The Journey of Names

When I first started my window washing business out on the west coast, I called it A Friendly Cleaning Company–I think it's safe to say that's a defining characteristic of mine. Yet, when it came time to return to my roots in Kaslo, where I wanted to support myself and the community projects I love, it felt like the right move to change the name of my business to something my community would recognize as their own. 

That’s how Kaslo Window & Gutter Cleaning came to be, a title that said what our services were and where we delivered them. However, not only are we expanding our expertise annually, but we now serve Lardeau Valley, every shore on Kootenay Lake, all the way from South Slocan to up over the mountains in Nakusp.

On top of that, my lack of effort for building brand awareness in combination with referrals being our primary driver for growth, most people know the business as “Neil and his crew”. With our growth as a company and others becoming primary service providers, it felt like some steps needed to be taken.

Now, with pride in our work, and a constant source of client support, last year we knew we were ready for one more name change–one that would reflect our continued, collective growth, as well as our vision for elevating the communities we serve. 
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Last year we put a renaming contest out to our clients and community. We received plenty of great submissions. A local friend (hi Sarah Sinclair!) suggested a name, and while it didn’t have an initial impact, the more I sat with it the more it grew on me until it really stuck. More than that–it just made sense. After running it by the crew and getting a go-ahead from the whole team, we transformed ourselves.

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So without further ado, let me be the first to share our new name: Elevate Property Detailing

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Why Elevate? 

First and foremost, we are highly committed to elevating our clients’ experience in their homes. To do so, we continuously work to elevate our skills, knowledge and character to show up as the best professionals and humans for the job. 

To make this extra effort sustainable (and beyond), we are committed to elevating each team member's life through liveable (even “thriveable”) wages and fulfilling career development in an area that has minimal options for either. Then, as a bonus, we climb ladders and work at heights! And so, here we are as “Elevate”.

Truly, this experience has brought a ton of positive energy and feelings of true ownership to the team. We are more hopeful, motivated, entrepreneurial, and excited for the future; a future we look forward to sharing with you! 

We also think the new brand looks really sharp. I love how the emblem — the “E” — actually uses the negative space to form a ladder. Our colour palette was derived directly from a scenic view the crew saw on a drive home from a winter breakfast meetup where we agreed on the name. A view of our own Kootenay Lake surrounded by mountains on a stormy day…and we hope you love it too!

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Until next time then, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been with us so far for your patronage, friendship and joyful support. I hope we can continue deepening these mutually beneficial relationships moving forward, and find more ways to provide value in each other’s lives - with sparkling clean windows, of course!

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Sincerely,

Neil Johnson and the entire Elevate team (Stefan, Chris, Che, Steph)

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