Operating across the United States, AdvantaClean
has specialized in keeping homes and businesses
free from water damage and mold since 1994.
With 225 locations in 33 states,
this $50-million-a-year business
is led by one man.
I'm Jeff Dudan.
I'm the CEO and founder of AdvantaClean.
At AdvantaClean, we perform light environmental services
that make homes and buildings clean, safe, healthy,
and energy-efficient.
A lot of our business is centered
around moisture and water
getting in places where it doesn't belong,
causing mold to grow,
and we have to go tough places to do the job.
We work in attics, basements, crawlspaces.
Occasionally, we'll deal with raw sewage
that has backed up into a home or a business.
Sometimes a customer's number two
is our number one priority.
I grew up in Schaumburg, Illinois.
To be honest, when I was growing up,
I wasn't thinking too far ahead.
My grades were horrible, and I played receiver
for the varsity football team.
From there, I was able to earn a scholarship
off to Appalachian State University
in Boone, North Carolina.
Appalachian State was really a turning point for me.
Number one, I met my wife, Tracy.
Number two, I became serious about my schoolwork,
and at the end of the day,
I graduated with honors with a business degree.
After that, I worked in the painting industry,
construction industry,
and then in 1992,
Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.
You can see Hurricane Andrew's power.
Just look at that satellite dish behind me.
It's been completely pummeled by Andrew's fury.
I had a partner in a painting business
in Boone, North Carolina.
We went down to see if there were people
that we could help recover from the hurricane.
It's an indescribable feeling
to come home and find everything
that you own just destroyed.
There's nothing I could do anymore.
All my life savings...
It was a complete disaster down there.
People had significant damage to their homes.
They had lost their roof.
The homes were soaked with water.
There just was not enough contractors
to get around, so we were able
to secure some projects on our own,
and we were able to make a lot of contacts,
touch a lot of people,
and learn a lot all at the same time.
When I was helping somebody else,
in addition to getting paid for the job,
it made me feel good,
and, quite frankly, I never get tired of that.
Being right out of school
and getting thrown into Hurricane Andrew
in South Florida was a bit
of an eye-opener about this industry
and the potential for business.
I saw an opportunity
inside of this industry to make a career,
and that was the genesis of AdvantaClean.
In 1994, we opened our first location
in Winter Park, Florida,
and then in 1996,
there were Hurricanes Bertha and Fran
on the coast of North Carolina,
so we opened an office in Wilmington.
And then in 2004,
three hurricanes crisscrossed the state of Florida,
and we did about $4.2 million
in water damage in 90 days.
In 2005, we responded to Hurricane Katrina,
and we ended up working in the Gulf Coast
for five years.
In 2009, we started offering franchises,
and since then, we've grown to over 225 locations
in 33 states,
and it's an awesome thing to see.
My wife, Tracy, and I got married in 1995.
We've got three children.
We have almost an abusively competitive family.
Is that what you were shooting for, that tree?
Whatever it is, we're always competing with one another.
That's what we're looking for.
And none of us like to lose.
Pull.
If you hit one more, you beat me.
- Oh! - Two-zip. I mean 2-2.
It's good.
All right. Let's go.
- Start with work, end with... - Work.
- One, two, three. - Start.
All right. Let's go.
I've coached at least 30 seasons
of my children's athletics.
Work, work, work.
What I really learned inside of coaching
was, I felt myself
getting better as a business leader.
Good, Jack. Good, Jack. Good, Jack. Good, Jack.
I think there's a very competitive nature,
and business has a natural scoreboard to it.
It's revenues, and it's profits.
Switch it up.
The difference is,
is that you are playing
with people's livelihoods in business,
so it is critically important
that you win on the business scoreboard
at the end of the day.
- One, two, three. - Team.
All right. Let's break it up.
So can you go around the arm this way?
Um, yeah, we could do this one around the arm.
I've built this business in such a way
that the home office provides great support,
and there's a playbook for the franchise owners
to follow so that they can be successful
in their local markets.
So I'm looking for consistent execution
against our playbook.
Are they showing up with passion?
Are they engaging the customers in such a way
that we're gonna be able to win that project
and meet that customer's expectations?
When I go undercover, I want to find out
if our owners are building teams
at the point of attack that can win.
Can we grab that facial hair real quick
and see what that looks like?
Yeah.
I will be going undercover
as Dusty, the hipster dude,
Southern California-type guy.
Going undercover is going to be a blast.
I can't wait to do it.
Today I'm in Greenville, South Carolina,
and I'm gonna be working with a mold remediation tech.
Mold remediation is a process
where we physically remove the mold from a property.
We've got to get down and dirty,
and we got to go where the mold grows...
crawlspaces, attics, basements.
Mold remediation is a big service line
for AdvantaClean, and it's something
that a lot of our franchise owners do the most.
It's important for me to get into these places
just to see, how hard are we working,
and are we getting the job done right?
- Hello. - Yeah?
Yeah. I'm looking for Barry. Hey.
- What's up with you, chief? - I'm Dusty.
- Hi. Barry, man. - How are you?
- Absolutely. - Oh, yeah.
I'm gonna be working with you today.
Oh, yeah, that's perfectly fine with me.
The bigger, the better, that's what I always say.
Yeah? That's a small hole right there.
Oh, no. It ain't... Nah, nah, nah.
Been in ones way tighter than that,
about the size of your shoulders...
- Okay. - Trying to slide and fit into.
But it's not really too bad to be in there.
I've got plenty of big guys on my team,
but seeing somebody muscle-bound,
and he's, like, 250...
he looked like a mini-cub,
like a little mini-bear, man.
Now, we just gonna wipe down all the mold,
which is basically putting a solution
on these subfloors, the wires,
the HV system.
Make sure we wipe everything.
We're gonna make sure that they
are clean from up underneath.
So if you want to, you can throw this on.
You got your little respirator, your gloves.
You can throw that on. Throw this on.
I'm gonna grab some duct tape so I can wrap
- your arms up for you. - Okay.
I've done this work before,
but quite frankly, it's been a long time.
It's gonna be hot and dirty,
so I'm not exactly sure how I'm gonna handle it.
I'm gonna do my best to keep up with you.
So what you... any kids?
- Me? - Yeah. Any kids or anything?
I've got... I've got two.
Oh, man. That's great.
- I just... I got a... - What about you?
Me and my fiancée, we got a little 17-month-old, man.
Little girl. Her name is Bailey, man.
- Oh, really? - Oh, yes, yes. Beautiful.
So what does this do? This keeps... keeps me safe?
You don't want any spiders or anything climbing in there.
You would be surprised.
I'm telling you, you'd be surprised.
Normally, don't have any insulation down there
because normally... I mean, I'll show you,
some snakes get in there, but normally, if you...
normally, if insulation... put in insulation,
and the snake drop dead on you.
Oh, you'll be all right. It's another day.
- Come on. - Oh, a dead snake?
Yeah, you know. No, no. Sometimes it's alive.
- But you'll be all right. - It's dead.
Snake you can easy move.
A spider?
It can get in the littlest things, man.
So a spider is... it sends chills down my back.
That's the worst... that's the worst thing possible
is a spider.
I've been face-to-face with snakes, spiders,
possums, a few raccoons in there,
you know, dead stuff or alive.
There's some crazy things down there
that you do not want to run into.
- Normally, what we just do is... - Mm-hmm?
- Take the spray gun... - Yeah.
- Nice and wet? - Yep. Nice and wet.
The top, the sides, all of it nice and wet.
You got to watch out for nails and things, right?
Oh, yeah.
So how do I know when it's enough?
Just make sure I hit everything good one time?
- Yep. - Okay. Done with that one?
Yep. Done with that one. Go to the next.
Yes, just like that.
Man, you're like Spider-Man.
Did they teach you this in training?
Oh, yeah. Teach you how to roll? Yep. There you go.
- We have to do this? - Yep.
Ooh, man, there's mold all over this one.
We got a lot of mold here.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's a lot... it's a lot of it back here too.
We'll have to work hard on this one.
Oh, yeah. Like I say, we...
I try to make sure I hit everything,
'cause I think of it like it's my house.
I'm sitting there like I'm protecting somebody...
it's like I'm protecting my house, man.
Yeah.
It's basically my... my superhero.
What's that?
I think of myself as a superhero,
because every day, I'm preventing mold.
So I feel like I'm Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man.
I feel like I'm all of them.
I mean, even though my suit, you know,
ain't as nice as theirs,
but hey, I feel like... I feel like I am, man.
I got to tell you what, though.
After a long day, you'd be worn out. Huh?
Oh, yeah. I love it.
So what's your dream?
Owning my own restoration company.
Oh, really?
This is what I love to do.
Well, Barry, you are outstanding at what you do.
Oh, well, thank you.
And what does your... what's your fiancée do?
- She likes doing hair. - Yeah.
Hopefully, fingers crossed,
fingers crossed, me and my fiancée
will be able to get married in July.
Okay. Cool.
I think you've got this in the bag, bro.
Can you see yourself waking up
and coming outside, doing this?
- Yeah. I'd do this. - Cool.
It's good to hear somebody that's still older, man,
and still like, "You know what? I'll still get down and dirty."
You know what?
Until this minute, I didn't realize I was old.
Oh, sorry.
Barry's a funny guy.
His energy was good.
He appreciates life and what he's doing every day,
and he seems to be in a really good spot.
Yeah.
I don't think I'm gonna move that fast, Barry.
Whoo!
You were in a dungeon all day, right?
- Grab one of those, man. - Thanks.
Take a breather for a second, you know.
I'm thinking about, what would it be like,
you know, to show up every day...
- Oh, yeah. - And crawl down in there...
- Every day. - With snakes and spiders and...
Oh, yeah, I mean, it's an experience, man,
but at the end of the day, it makes you tougher.
- Yeah. - End of the day.
- Need to get it done. - That's it.
I really connected with Barry.
He's very likable, very personable.
He understood that he was there doing an important job.
For you to come and put on my super-suit, man,
and go up under there with me, man,
I take my hat off to you, man.
- Well, thank you. - A lot of people wouldn't.
You ready to go back for a little while?
- Yeah. - You ready to go back?
You want some more? Let's finish it out.
- I like that. - Me first?
- Oh, yeah. - Age before beauty?
Age... you know what? I was just about to say that.
I was... You read my mind.
I was just about to say, "Age before beauty."
It made me feel good
that he appreciated my work ethic today.
That's a sign of a good leader,
because if he shares that enthusiasm with a new employee
that he shared with me today,
they're gonna be as enthused as he is
about doing a good job.
I absolutely believe that there's a future
at AdvantaClean for Barry.
We have lots of opportunities that he can grow into.
It is a beautiful day.
Coming up...
Hey, I'm looking for Danielle.
- Nice to meet you. - It's nice to meet you.
Dusty finds a secret admirer.
All right. Dusty's cute.
- Work me hard. - And later...
How long it take you to grow your beard out there?
The boss' cover gets put to the test.
Man, I've been working on this for months.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
That's crazy, though.
Dusty, you're a funny guy.
Today I'm in Carnation, Washington,
and I'm gonna be working with a lead tech.
A lead tech will be in charge on a job site.
Not only are they responsible to do the work.
They're responsible to supervise and lead others.
I hope to see today
that the lead tech is operating a safe job site
and that they're efficient in what they're doing
and being respectful of the property of the owner.
Hi. Are you Kyle?
- Yeah. - Hey. I'm Dusty.
Hi, Dusty.
- Nice to meet you. - Yeah. Nice to meet you.
Kyle with AdvantaClean, a lead technician.
Awesome. Okay.
So we're gonna be doing a mold remediation
here at this house.
There's water damage with the dishwasher.
We don't know how much the mold has spread,
and so the process that we're gonna do
is set up a containment.
We already got that done for the most part.
All right.
And then we're gonna start doing demolition to the kitchen.
- I like that. - And making sure...
- I like the way that sounds. - Oh, right?
That's the fun part. You came on a good day.
I was extra excited when Kyle mentioned demo...
- You can take these inside. - All right.
'Cause that happens to be one of my particular specialties
when I was working in the business.
So this is where the dishwasher was
and where it started leaking.
Okay.
And it spread throughout this whole area.
So we're just gonna start
by taking these counters off.
Okay.
This was a typical job; they had had a leak
that had been going on for some time.
- So this is a zipper door. - This is cool.
I like the fact they had a nice containment set up.
Paper, then the plastic to double-layer it,
because these are brand-new floors.
They had taken great care to protect the wood floor
in this customer's home, so he's doing a really good job.
Now, how long have you been doing this?
- Three months now. - Oh, so you're a newbie.
- Somewhat, yeah. - Yeah.
Lead technician, though, already.
I was, like, somewhat familiar with this kind of work already,
'cause I used to do construction for years,
and then I stopped doing that,
joined the National Guard, deployed to Afghanistan,
did other stuff, military training, whatnot,
and then came back to this career field
because I think it's good work.
- Right. - All right.
So we'll suit up.
Kyle shared with me that he's a veteran.
What that tells me is, he's had responsibility.
Little tight.
So I'm excited to see how that discipline
and demeanor plays into the job today.
So first up is gonna be taking that sink out.
Okay. Unscrew these things?
Yeah.
Hmm. Kind of a tough reach.
Oh, come on.
I'm a bit of a frustrated tool user,
to be honest with you.
Ah!
Okay.
Trying to get my arm back there,
that was a hassle for me.
How's it coming?
Uh, working on it.
- You're doing okay. - Oh, sorry.
No. You're good. You're good.
Lefty loosey, righty tighty...
just, pretty easy.
How about this?
Can I remove this pipe
and maybe get a little better shot at it?
Do whatever you need to do to get the stuff out.
Ooh!
Got some odor to it now.
A lot of times, we'll be in attics.
There'll be just rat poop or mice poop everywhere,
dead birds.
I got to tell you, this smells horrible.
Yep.
Ugh!
Think I just threw up in my mouth just a little bit.
I'ma... I'ma keep it internal, though.
As long as it's disconnected from the wall right there.
- There we go. - Oh. Okay.
Well, there's some of that magic juice.
- That's awesome. - Oh, yeah.
So these are good.
Now we're just gonna rip these from the wall.
Oh, just rip them out?
Oh, yeah.
That's what we're talking about right there, huh?
That's the stuff.
You know, I think I could yank this thing
right out of here, actually.
See? There you go.
There you go. Nice.
Oh, when I got my hands on that first cabinet...
How about that?
From there, it was on.
Yeah. Just pull it.
There we go.
- One, two, three. - Oh, see? Look at that.
That's on the back of it.
Whoa, like a velvet Elvis.
Yeah. This is bad.
Apparently, this problem was here for about a year,
but it had to have been longer than that.
So where are you from?
- From Oregon. - Are you really?
Yeah, and moved up here
to go to school for social work.
- Yeah? - Be an addiction counselor.
Well, that's cool work. Why do you want to do that?
I've had a lot of life experience
with people that abuse or use drugs
and then tragic events happening, so...
Really?
I just want to prevent that as much as I can,
so that's why I want to go to school for it...
- That's cool. - And do that line of work.
Where do you go to school to get that degree?
A local community college right now.
There's a year program that I'm doing.
I'm going part-time right now,
so it's gonna take me way longer than one year.
- Right. - Because I'm working full-time.
- Right, right, right. - It's hard to do both.
I think it's great that Kyle is working full-time...
- We're gonna put that outside. - Okay.
And putting himself through school
so that he can go on and do the thing
that he really wants to do.
You tired yet?
I am tired. So you're doing this.
So then what's next on your plan?
So I want to work for the VA.
I just need my certificate to start working there,
and then I'm gonna get a bachelor's degree,
'cause that's what I really want to do.
I enjoy helping people. Like, this is nice.
- Yeah. - It's definitely helping people.
But you want to be counseling. You want to be counseling.
Yeah, I mean, I've had a buddy
that killed himself in front of his wife and kid
because he was drinking
and just a lot of scenarios like that.
Alcohol is a huge problem when it comes to veterans.
Those guys see a lot of messed-up stuff,
and then they come back and try to numb the pain.
That's why I have such a drive for it.
- That's a great plan. - Yeah.
The fact that Kyle
wants to devote his life to helping people
earns a tremendous amount of respect from me,
because that's the reason
I originally started this company.
- All right. Let's do it. - All right.
I can't say enough about how much I respect
this young man, and we're very proud
that he's part of the AdvantaClean family.
Start tearing this off,
and we'll see if we need to go any further.
Okay.
Today I'm in Douglasville, Georgia,
and I'm gonna be working with a project manager.
Project managers are responsible to manage the jobs and make sure
that all of our customers' expectations have been met.
I hope to see that they're working effectively and safely
and they're getting the job done.
What's up? How you doing?
I'm Steven Crawley with AdvantaClean.
- I'm the project manager. - Hey. I'm Dusty.
- What's up? - How you doing, sir?
- Good. - Air ducts is fairly simple.
And I'm here to teach you how to do it.
I've been with AdvantaClean four or five years now.
I enjoy it. It's good work.
All right, so if you would, go ahead and get changed up for me.
- Sounds great. All right. - All right. Thank you.
Dusty does look a little funny
with his long grayish-brown hair there on his chin.
He looked kind of rough.
Today we are doing an air duct cleaning.
We're just gonna get up here,
and we just... we clean the air ducts.
- Okay. - You want to make sure
you hold the grille here; if not,
it's gonna hit you in your face.
So if you would, just vacuum it off for me.
- Is this thing on? - All right. Here you go.
- Oh, okay. - There you go.
There you go. Thank you.
That's the first step of cleaning some air ducts
for you, which I recommend everybody doing it,
especially if your house is real dusty.
- Like me? - Like you.
Are you dusty? Oh, yeah.
You're... Good one.
If you would, hand the vacuum up to me too, please, sir.
There we go. All right.
- There we go. - So you can see me here.
I'm just vacuuming the boot out here.
We have to do this to every single 41 of them here.
Okay.
Here you go, sir, if you would.
Catching on quick.
Picking up and moving again?
Picking up and moving again.
So we're gonna repeat this process...
Over and over and over. Yes, sir.
All right.
So what you think about air duct cleaning so far, Mr. Dusty?
- It's interesting. - It's good to do.
It really is, especially if you have,
like, any allergies or anything.
Mm-hmm.
We're gonna hook these people up today and take care of them.
I was really impressed with Steven.
He is not a franchise owner,
but yet he is holding
such high standards in the work that he does.
I mean, I enjoy it, man. I love my job.
- Do you? - I really do.
I find all kinds of neat stuff in these crawlspaces.
I got some old-school Barbie... 1962, 1978 Barbies
that... rich people throw everything away.
- When it has mold on it? - Mm-hmm.
Let me take you over here real quick.
- I'll show you. - Sounds good.
One of the first challenges that our owners face
is to get that first person to believe in your business,
and once you get one person like that,
you're gonna attract other people like that.
So he is a huge asset for this franchise owner.
You ever seen one of these?
A steering wheel for a wagon?
It's a pedal car. Back in the day, back...
- Pedal car. Yeah, yeah. - Yeah. Before our time.
Yeah.
I got some other cool stuff right here.
Look at this. I got a jackass I found in a crawlspace.
All right.
Don't ask me why, but I liked it.
My wife says the exact same thing.
Don't ask her why, but she likes the jackass.
Oh.
So do you... have you always collected things?
Yeah.
What other stuff you collect?
I like to ride my motorcycle to the lake.
Yeah, yeah.
And I look for arrowheads and old bullets.
That's an old bullet right there.
What kind of bike you got?
I've got a 750 Honda Shadow.
- First bike I ever rode. - Is that right?
I want to actually put it up for my kids, for my oldest...
- Okay. - And get me a new one
and give him that one eventually.
- Yeah. - All right. So yeah.
So we'll go inside, and we'll just start pushing.
- All right. Let's get to work. - All right.
We're right here.
All right.
Do you ride?
I had a couple of bikes.
I got in a little trouble on them, so I had to sell them.
What kind of bikes you have?
- I had an Indian. - Ooh.
- I had a Yamaha 125. - Man, those are sweet.
- Yeah. - I love my bike.
But if I had money, of course, I'd have a Harley.
Does your wife like to ride?
- She does. - She does?
She does. She looks great in those chaps.
- Just saying. - Just saying.
How long it take you to grow your beard out there?
Well, I'm not quite sure.
Man, I've been working on this for months.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
That's crazy, though.
I grew out this right here?
- Yeah? - I grew it down to my chin.
It took me two years.
Dusty, you're a funny guy.
I thought everything was going well,
but when Steven asked me how long it took me
to grow this beard out, I got nervous,
and I could just see that it clicked in his mind.
And I tried to throw him off the trail,
but I'm not sure if it was enough.
I got balance like a cat.
- Do you? - Yeah.
I'm very observant too.
You want to hear something funny, Mr. Dusty?
I'm sorry?
You want to hear something funny, sir?
- I would. - I know who you are, sir.
Well, um...
I know who you are, sir.
Well, I'm... I'm not quite sure what to say.
You got a little hairier since the last time I've seen you.
Well, you know, it's coming out of the winter.
Not a very good disguise, Jeff.
You'd never think that you'd see the owner
of AdvantaClean... the owner,
not just the franchise owner
but the owner of everything... come out here and work.
What show do you think we're shooting?
That one show... the Undercover Bo...
- What is it? - Undercover Boss.
And we're... I'm sitting here.
I'm like, "Man, my boss stinks.
He makes me work 40 hours."
Okay, so can I call you Mr. Jeff now?
- I think that would be fine. - All right.
- Appreciate it. - Yeah.
What really impressed me about Steven
was his positive attitude.
It's really, really important that we keep this
- between us for now. - Okay.
He strikes me as honest, energetic,
and we need more people like Steven to join us
and help us make a difference in other people's lives.
All right, so yeah, so what we're gonna do,
we're just gonna loosen it up just a hair.
Just a hair. Is that a technical term?
Well, just a little bit.
I don't remember seeing that in the training manual.
Today we're in Indianapolis, Indiana,
and I'm gonna be working with a cleaning tech.
1 in 22 homes
will suffer a water damage issue every year.
We're there to help people recover
in a very difficult situation.
We may send cleaning techs in
to wipe down customers' belongings
after we've done a job.
Really, it's just whatever the job demands
on any given day.
This is a great franchise location,
and I really want to see what they're doing so well
to make their business grow like it has.
Hey, I'm looking for Danielle.
Hi. I'm Danielle.
Hey, Danielle. I'm Dusty.
- Hi. Nice to meet you. - It's nice to meet you.
All right.
Dusty's cute.
I am the part-time cleaning technician
for AdvantaClean.
Okay.
And we're going to do some wonderful work today.
- Awesome. - Okay.
Dusty looks like someone who works out,
because he's so buff.
- Work me hard. - Okay.
Sounds great.
Looks like he can do the job.
This house right here had a pipe leak.
Almost eight feet full of water in her basement.
- Eight feet? - Yes.
- Oh, my goodness. - Yeah.
Once they start getting the water out
and they bring things that we can salvage,
we will wash them in one of these tubs,
and then the other one, we will rinse...
- All right. - To make sure
that there's no mold left on the material.
Just make sure that you handle everything with care,
like it was your grandma's stuff.
- I will. - Okay.
Danielle impressed upon me to treat the stuff
just like I would treat my grandmother's stuff,
and that's a great way to express the kind of care
that we should give to a customer's belongings.
We will have you go and change and put on AdvantaClean wear.
- All right. Great. - All right?
And make sure you have a smile on your face.
- Always smile. - Yeah.
Even if you're in a bad mood, you always got to smile.
- Okay. - Yeah. That's my motto.
She really made a good first impression on me.
If I was a customer,
I would've been comfortable with her coming into my home.
- How do I look? - You look great.
- Okay. - How about you wash so I can
make sure that you're taking care of her stuff really nicely?
- Okay. - And then I will rinse
and put over here... all right.
All right.
All right. Here we come. First load.
Make sure you get everything cleaned off of it.
- All right. - Could've been in the area
that was affected by the mold,
and we don't want her to get sick,
and we want to make sure that everything's
taken very good care of.
So what happens when something breaks?
We have to actually throw it away,
'cause there's no... there's no saving it...
- Okay. - If it's broken.
If the dishes were broken, I would probably cry,
because it would be heartbreaking for me,
and I know it would be heartbreaking for the homeowner.
You know what would be a good idea?
If I got everything out of the bottom of this tub
before I put something big in there.
Yeah.
Dusty's like Hulk Hogan with itty-bitty dishes.
It's not really a good fit.
It's kind of scary.
Remember, it's like it's your grandma's stuff.
It's Grandma's stuff.
- All right. - Absolutely.
Good deal.
It's nice working outside, isn't it?
It is nice, yes.
Where are you from?
I'm originally from a very small town
called Circleville, Indiana.
Okay. How many kids do you have?
- I have three and a grandson. - Oh, beautiful.
- Yes. - How old are they?
22,
and then I have an 18-year-old
who's a little complicated.
- Okay. - He's got a lot of illnesses.
- A son? - Yeah. He's a son.
He's got epilepsy and Asperger's.
- Okay. - ADD, ADHD.
But he's very high-functioning, so...
Okay. How's he doing with that?
He's actually doing pretty well.
- Good. - We have been a year now
with no grand mal seizures,
so... which has been an absolute blessing.
- Yeah. - Once his dad passed away,
I said, "Enough's enough.
I'm... we're packing up."
and I actually moved to Indianapolis
to be closer to Riley Hospital
so I can take care of him better.
So your... his father passed away?
Yeah.
My husband and I were high school sweethearts.
I loved him to pieces.
He had a alcohol and drug problem,
and he committed suicide.
Gosh.
So it was very devastating for me and the kids.
It was probably the hardest thing that we ever went through.
- Man, I'm sorry. - Yeah.
I get through it. You know, it gets easier.
- Sorry. - It's okay.
How do you hold it all together?
I mean, you got... you got a lot going on.
It's very hard, but you know what?
If I don't do it, nobody else is going to, you know?
They have me and me only to depend on,
so they keep me going.
I thought moving to the city was gonna be a bigger
and better thing for us, and it hasn't landed me
the full-time job that I was wanting.
- Right. - So it's been hard.
Danielle's been thrown a lot of obstacles in her life.
I just feel like she's doing everything she can,
but it's probably just not enough right now.
I would really love for this to become a full-time job
and, you know, just be with AdvantaClean.
'Cause I like what they stand for.
I like that they help people and...
Well, you seem like an extremely nice
and caring person
that really does a lot for other people.
I try. I do my best.
That's for sure.
Danielle has proven in her life over and over again
that she does not quit.
So what would your dream job be?
Working with a company where I could actually
make money to buy my own home.
Have you ever had your own home?
Never had my own home.
- Really? - Nope.
It's humbling to me
that she shows up every day with a great attitude
and just gets the job done.
I really respect her for that.
I'm just really proud
to have got to work with her today
and get to know her a little bit.
Since you do have a box
that's already packed up,
we'll go ahead and take it.
- Yep. - Thank you.
Coming up, the employees
think they're going to meet with someone
from a different reality show.
Do I look familiar to you at all?
- Very. You look like Dusty. - I do.
How will they react
when the boss reveals his true identity?
I'm the CEO and founder of AdvantaClean.
Oh, wow.
I've really had a great journey.
I've worked with some great folks,
people willing to put in the hard work.
It's a badge of honor
that these people are willing to go in
and help people in a situation where they really need it.
I'm very excited to meet the employees today
and maybe find a way to help them
on the next chapters of their lives.
Good afternoon.
Hello.
- How are you? - I'm good.
- How are you? - Good.
So tell me a little bit about Dusty.
He scared me once; I thought he was
gonna break some dishes, but...
Okay.
Do I look familiar to you at all?
- Very, very familiar. - How so?
- You look like Dusty. - I do.
I do. I'm actually Jeff Dudan.
I'm the CEO and founder of AdvantaClean.
Oh, wow.
Have you ever heard of a show called Undercover Boss?
You are on Undercover Boss right now.
I'm gonna cry.
Steven, so how long did it take
for you to figure out that it was me?
Not very long.
That was a cool beard, though.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
You want to hear something funny, Mr. Dusty?
I'm sorry?
You want to hear something funny, sir?
- I would. - I know who you are, sir.
Okay.
You got a little hairier since the last time I've seen you.
I really, really loved
the way you represented our brand.
- I appreciate the opportunity. - Yeah.
I mean, I like my job.
I want to reward you for all that you've done for us.
Let me ask you a question. Do you like football?
I like football.
Do you like football? Who's your team?
Falcons, for sure, I mean, all the way.
- Okay. - Oh, yeah.
What I want to do
is give you two 50-yard-line seats
to the Panthers-Falcons game,
pay for your travel, put you up in a nice hotel downtown,
and just give you a really nice weekend.
I appreciate that. That's awesome.
- Thank you. - Sure.
- That is awesome. - Yeah.
So I'm gonna give you something to ride to that game.
I'm gonna give you that Harley.
Are you serious?
- Yes, sir. - Are you serious?
Uh...
I don't know what to say. I'm lost.
- It's outside, bud. - Are you serious?
- Yeah. - Oh.
Thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you. - You got it.
All right. I'm gonna let you go now.
- Okay? - Thank you, sir.
- Head that way. - I appreciate it.
Oh, man!
Oh, my... it's a full dresser.
Oh, it's beautiful.
Ooh. Look at this bad boy.
Oh, my.
Oh, man, it feels amazing.
I have never had anything like this happen in my life.
Never expected anything to happen.
I just work because I like to work.
I got speakers. Are you serious?
He gave me a Harley-Davidson.
Me, Steven of Kennesaw.
Like... That is crazy.
Whoo!
Kyle, well, first of all,
I want to tell you I think you did a great job.
- I was very impressed with... - Well, thank you.
How much you knew and your skills
for just being with the company that long.
I think the job went just right.
Isn't demolition the best?
Yeah. It is the funnest.
It's the easiest part.
I had a little problem getting the nuts
off the sink things, right?
That was... took... that was... I slowed us down a little bit.
Oh, come on.
- How's it coming? - Uh, working on it.
Ugh!
So you've had some experiences
where addiction and substance abuse
has really affected your life.
Mm-hmm.
And you've decided to pursue a certification.
Yeah. There's just a huge problem.
- Right. - People try to self-medicate.
So I just want to be able to help.
I think that is so admirable that you want to do that.
And I got to tell you, if you were my son,
I would be very proud of you.
- Thank you. - I would be very proud of you.
So what I want to do is, I want to give you $20,000...
Wow.
To do anything you want with...
pursue a degree or anything that you need.
That is crazy.
I don't know what to say.
I'm exceptionally excited
about what you're gonna do with your life and the people
that you're gonna help, man; I really am.
- Wow. Thank you. - Yeah, man.
Yeah. Absolutely.
I'm in shock right now.
Having the big boss recognize the work I'm doing
definitely makes me feel good.
The $20,000's gonna pay off
the student loans instantly.
Having the support of Jeff and this opportunity,
it's getting me so much closer to my ultimate goal.
Uh, it's amazing.
Danielle, your energy and your smile
and your care for the customer just came through,
and I just have so much respect for what you do.
Thank you.
Just make sure that you handle everything with care,
like it was your grandma's stuff.
I will.
Treat them like your grandma's stuff.
Absolutely.
So you've had a... a rough time.
Yeah.
It's hard some days, but, you know,
if I don't show my kids the positive attitude,
then they're gonna grow up to be miserable people,
and I don't want that.
Well, you are a special person.
- And I believe that. - Thank you.
And one thing that I'd like to do for you is,
I would like to send your family
on a vacation,
all expenses paid.
Thank you.
My kids are gonna love it.
Because of what I've learned working with you,
I want to give you a full-time job,
and it would be in our customer care center.
That job is worth between $40,000
and $50,000 a year with benefits and incentives.
Wow. Oh, my God, yes.
You can work from home,
and you can work on a flexible schedule.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I know you shared with me also that, you know,
you've never owned a home.
Yeah.
What I'd like to do is, I'd like to pay your rent
for the next two years.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
And that way, with the job and the extra income,
you can save,
and you can have that house that you deserve.
Thank you.
Nobody's ever done anything like this for me.
Thank you for being such an inspiration to all of us.
- Thank you so much. - Sure.
This is the most incredible thing
that's ever happened to me.
I get to finally work full-time.
I get to take care of my kids
and do things with them and be at home
so I can take my son to the doctor.
He's given me something that I've dreamed about.
I feel like I do have a future now,
like I can actually breathe again,
and it feels amazing.
It feels amazing.
Barry, I was very excited to get to work with you,
because you had all kinds of energy
from the first moment, right?
Yes, sir.
Man, you're like Spider-Man.
Did they teach you this in training?
Oh, yeah. Teach you how to roll? Yep. There you go.
I got to tell you what, though.
After a long day, you'd be worn out, huh?
Oh, yeah. I love it.
So on the personal side, you know,
you talked about you and your fiancée.
Yes, sir.
I understand you guys are trying to get married this summer.
We're trying to.
Like, we're trying to do this little, small thing,
'cause we've been together for, like, four years now.
I would like to give you $10,000...
For your wedding or honeymoon or whatever you want to do
so that you can make that happen.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but, like...
- It's all right, man. - But, like, you just...
like, you just don't... like, you just don't know.
No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. So sorry. So sorry.
That's all right.
I'm so happy, and I'm proud of you, man.
I'm telling you, you've got everything it takes.
Thank you.
You know, sometimes...
sometimes people just need a break.
Those breaks happen.
I think you said,
"Hey, I'd like to be in the restoration business."
But you know what I don't like about that?
Tell me what.
I don't want to be in competition with you.
Here's what I think we should do. You ready?
- Okay. - Okay.
I want to give you your own franchise,
and that's all of the equipment and supplies and everything.
It's over $100,000.
Anywhere in the country that we have available,
you can plant yourself right there,
take care of your baby,
take care of your family, have more kids.
You know, just have an awesome life.
I believe you'd be great.
Oh, gosh, oh, gosh, oh, gosh, oh, gosh.
I don't even know what to say.
I don't... I don't... I mean... I mean,
I don't even know... I don't even know.
I don't... I mean,
if you don't mind me hugging you a few more times.
This is... this is more than what I could ask for.
This is more than a dream.
All right. We'll see you.
My family's all I have,
and now we have something that we could grow on.
We have something to look forward to.
He gave me a better chance to live.
He did.
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