About Mintwell Cleaning Co
Founded in 2014, Mintwell has cleaned over 1,400 Portland-area homes and offices with bonded + insured + background-checked staff, EPA Safer Choice products, and a 24-hour satisfaction promise on every visit.
Sam Reyes started Mintwell in 2014 after six years inside a Portland-area cleaning franchise — watching the same pattern repeat: rotating crews who did not know the home, harsh chemical products applied in homes with kids and pets, customer complaints lost in a corporate ticket queue, and recurring contracts canceled after a single bad visit.
Mintwell was built around three commitments: same crew every visit (route consistency), EPA Safer Choice products by default at no upcharge, and bonded + insured + background-checked staff on every job. Those commitments have not changed in 12 years, and they are why our average recurring customer is in year five of their contract.
18 years of growth in Greater Portland, built entirely on referrals and repeat customers.
Sam Reyes launches Mintwell with three cleaners and a small office on NW 23rd Ave. Early focus is biweekly residential cleaning in Northwest Portland and the Pearl District. First customers come from local mom-Facebook-group referrals.
Mintwell standardizes on EPA Safer Choice and Green Seal certified products across the entire residential service line — no upcharge, no opt-in. The decision differentiates Mintwell in eco-conscious Portland and drives 60% year-over-year growth that year.
Mintwell joins ARCSI (Association of Residential Cleaning Services International) and adopts ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) operational benchmarks. Both credentials become differentiators against unaffiliated local solo cleaners.
Mintwell adds dedicated post-construction and light-commercial service lines after demand spikes from Portland's Pearl District construction boom. Maria Castillo joins as Operations Director to scale routing across residential + commercial.
Cumulative active and past customers cross 1,000 across Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties. Team grows to 14 cleaners across three crews. First Portland Monthly Best Of recognition for residential cleaning.
Mintwell adds dedicated Airbnb and short-term rental turnover service after multiple existing customers ask for help with their secondary properties. Within 12 months, STR turnover represents 15% of weekly revenue.
VantaWeb's Anna AI takes over inbound calls 24/7 — booking recurring biweekly contracts with bed/bath count captured, routing move-in/move-out and post-construction to specialty teams, and capturing Airbnb turnover inquiries with same-day urgency. After-hours call capture goes from 28% to 99%. Average call-to-booking time drops from 9 minutes to under 2.
Mintwell has been on Portland kitchens long enough to remember when the Pearl was warehouses and Hawthorne was a quiet stretch of houses. Being local is not a marketing line — it is where Sam coaches youth soccer at Wallace Park and where Maria runs the Portland Marathon every fall.
Community work is kept practical and repeatable, not performative.
Oregon Food Bank annual drive — Company-wide food drive every November. 2024 drive collected 1,650 lbs of non-perishables. Every crew member participates and the company matches contributions.
Cleaning for a Reason partner — Free cleaning service for women undergoing cancer treatment in the Portland metro through the Cleaning for a Reason nonprofit. 24 households served in 2024.
Northwest Children's Theater garden — Quarterly pro bono cleaning of the NW Children's Theater common areas and dressing rooms — supporting youth arts in our Northwest Portland neighborhood.
Mount Hood Community College apprenticeship — Two paid apprenticeship slots per year in partnership with Mount Hood Community College workforce development programs. Three current cleaners came through this pipeline.
The people who set the standards every technician follows on every visit.
18 years in residential and commercial cleaning, the last 12 as founder of Mintwell. Sam started the company in 2014 after six years working for a Portland-area national cleaning franchise — watching customers get rotating crews, harsh chemical products used in homes with kids and pets, and recurring contracts that disappeared after a single bad visit. He built Mintwell around three commitments: same crew every visit, EPA Safer Choice products by default, and bonded + insured + background-checked staff on every job. Based in Northwest Portland.
10 years in cleaning operations, joining Mintwell in 2017 after running dispatch for a Pacific Northwest cleaning chain. Maria oversees route planning, recurring contract management, and the integration between Anna AI and Jobber. She introduced the 24-hour satisfaction promise and the same-crew route consistency standard. Lives in Beaverton.
11 years in residential cleaning, the last 8 with Mintwell. Chris leads the move-in / move-out, post-construction, and Airbnb turnover specialty teams. He developed Mintwell's three-phase post-construction protocol and the photo-documentation workflow that has resolved every move-out security-deposit dispute in our customers' favor. Based in Lake Oswego.
Every technician is a direct employee. Business registration is verifiable at sos.oregon.gov.
Learn more about VantaWeb's AI receptionist platform and how it compares to alternatives.
VantaWeb builds and launches your cleaning site in 7 days. Anna books recurring biweekly contracts, routes move-in/move-out and post-construction to the right crew, captures green-product preferences, and books the first appointment in under 2 minutes — so your crews stay on the mop.
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