The Story of How Referral Carpet Cleaning Started In Fort Wayne.

The story of Referral begins back in 1977 when I worked at Fort Wayne's Denny's Restaurant on Lima Road as a bus boy.

Since the age of 12, being a young entrepreneur with lots of energy I had many lawn mowing jobs, both residential and commercial. Working as a bus boy at Denny's gave me the inside edge to persuade my manager to use my lawn service instead of the company that came from Indianapolis. This company did all of the Indy locations and also Fort Wayne once a week. They also cleaned the windows on the same trip. They no longer wanted to make the trip just to clean the windows, so my manager asked me if I would like to learn how to clean windows. I said sure and went to Janitors Supply and bought my window cleaning equipment supplies. Soon I had several other commercial window cleaning accounts. I was next informed that the company from Indy no longer wanted to do the monthly carpet cleaning service for the Fort Wayne Denny's since they did not have the entire package of services any longer. My manager asked me if I would like to learn how to clean the stores carpet. I said sure and rented a Rug Doctor at the Golden Dome hardware store (now out of business). I chose Golden Dome hardware because they closed at 1:00pm on Saturday and did not charge for Sunday. I had to have the machine back at 8:00a.m. Monday morning. I would always line up another carpet to clean to help offset the cost of the rental.

At this time my business was called R & F Enterprises and my services included lawn care, window washing and carpet cleaning. Having good grades in high school, I was awarded a four year hoosier scholarship which would pay for tuition at any college in Indiana. I went to college for a year for accounting to be a CPA and decided I would rather work with my hands instead of behind a desk. I then went to Ivy Tech for electronics, but this field did not interest me either. At this time I made a decision to pursue the carpet cleaning business. I bought a commercial duty Rug Doctor to use for cleaning.

The business name had to change since I was fazing out of lawn care and window cleaning. I tried the name C.C.C. or "Complete Carpet Cleaning" for just a short time, but felt it was just to generic. I realized I was getting all my business from referrals so I decided to name the business "Referral Carpet Cleaning".

In 1980 I married, Anita who worked in the accounting department at the credit union. We put our first yellow page display ad in the phone book in 1981. As business picked up my wife left her job and began to become involved in the business caring for the books and answering the phones. In the fall of 1982, I upgraded and purchased my first electric truck mounted equipment and decided to hire my friend and first employee, Eric. In 1988, I contracted our current office location at 2901 Parnell Ave. The building was built to have three other tenants to help with the cost of the building, upkeep and taxes. Throughout the years our business was built based upon honesty and quality workmanship. In the summer of 1999 we purchased our first butler carpet cleaning system, a high power van-powered truck mount unit which provides superior quality service to our clients. In the summer of 2000 we purchased a second butler truck mount. In 2003 we purchased a box truck with a butler truck mount. We customized the interior of the box for our water damage truck. This allowed us to deliver quicker service to our clients and to be more organized.

We had at one time 3 and 4 trucks operating with two girls answering the phones. However, employees come and go and I was very particular on how we serviced our clients. I was never one to give a quick 2-4 week training and then put them in charge of their own truck, out practicing on my clients. It takes months and even years to get good at all the details of being an excellent technician.

The future of Referral looks bright with my two son's, Alan and Ryan, the second generation, joining the business. They already have years of experience by just growing up around it their entire life. They would come with me on some commercial restaurant jobs and they would get paid to move the tables and remove the chewing gum off the carpet. Since 2000, I have decided to be back on the truck with a helper at times. Starting in 2000, at age 16, Alan worked summers full time. Alan then worked part time after school or on weekends. After graduating high school, Alan attended IPFW college here in Fort Wayne for an associate degree in orgainzational leadership and supervision. He was a full time student arranging 12 credit hour classes in two days, which allowed him to continue working full time on the other three days and commercial night work. We want our clients to receive the top quality service they expect from us. Our goal is to remain a small business. This way, we can maintain our high standard of quality for our clients and also maintain the trust and personal relationship with our clients.

I would like to thank each and every client that has helped Referral get to where it is today. I thank you for your business and for referring us to your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors. Remember our slogan "Referrals Built Our Business."

Sincerely, Ron Falls - President of Referral Cleaning & Restoration Inc.

Ron, Alan & Ryan Falls

Referral's Begins

Ron in 1982.

Ron with his friend and first employee, Eric,
in 1982 with our first truck mount.

Ron and Alan in 1988.

Ron and Alan in 1988 at Bane Clene.

Ryan working at a water damage

Referral in 1996.