—right now, there are 25 to 28—they learn about the company’s service ethics and BRIER values, the basis of the company’s mission and vision and the “hallmark of who we are as a company,” Manickam said.
“Our slogan is we’re not perfect, but we sure are going to try,” Manickam said. “That attempt to live up to our values is noble.”
Balance means encouraging employees to work hard, taking pride in completing work with knowledge and competency, but also ensuring time for their personal interests and allowing them to enjoy why they are in a mountain town. For instance, SteamMaster might buy a ski pass for avid skiers and give them time off for powder days.
Integrity involves doing the work customers entrust to SteamMaster, while Excellence means access to further education and certification in industry-specific programs to improve skills and earn promotions. Results are what the company hands over to clients, customers, property managers and caretakers if the work is done right.
“BRIER is embedded in our day-to-day,” Manickam said. “At SteamMaster, people are dependable and experienced, so their work is really, really good. … Excellence enhances our knowledge and the processes we use. And the honesty shows back in our integrity.”
SteamMaster takes care of its staff, providing four affordable employee housing units in the building. Employees can stay as long as they need to as long as they work for the company, and if they leave, the unit opens up for the next new employee who wants it.
The company has had as many as 48 employees before the 2008 to 2009 recession, right-sizing to half that number as business slowed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company kept its staff, able to provide disinfecting cleanup work at businesses.
“We survived both major downturns,” Manickam said.
Manickam, who joined the company 18 years ago after working in banking for 15 years, purchased the majority of it as a principal partner in August 2022. He and Monica took over ownership from the founders, Gary Gilman, and his wife, Julie Stoxen, with Gilman now serving as an advisor to the company.
Manickam started out as an administrative project manager, later becoming the CEO and, in 2016, a partial owner. He also is an award-winning professional photographer through his company, All in Good Light, with several exhibits in Denver.
“In a small business, all the energies you put in it can be seen in the results out of the outcomes,” Manickam said.
Manickam considers SteamMaster to be a good representation of what the BBB embodies, he said.
“The Better Business Bureau is a place where they represent better businesses,” Manickam said. “They have specific standards. We strive to meet those standards ourselves because of BRIER. … Our standards work hand in hand with their credibility. Honesty and integrity is paramount.”
To become a BBB Accredited business requires meeting the organization’s standards and values, something customers see when they search for the services they need, Manickam said. The BBB provides “local recognition” in those searches, he said.
“The Torch Award for Ethics really brings us work. The word ‘ethics’ shows we’re an ethical company,” Manickam said. “In our industry, it’s very tough—the industry is known for high prices, and also some stigma that comes with it, and here (we) are, an ethics award winner. The differentiating factor gives us leverage and exposure.”
SteamMaster has received multiple other awards including Business of the Year two times but considers the Torch Award for Ethics to be the highest honor, Manickam said.
“We take this to be the highest honor because of the word ‘ethics.’ That speaks volumes about us as a company,” Manickam said.