MANSFIELD – Taylor Steamer Cleaning and Restoration is a company that is heavily invested in the city of Mansfield.
So much so, that owner Matt Walter has spent his entire life in the same home on Rock Road. It’s the same house he grew up in, and later purchased as an adult for him and his family.
“I love Mansfield,” Matt said with a laugh. “I never plan on moving.”
After graduating from Mansfield Christian high school, Matt Walter worked for a handful of landscaping and excavating companies in the area before becoming self-employed as a sub-contractor. From there, Matt picked up a real estate career starting his first business venture which he still runs today.
In 2007 Matt and his wife Andrea purchased Taylor Steamer from the Taylor family, who first started the business in 1996. Since then, Matt has grown the services of the company to add water, fire and mold damage mitigation and restoration as well as air duct cleaning.
At the beginning of 2016, Matt added his cousin Benjamin Walter to the Taylor Steamer team as the office manager. A Lexington native, Ben has worked sales and management jobs primarily before starting with his cousin.
“I quit my previous job because I was not happy, I went home and told my wife I was going to start working with Matt the next day,” Ben said. “Five minutes later I get a call from Matt, just after six o’clock at night…we’re going out on a water job let’s go.”
“I wanted to see how bad he wanted to work,” Matt said with a laugh.
Currently, Taylor Steamer employs four team members, all of whom are certified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Two team members, including Ben Walter, are veterans of the U.S. Army having served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Despite their small team, Taylor Steamer provides services throughout Richland County and the surrounding areas. For some years, Matt was running the business as a one-man operation before slowly bringing on more cleaning technicians.
“With Ben coming on, he’s helping out with the day to day operations. I hate the office,” Matt said laughing.
“He just took on too much,” Ben said. “He has a hard time letting go because he has high standards that have to be met. For about the last year we have been working on systematizing the business, so the quality of work is consistent at all times. It’s hard changing your mindset, going from a small shop into a business mentality.”
Taylor Steamer first started out as carpet cleaning experts, then moved to tile and grout cleaning and odor control as well as protector applications. Later, restoration and emergency services were added for water, fire and mold damage.
Water damage services are a 24/7 emergency service; that was added in 2009, providing water extraction as well as structure drying including baseboard and drywall removal and drying. Then in 2011 the water damage restoration was added based on customer need.
“As a carpet cleaning company, when you get these massive floods in the area customers are calling for water extraction,” Matt said. “As I got more educated in the industry, there’s quite a bit work left behind after the damage has is stopped. That’s where the restoration comes in.”
“It’s a natural progression in the industry,” Ben added. “If you’re doing water extraction, you need to take care of the water damage as well. The top service would be biohazard cleanup, which we look forward to taking on in the coming years.”
Though Taylor Steamer continues to grow in services, both Matt and Ben are in no hurry to expand their staff rapidly. In fact, according to the pair, cleaning services work better with a smaller team.
“When you get too big, you lose some of the quality control,” Ben said.
Luckily, the Taylor Steamer team is perfectly happy to add to the landscape of small businesses in downtown Mansfield. The company regularly provides in-kind services to area businesses like Richland Carrousel Park and the Renaissance Theater.
“Mansfield has been my hometown all my life, and I hate seeing towns decline,” Matt said. “I know we’re just a small business, and I wish I could bring more business to the area, but I am glad we can supply some jobs and be something that contributes to the community.”
