Celebrating 20 Years of phClean on Hello Iowa

A few Wednesdays ago, our founder Sara traded her usual jeans and a phClean polo for a studio full of blue light, a stool that didn’t quite touch the floor, and a conversation with WHO 13’s Megan Reuther. The segment aired on Hello Iowa, and it’s a good excuse to tell the story behind it.

Watch the segment: Take Housecleaning Off Your Plate — Hello Iowa

Twenty years ago, Sara was cleaning homes herself out of a kitchen table in Ames. No corporate backing, no franchise playbook, just an ISU degree she was still finishing, a young daughter at home, and a decision to do the work well enough that people would call back. They did. Then they told their neighbors. That’s still how most of our clients find us.

The Ames office came first in 2006. Ankeny followed in 2014. West Des Moines joined in 2023. Along the way, phClean grew into three offices, 80-plus technicians, and more than 1,100 Google reviews from central Iowa families who let us into their homes every two weeks, year after year. We’ve never taken that lightly. Letting someone in your front door takes trust, and trust is the whole job.

Sitting across from Megan on set, Sara got to talk about what actually changes when a family stops fighting with their to-do list and starts handing the cleaning off. Not just a tidier kitchen. A Saturday that’s actually a Saturday. A little more patience left over by dinnertime. That’s the part of this business that never gets old, twenty years in.

We’re proud of twenty years in Iowa. Not a franchise, not a platform, just the same local company that started with one client and a kitchen table, still led by the person who started it. Thank you to every family who trusted us with their home, every technician who showed up and did it right, and every neighbor who told a friend to call us. Twenty years is your doing as much as ours.

A small thank-you for the next twenty:
In honor of our 20th anniversary, new clients get 20% off their initial deep clean when they sign up for ongoing service. Call us at 515-715-4389 or visit phclean.net to get started. We’re in Ames, Ankeny, and West Des Moines, and we’d love to make your day shine.