Innovation & Technology

Castle Quick → MaidCentral

Co-Founder & Architect - 1994 to Present

In 1994, Tom built a SQL scheduling database for Castle Keepers and called it Castle Quick. It wasn't designed to be a product - it was designed to solve Tuesday morning's scheduling problem. For the next two decades, Castle Quick evolved quietly alongside Castle Keepers. In 2014, Tom brought Mark Reed on board to push it to Microsoft Azure - moving from local servers to a cloud-native architecture capable of serving multiple locations. By 2018, a small group of early operators were using it under license. Tom presented MaidCentral publicly at the ISSA trade show in 2019, then hired the development team full-time in 2020 following COVID-19. Today MaidCentral is the residential cleaning industry's leading business management platform, used by thousands of companies across North America.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Castle Quick SQL database built in 1994 for Castle Keepers
• ✓ Migrated to Microsoft Azure in 2014 with Mark Reed
• ✓ First licensed operators in 2018: Matt Ricketts, Alanzo Adams, Joe Walsh, Laura Smith
• ✓ Publicly launched at ISSA trade show 2019
• ✓ Development team hired full-time winter 2020
• ✓ MaidCentral Pulse (V3) - AI-first architecture launched 2026

Modern Cleaning - Chemical-Free Systems

Co-Founder with Janice Stewart - 2000 to Present

Tom and Janice founded Modern Cleaning in 2000 as a distributor of specialized cleaning equipment built on scientific research - microfiber technology, engineered water systems, and ATP surface testing. Castle Keepers adopted chemical-free cleaning as a standard service, making it one of the first residential cleaning companies to offer it as a core service rather than an upcharge. In 2012, Modern Cleaning formalized this into a paid licensure program: chemical-free technician training, implementation guidance, and a marketing curriculum for companies that wanted to position themselves as chemical-free operators and command higher bill rates. Tom and Janice also co-wrote the definitive book on the methodology - Modern Cleaning: The Evolution of Chemical Free Cleaning (2011).

Key Contributions

• ✓ Co-founded with Janice Stewart in 2000
• ✓ Microfiber, engineered water, and ATP testing as core protocols
• ✓ Castle Keepers as the first proof-of-concept operation
• ✓ Formal licensure program launched 2012
• ✓ Co-authored Modern Cleaning book (2011)
• ✓ moderncleaning.com

Cleaning Business Today

Co-Founder & Founding Editor - 2012 to Present

Tom co-founded Cleaning Business Today in 2012 with Derek Christian to fill a genuine gap in the industry: commercial-facing trade publications were common, but almost none of their content addressed the realities of running a residential house cleaning company. The journal launched its first edition on April 1, 2013, in digital flipbook format, featuring articles from industry experts and a regular column from cleaning legend Don Aslett. As Founding Editor and CEO, Tom has continued using the publication to cover industry news, business management, leadership, technology, and innovation - including his own Disruptive Innovation Summit, presented at ISSA in 2014 and again a decade later. Cleaning Business Today remains an active publication serving residential cleaning business owners today, guided by the return of Editor-in-Chief CeCe Mikell in 2025.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Co-founded with Derek Christian in 2012
• ✓ First edition published April 1, 2013 - digital flipbook format
• ✓ Featured industry experts and columnist Don Aslett
• ✓ Ongoing coverage of industry news, leadership, and innovation
• ✓ Founding Editor and CEO - cleaningbusinesstoday.com
• ✓ Editor-in-Chief CeCe Mikell returned to lead the publication in 2025

Disruptive Innovation Summit at ISSA

Pioneer & Co-Host - 2014 (Inaugural) & 2024 (10th Anniversary)

Tom pioneered the inaugural Disruptive Innovation Summit at the ISSA Convention in Orlando in 2014 - a forward-looking event focused on how technology would change the competitive forces in the house cleaning industry. (The original name was going to be the "Disruptive Technology Summit," but that was softened.) The Summit brought in live speakers including Marco Zappacosta of Thumbtack, whose platform was redefining how consumers found service providers. Ten years later, Tom returned to the ISSA Convention in 2024 to host the 10th anniversary edition - this time covering AI, automation, and marketplace consolidation trends that have fundamentally altered the industry landscape since 2014.

Key Contributions

• ✓ Pioneered the Summit concept at ISSA Convention 2014, Orlando
• ✓ Featured live speaker Marco Zappacosta of Thumbtack
• ✓ First industry event focused on competitive technology disruption
• ✓ Returned for 10th anniversary edition at ISSA 2024
• ✓ Covered AI, automation, and marketplace consolidation

MCA Live · MaidCentral Strategy Summit · Profit Bootcamp

Education Platforms - 2022 to Present

MCA Live launched in 2022 as MaidCentral's dedicated education platform - focused not just on how to use the software, but how to use it to measurably increase revenue and profit. The MaidCentral Strategy Summit (2025) went further: a multi-day event modeled on major industry conferences but focused exclusively on owners and leaders. The inaugural Summit was the first major cleaning industry conference to be fully livestreamed from the live event. Profit Bootcamp (2026) is the next evolution - an intensive, results-focused program that turns MaidCentral proficiency directly into measurable financial improvement.

Key Contributions

• ✓ MCA Live launched 2022 - software + business education
• ✓ Strategy Summit 2025 - first fully livestreamed cleaning industry conference
• ✓ Focused exclusively on owners and business leaders
• ✓ Profit Bootcamp 2026 - intensive financial performance program
• ✓ academy.maidcentral.com and toolbox.maidcentral.com

Professional Cleaning Index (PCI)

Founder - Monthly Benchmark Report, 2025

Tom launched the Professional Cleaning Index in 2025 - the first standardized monthly benchmark report for the residential cleaning industry. The PCI tracks key operational and financial metrics, giving cleaning business owners real data to compare their performance against industry peers. Each monthly edition is accompanied by a live webinar. It's the kind of industry infrastructure that only gets built when someone has been inside the industry long enough to know what operators actually need to measure - and has access to the aggregated platform data to make it meaningful.

Key Contributions

• ✓ First-ever monthly benchmark report for residential cleaning
• ✓ Tracks 12 core KPIs including Revenue Per Technician Per Day
• ✓ Developed through MaidCentral's aggregated operator data
• ✓ Monthly publication + live companion webinar
• ✓ Gives operators real comparative performance data