How a cleaning co-op went from losing money to its most profitable month

How It Started

The relationship between Slate and The Cleaning Co-op goes back before Slate existed. Slate member Mario Cimet first worked with TCC as a co-op developer at Solid State Community Industries in Surrey. In that role, he helped TCC secure $180,000 in non-extractive, patient capital from Seed Commons — a national network of cooperative loan funds that provides financing designed to build wealth in communities rather than extract it. Solid State also provided a $20,000 zero-interest loan and guaranteed a $50,000 line of credit — both now well into repayment. Together, that patient capital gave TCC what it needed to hire, buy equipment, and take on larger contracts.

That was roughly a year ago. TCC was doing between $60,000 and $70,000 in monthly revenue, growing fast, and running into the kinds of financial questions that spreadsheets and quarterly bookkeeper check-ins can't answer quickly enough: What does an hour of cleaning actually cost us? Can we afford to raise wages? What happens to cash flow if we hire two more cleaners?

When Mario switched to working full time at Slate, Slate began working with TCC to continue the relationship — now with the tools and focus to go deeper.

The Growth

In February 2026, TCC hit $105,000 in revenue — their highest month ever. But what matters more is that February was also their most profitable month. Revenue and profitability don't always move together, and that distinction is exactly why the data matters.

October was TCC's second highest revenue month — but it was also the month where they recorded their biggest loss. That sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't. Cleaning revenue fluctuates. Some costs are fixed. When you're growing fast and paying well, the difference between a great month and a difficult one can come down to a few missed invoices or one slow week. Without the data to see that clearly, you're guessing.

Slate's job is to make sure TCC never has to guess. The dashboard we built pulls live data from Jobber, QuickBooks, and bank feeds so management can see exactly where they stand — not at the end of the quarter, but right now.

From Growth to Profitability

For most of 2025, TCC was in the stage that most new businesses don't survive: growing fast, paying well, and losing money. Quarterly gross margins swung from 18.7% to 8.3% to 17.7%, then turned negative in October–November. A conventional lender would have pulled the plug — demanded layoffs, or forced TCC to cut the wages and working conditions that make it worth being a member.

The Seed Commons loan gave them room to keep building. Patient, non-extractive capital meant TCC could absorb losses during the growth phase without sacrificing what they were building for. A bank loan demands immediate returns and creates pressure to cut costs — which in a cleaning co-op means cutting wages. Seed Commons gave TCC the time to grow not just in revenue but in understanding and capability.

The dashboard changed what “building” meant. When the numbers came into focus in November 2025, TCC could see which jobs were profitable and which were silently costing them money. The repricing that followed was methodical — not a blanket rate hike, but targeted adjustments to jobs that the data showed were underpriced for the hours they required. Average billing rates rose from $45.40 to over $48.60 per hour between November and March — a 7% increase that went straight to margin.

The combination of higher rates and the same operational cost base opened up margin. February 2026 was TCC's most profitable month — not just in revenue ($105K, their highest) but in actual gross profit. They're now positioned for continued wage improvements and loan repayment, on their own timeline. That arc — from loss-making growth to sustainable profitability — is exactly what patient capital is designed to enable.

What We Built

The TCC Dashboard is a purpose-built financial tool that connects directly to the systems TCC already uses. No manual exports, no copy-pasting between spreadsheets. It gives management a single place to see the complete financial picture of the co-op, updated automatically.

The dashboard tracks revenue in real time from Jobber invoices, breaks down the true cost of each hour of cleaning — wages, CPP, EI, vacation pay, WorkSafe — and projects cash flow six months into the future. Management can test scenarios like hiring two more cleaners or preparing for a slow season before committing to a decision.

This is what we mean by confidence, visibility, and understanding beyond what a traditional bookkeeper provides. A bookkeeper tells you what happened. We help TCC see what's happening now and what's coming next.

TCC Today

The Bigger Picture

TCC exists to prove that cleaning can be a good job — one with dignity, good wages, and real ownership for the people doing the work. They employ 30 women across Metro Vancouver and are challenging an industry built on underpaying workers.

None of this happened in isolation. Modo, a car-sharing cooperative, has been a key piece of TCC's growth — providing the fleet TCC's cleaners use to reach clients across Metro Vancouver, and a major contract to clean that fleet. One co-op's cars become another co-op's revenue. That's cooperation among cooperatives in practice, not just in principle.

Slate's goal is to help TCC keep growing and turn cleaning into a source of financial stability and peace of mind for its employees. Every dollar of revenue TCC captures goes into wages, housing, childcare, and growth — not into an owner's margin.

If TCC can pay well and still grow, it's proof that other cleaning companies can too. That's the example Slate wants to help them set for the rest of the industry.