Exploring Life & Business with Charlie Ramshaw of RamClean

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlie Ramshaw.

Hi Charlie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Charlie Ramshaw, founder and CEO of RamClean.

My background is actually in real estate and construction.

I studied business at Eastern Kentucky University and spent years in construction management on the family side of
things, which is where I really saw how much a building’s condition affects the people and businesses inside it.

Clean, well-run spaces are easy to take for granted until they’re gone.

I started RamClean in Champaign, Illinois, on a simple idea:

commercial cleaning was an industry almost nobody had bothered to professionalize.

Most of it ran on subcontractors and constant turnover, so quality was a coin flip. Iwanted to build the opposite: W-2, trained crews who are our own employees, plus a true one-stop service, so a facility could hand all of it (everyday
janitorial, floor care, industrial cleaning, post-construction, disinfection) to one partner it could trust.

That focus on consistency is what’s driven the growth.

We’ve grown more than 700% since 2017, expanded out of Central Illinois into the Cincinnati Tri-State
area – where we’re now headquartered – and on into Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Florida.

In 2025 we landed on the Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing private companies. And this year is shaping up to be WAY bigger.

Be that as it may, the goal hasn’t changed since day one:

grow because the quality earns it, and make sure every market gets to experience The RamClean Difference.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely hasn’t been smooth. And I’d be a little suspicious of anyone in this industry who said it was. The hardest part has always been people.

Commercial cleaning runs on subcontractors and high turnover, so the “easy” path is to do what everyone else does and just accept that quality will be inconsistent.

We chose the harder route: building W-2, trained crews who actually work for us; which means we carry the cost and the responsibility of hiring, training, and keeping good people. It’s worth it, but it’s a grind.

The other big challenge has been scaling without slipping.

Growing 700% sounds great on paper, but every new market and every new crew is a chance for the standard to drift.

A lot of our work behind the scenes has gone into the unglamorous stuff. Things like systems, training, management, marketing, sales… all with the goal of making sure a client in a brand-new market gets the same RamClean Difference as the one we’ve served for years.

Professionalizing an industry most people overlook has been the whole challenge, and honestly the whole point.

We’re still at it, going strong.

As you know, we’re big fans of RamClean. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
RamClean is a one-stop commercial and industrial cleaning company.

We handle the everyday: recurring janitorial for offices, schools, daycares, medical
facilities, and dealerships, plus day porter service — and the heavy lifting: floor care (strip and wax, scrub and buff, carpet, VCT), industrial and plant cleaning, post-construction cleanup, window washing, and disinfection.

The whole idea is that a facility manager can hand all of it to one partner instead of juggling five different vendors.

What sets us apart comes down to a few things.

First, our crews are W-2, trained employees — not subcontractors — so the people in your building are accountable
to RamClean and held to our standard.

Second, we’re genuinely one-stop, so we scale right alongside our clients as their needs grow.

Third, we run on a cost-through-efficiency model: we stay lean and disciplined and pass that along rather than cutting corners on the work itself.

Brand-wise, what I’m proudest of is that we’ve grown more than 700% and earned a spot on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country, all while holding the same standard in every market from Cincinnati to
Tampa and beyond.

We’re a Cincinnati-based company now serving businesses across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Florida, and (soon) many more.

The one thing I most want readers to know is simple: we’re the cleaning partner you don’t have to think about, because it just gets done right.

What were you like growing up?
Outgoing and ambitious; honestly kind of the life of the party.

I was always active and on the go, with a competitive, driven streak from early on.

Looking back, the same things that made me a handful as a kid; the energy, the need to win, never sitting still… those are pretty much what pushed me to go build something of my own.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ramcleaninc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RamCleaners/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ramclean
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ramcleanllc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RamcleanCleaning
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ramclean-cincinnati
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-ramshaw-ceo/