After your last class of the day, imagine entering your dorm to reveal items strewn about the floor, a cluttered desk, and a mild stench left behind from your last meal. Many Pace students can relate to this reality, including freshman business management student Nick Skjeveland, who saw this untidiness as an opportunity to form a new student-run business.
“My inspiration was definitely having roommates, or just other people in general, and going into their rooms to see the mess they had,” Skjeveland said. He adds that the “inconvenience of the laundry” further motivated him to pursue a cleaning company, as many students “don’t have enough time or space with how many laundry machines we have.”
In the first week of September, Skjeveland pitched his idea to Dr. Kathryn Winsted, the Director of the Center for Student Enterprise. While hesitant at first, Dr. Winsted is now fully invested in Pace Cleans.
Pace Cleans provides laundry, room cleaning, and car washes to residential students, commuters, and faculty alike, offering services on both a one-time and subscription basis. Skjeveland and his managerial team chose these services, as well as times of day, locations, and costs, based on a survey conducted in the fall.
Before beginning any service, customers must sign a waiver, agreeing to liabilities and the tasks Pace Cleans staff will be completing.
“It’s basically granting us access to your rooms,” Skjeveland describes. “It tells you that we will be locking the door on the way out. We will need permission and you [at least one person] will have to be there to let us in. All roommates and suitemates will have to sign-off, because we’ll be going into the area.”
Staff work in teams of two, and are equipped with masks, gloves, and uniforms during all cleanings. Room services take place between 12 and 3 p.m. and last approximately 20 minutes. Customers can expect staff to make beds, sweep, sanitize furniture, dispose of trash, and organize items. Any items that don’t have a clear place will be left on residents’ beds.
For bathroom cleanings, Pace Cleans will disinfect toilets and showers, wipe down mirrors and sinks, mop floors, and dispose of trash.
Laundry is outsourced to The Laundry Room, a laundromat located in Ossining, NY and managed by Pace senior Jared Geller. To have this service done, customers simply place their laundry outside their rooms in provided laundry bags, which will then be picked up by staff around 10 a.m. on Wednesdays. It will then be returned to residents’ rooms the following Thursday at 11 a.m.
Skjeveland reasons, “we were never considering using the machines in the residence halls because the issue that most people run into is that they’re not open, and that there’s not enough. It would also be very inconvenient to the rest of the residents.”
Students and staff can also have their cars cleaned, including commuters. After providing the make, model, license plate, and location of the vehicle (must be on campus), Pace Cleans staff will go to the car to begin service. Lasting 15 minutes between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., car cleanings include the use of a waterless solution and microfiber cloth to clean the car’s exterior. For interior work, the car must be unlocked so that staff can vacuum and use interior detailer to wipe down inside surfaces.
Pace Cleans will only be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. According to Skjeveland, this is “strictly because of the pilot.” However, he optimistically notes, “we plan on opening in the fall for seven days a week at approximately six hour shifts a day. And the time will be adjusted based on how the pilot goes.”
Skjeveland also explained that certain services have specific hours of operation “because it would be sending our teams to all different places at once. When it’s residence time, we want to keep our team in the section of campus with all the residence halls. And then when it’s the car window hour, the team will be bouncing around to different parking lots, and we’ll be able to bring just the supplies for that hour for the cars needed.”
Students and faculty with security and confidentiality concerns can also rest assured that their personal belongings will be protected with Pace Cleans.
“Unless we hire an RA, we do not have to report alcohol, tobacco, or any damages,” says Skjeveland. “The only thing that we have to report is damages that are concerning, or safety issues that are concerning. If there’s something broken, we’re just going to let the students know they should put in a work report.”
Any customers who are still concerned with security are welcome to stay as staff cleans. Pace Cleans will also be relying on hallway security cameras, before and after pictures of residence hall spaces, bathrooms, and cars, and a video or picture of staff locking the door to ensure personal property is protected.
However, in the event that something is broken, Pace Cleans is prepared to face liability. As part of the waiver, “if something minor, like an accident, happened, it will not be liable to [Pace Cleans]. But if something big and important breaks, we will be liable for it.”
Customers can be relieved knowing that Pace Cleans will not be up charging for excessive messiness. As Skjeveland explains, “if we said ‘No’ to too big of a mess, then what’s the point of our service?”
Students and faculty with allergies and other specific cleaning needs can also make these requests in the “Special Instructions” section of Pace Cleans’ Shopify checkout process, or on an identification tag for laundry services. The Pace Cleans website lists all products that will be used in a service, and it is on the customer to identify allergens in those products that must be requested not to be used.
This summer, Pace Cleans will be advertising their services at orientation for parents and incoming freshmen. Skjeveland explained, “We want the subscriptions to be marketed to the parents. Because it’s just the service at a 15% discount added up weekly, and for parents to see the services we provide, see how beneficial it is, see what price it is, it will be very reasonable and encouraging for the parents to buy.”
He also hopes Pace Cleans will become more affordable for students by conducting more surveys to get price-specific opinions. In addition, although Flex Dollars are not a current payment option, he can see it as a possibility to reach even more of Pace.
In the future, Skjeveland hopes to expand the business to include an in-person location, collaborate with other student-run businesses, and market themselves at athletics games. In addition, he hopes to grow the staff by 10-15 students in the fall to provide greater flexibility for customers.
“I see Pace Cleans in ten years as very popular, very marketed, very known, and a reason why people come to Pace University. I hope me and the rest of the senior management team can look back and say, ‘We created that,’ and it’s still progressing just as much as when it first started.”
Pace Cleans’ pilot will run from April 13th to May 13th. Services can be booked at pacecleans.com, and can be reached on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook @pacecleans.