Maid in Battle Creek expands into Maid in Kalamazoo

Editor’s note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s  On the Ground Battle Creek series.

Darcy Petersen started Maid in Battle Creek with a mop, bucket, and a caddy that held her supplies. Now, three years later, she has expanded into Kalamazoo, has a team of seven employees, and a new name for her cleaning company — Maid in Battle Creek & Maid in Kalamazoo. She recently took some time to be interviewed by On the Ground Battle Creek about her business and how she’s getting it done.

Q. When did you start your company?

A.  I started in April 2023 in Battle Creek and launched the Kalamazoo branch in January 2026. My daughter is operating our Kalamazoo business. So far, she’s doing the cleaning jobs. We’ll add more employees as business picks up, similar to what we did in Battle Creek.

Q.  What made you decide to start your own business?

A.  I lived in Kalamazoo for one year. During that time, I worked a couple days a week for a girl who owned a small cleaning company. In 2023, I moved to Battle Creek with my future husband, and I asked him what I was going to do for work. He suggested that I start my own cleaning company. I started doing research, created a website and logo, and launched it. Because I worked for that other cleaning company in Kalamazoo, I knew the software used for client communication and scheduling, and also payroll. I’m kind of big on doing research myself.

Q.  What did the first few months look like?

A.  I went to a couple of apartment complexes to clean units they were turning over, and from there, it just took off. I was doing work for businesses and commercial clients. In June, I hired my first employee. She and I would go out on cleaning jobs together.

By July, I’d hired another employee, so I had a team of two girls going out on jobs while my husband and I cleaned in the evening for commercial clients. He worked for the Michigan State Police during that time period. I ran the company by myself, and he started helping with the equipment and vehicles. He retired from MSP in 2025 and came on board full-time.

Q.  What were you doing for work before Maid in Battle Creek?

A.  Prior to this, I was an Internet influencer. I did make-up and hair live on Facebook and TikTok and was an ambassador for different companies. When my kids were younger, I worked at their school and was also a dental assistant on and off for many years.

Q.  What does your client portfolio look like?

A.  About 60 percent of our business is commercial, and 40 percent is residential. Our commercial clients include Allro Steel, Westrock, Gallagher Uniform, Franklin Iron & Metal, Behnke Trucking, and Grace Health.

Q. How many jobs do your cleaning teams do per day?

A.  We average five commercial and residential clients per day. We have day shifts and night shifts. On average, in Battle Creek, one crew does three because they start out every morning at Grace Health at two different buildings. Whole day isn’t just three houses. We do a lot of hallways at apartment complexes.

Q.  How long does it take to clean a house?

A.  We can do an average-sized home in 1 ½ hours. The cleaners who work for our company are on a time schedule. When I quote a job, I know how long it should take. They also have to be at the next client at a certain time. They have a timer app on their phones.

We do a maintenance clean every week or every two weeks. Sometimes places are dirtier than the last time we were there, so it may take more time. For a deep clean, I may send four of them in there.

Q.  Do you still clean?

A.  Only if I have to.

Q.  Are there cleaning jobs you won’t take?

A.  I’ve done walk-throughs and wouldn’t take the job because I would not send my employees into a place like that. There have also been people or neighborhoods that I don’t feel comfortable in. I have quite a few people who have asked if we remove garbage or hoarder-type people. We don’t do organization for people. We don’t do cleanup for animals inside homes. This all narrows our clientele.

Q.  Do you have challenges finding employees?

A.  We don’t have difficulty with people applying. We do have difficulty finding people we feel would be a good fit. Most people want full-time instead of part-time, but we pay on a higher scale, and I think that makes a difference. We want people who want to grow with the company and stay with us.

Q.  How do you vet your employees?

A.  I don’t do background checks on everybody. We have an advantage because of what my husband (Todd Peterson) did at MSP. He was a Detective Sergeant, and he’s very good at reading someone. Feel like that is an advantage for us. We ask a lot of questions. We’re pretty picky. There’s a probationary period, and if they’re not a good fit, they don’t get hired in.

Q.  What do you attribute your success to?

A.  I think it’s because we are very personable. I knew how important this was at the beginning. A business has to have really good relationships with all their clients, I want them to know that we care about them. I check up on commercial clients during the day. In the Fall, I go around and give everybody donuts, and also pop in on employees to see if they’re doing the job they should be doing.

A lot of cleaning companies just give people a quote. I do walk-throughs, so the person gets to meet me and know about my business and how we do the cleaning.

Another thing people appreciate, especially our commercial clients, is that we don’t require contracts. I don’t feel we should have to require a contract. We’ve never lost a commercial client. We just keep growing.

Q.  Does it surprise you that so many people use cleaning services?

A.  Ever since COVID, many people are working from home. You would think they wouldn’t hire someone to clean their home, but they notice the dirt, and they want it to be clean all of the time. If they work outside the home, they want to come home to a clean house.

Q.  Do you feel like this profession is respected?

A.  I feel like they are overlooked, and what’s crazy to me is that they are such an important part of so many different businesses. Our employees know how important it is to keep the Grace Health buildings clean for patients and employees. Our ‘turnover cleans’ to get apartments ready for new tenants is also important. I think our employees are overlooked and looked down upon.

I always call them my girls. When I hear them say, “Well, I just clean toilets. I say, don’t say that your job is very important.”