Stat Cleaning Services, Gastonia

After a career as a highway patrolman and corrections officer, David Masters opened Stat Cleaning Services as a side business in 1985. David attributes the business's success to meticulous work and personal attention, two qualities he says scored him a job cleaning 200,000 square feet of carpets in two related office buildings. That was the job that spurred David to retire from police work to focus on carpet cleaning full-time.

In each session, a two-person team purges carpets using a truck-mounted system that brings only an extractor and a connecting hose into the client's home. The extractor forces steam between carpet fibers to pull out deeply embedded debris, such as pet hair, crumbs, and long-lost Scrabble tiles, leaving carpets dry less than two hours later. The same heat extraction also purifies tile and upholstery. A special enzyme solution is also available for purchase, which works to break down the bacteria created by pet stains and prevent their odor from lingering.

Each cleaning team checks the quality of their work and ensures customer satisfaction before leaving the premises. In the event that a problem does occur, customers need not worry about wading through tiers of customer service reps, managers, and machine intelligences for a resolution; David answers almost every phone call himself.