By the Nova Enterprises team
Published October 22, 2026 · Updated October 22, 2026
Key takeaways
- Paul Borodenko started in the cleaning industry in 2010 as a post-construction cleaning vendor and built Allora Cleaning into a nationwide cleaning company and franchise system.
- Today Allora runs day to day without him, led by two operations managers, while Paul coaches other cleaning business owners through Nova Enterprises.
- His core belief: systems before people. Until you build systems, you are the operating system.
- His habits: review the numbers every month, keep overhead low, go out and win commercial accounts, respond to leads right away and set clear daily priorities.
In short: Paul Borodenko is the Founder & CEO of Nova Enterprises and the founder of Allora Cleaning. He moved to the United States from Ukraine in 1998, worked his way into finance and administration at a fast-growing construction company, and started in cleaning in 2010 as a post-construction vendor. More than 16 years later, he runs a cleaning company that works without him in the day-to-day and coaches other owners to do the same. In a recent podcast interview, he shared how he got there.
Table of contents
- Paul’s journey at a glance
- From finance and admin to cleaning
- Allora Cleaning today
- 16 lessons from 16 years
- Paul’s operating system at a glance
- What this means for your cleaning business
- Frequently asked questions
- About Paul Borodenko
Paul’s journey at a glance
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Moves to the United States from Ukraine |
| Early years | First job installing HVAC systems, then studies business administration |
| Before 2010 | Joins a restoration and construction company, grows into running its finance and administration, and finds a mentor in the owner |
| 2010 | Starts post-construction cleaning as a vendor on his employer’s projects |
| After 2010 | Loses that account, builds his own client base and goes full time in cleaning |
| Today | Allora Cleaning is a nationwide cleaning company and franchise system run day to day by two operations managers. Paul coaches cleaning business owners through Nova Enterprises |
From finance and admin to cleaning
Paul’s path into cleaning was not a straight line. After moving to the United States in 1998, his first job was installing HVAC systems. After about a year, he went back to school to study business administration and took an office role at a restoration and construction company.
That company grew quickly, and Paul grew with it, eventually running its finance and administration. The owner became his mentor. Watching a business grow from the inside, and being responsible for its cash flow, taught him early lessons about numbers, systems and leadership that he still uses.
It also led him into cleaning. In 2010, Paul began doing post-construction cleaning as a vendor on his employer’s projects. When that account went to someone else, he did not stop. He went out and found his own clients, built a client base and eventually left to run his cleaning business full time.
Allora Cleaning today
Allora focuses on business clients: janitorial accounts, apartment communities and property managers, and post-construction cleaning. Residential cleaning fills gaps in the schedule. Two operations managers run daily operations.
Paul is no longer in the day-to-day, with one exception he keeps on purpose: he still personally interviews every cleaner who joins. Everything else runs on systems.
That shift, from an owner who does everything to an owner who builds the systems, is the heart of what he now teaches.
16 lessons from 16 years
Systems
1. Until you build systems, you are the operating system. If every decision runs through the owner, the business can only grow as far as the owner’s time. Every phone call, every quote, every schedule change lands on you. Try this: list the decisions you made this week that someone else could have made with a clear process. Those are your first SOPs.
2. Systems before people. Hiring more people into a business without systems multiplies the chaos instead of reducing it. New hires need a clear way of doing things from day one. Try this: before your next hire, document the tasks they will own.
3. No systems means you own a job, not a company. A business that only works when the owner is there is a job. A business that runs on documented systems can be managed by someone else, or sold. Try this: ask yourself what would break if you took two weeks off. Start there.
4. Let the person who does the task record it. At Allora, team members record short videos, usually 3 to 5 minutes, showing exactly how they do a task. Video means no step gets skipped, and the owner does not become the bottleneck for documentation. Try this: ask one team member to record their most important task this week. Read our guide to building an operations manual for the full method.
5. Keep a playbook vault. All of those videos live in one shared folder, organized so anyone can find them. New hires start by watching the playbooks for their role. Try this: create one shared folder today, with one subfolder per area of the business.
6. Every playbook needs an owner. Processes change. The person responsible for a playbook keeps it current, or it quietly goes out of date. Try this: put a name next to every SOP you have.
Start your playbook vault with our free checklists
Download the three checklists from Allora Cleaning: quality control inspections, new client onboarding and subcontractor onboarding.
Money
7. Review your numbers every month, line by line. Go through the profit and loss statement every month and look for leaks: subscriptions nobody uses, costs that crept up, anything you would not buy again today. Try this: block one hour on the first Monday of every month for your numbers.
8. Keep overhead low for as long as you can. Lean fixed costs give you room to make mistakes, survive slow months and keep growing. Try this: before adding any monthly cost, ask whether it brings in revenue or protects it.
9. Reinvest in what brings revenue. When there is money to spend, marketing and sales come first. They are what pay for everything else. Try this: put a set share of profit back into the channel that brings your best clients.
10. Watch the one number that matters: net profit. Revenue looks good on paper. Net profit is what pays you and funds growth. Try this: know your net profit for last month, to the dollar.
11. Put recurring commercial accounts on automatic payment. Collections should never depend on someone remembering to send a reminder. Try this: offer automatic payment to every recurring account at signing.
Clients and sales
12. Go out and get commercial accounts. For commercial work, Paul leads with outbound: visiting property managers and businesses in person, plus email and social media outreach. Online visibility comes second. Waiting for commercial clients to find you is slow. Try this: make a list of 20 property managers or businesses near your current routes. Read our guide on how to get commercial cleaning contracts.
13. Commercial cleaning is a follow-up game. Accounts are rarely won on the first contact. They go to the company that keeps showing up. Try this: set a follow-up date for every quote and every conversation.
14. Respond to leads right away. The first company to reply often wins the job, in residential and commercial alike. Try this: set up an instant reply to every new inquiry, then call the same day.
People and priorities
15. Hire slow, and pay fast and on time. Take the time to find people with real professional experience. And never give a good cleaner a reason to doubt their paycheck. Try this: write down your interview steps and your pay schedule, and stick to both. See our guide to hiring and retaining cleaning technicians.
16. Write a to-do list every day and set clear priorities. A written daily list keeps the most important work from getting lost in the noise. For example: collect the biggest outstanding payment first. Try this: tomorrow morning, write three priorities before you open your email.
Paul’s operating system at a glance
| Area | What Paul does |
|---|---|
| Owner dashboard | One place for the team directory, mission, core values, key goals and links to every playbook |
| Playbooks | 3 to 5 minute videos recorded by the person who does the task, stored in one shared folder, each with an owner |
| Training | New hires start by watching the playbooks for their role |
| Finances | Monthly line-by-line review, low overhead, reinvest in revenue, track net profit |
| Collections | Automatic payment for recurring commercial accounts |
| Sales | Outbound first for commercial, relentless follow-up, fast lead response |
| Team | Hire slow, pay fast and on time, operations managers run the day-to-day |
What this means for your cleaning business
Paul’s path is not the only way to build a cleaning company, but the pattern is clear and repeatable:
- Document how the work is done.
- Watch your numbers every month.
- Go after the clients you want, and follow up.
- Build a team and systems that do not depend on you.
These are the same systems Paul teaches through Nova Enterprises, in one-on-one Cleaning Business Coaching and in the self-paced Cleaning Business Mastery program.
Work with Paul’s team
Book a free 45-minute strategy call to talk through your goals and the biggest obstacle in your business right now.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Paul Borodenko?
Paul Borodenko is the Founder & CEO of Nova Enterprises, a coaching company for cleaning business owners, and the founder of Allora Cleaning, a nationwide cleaning company and franchise system. He has more than 16 years of experience in the cleaning industry.
What is Allora Cleaning?
Allora Cleaning is the cleaning company Paul Borodenko founded and built into a nationwide cleaning company and franchise system. It focuses on janitorial, apartment communities and property managers, and post-construction cleaning.
When did Paul Borodenko start in the cleaning industry?
In 2010, as a post-construction cleaning vendor.
What is Nova Enterprises?
Nova Enterprises is a business coaching company for cleaning business owners, founded by Paul Borodenko. It offers one-on-one Cleaning Business Coaching and the self-paced Cleaning Business Mastery program.
What is the most important lesson from Paul’s journey?
Build systems before you add people. A cleaning business that depends on the owner for every decision cannot grow far, and cannot run without them.
How does Paul build SOPs at Allora Cleaning?
The team member who does a task records a short video of it, usually 3 to 5 minutes. The videos live in one shared folder, each has an owner who keeps it current, and new hires start by watching the ones for their role.
Does Paul coach cleaning business owners?
Yes. Through Nova Enterprises, Paul and his team have coached and trained more than 1,500 business owners and entrepreneurs, in one-on-one coaching and the self-paced Mastery program.
About Paul Borodenko
Paul Borodenko is the Founder & CEO of Nova Enterprises and the founder of Allora Cleaning. He has more than 16 years of experience in the cleaning industry, and he and the Nova team have coached and trained more than 1,500 business owners and entrepreneurs. More about Paul