By Yovanna Bieberich, Argus-Courier Staff

It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. For the past two decades, Ramfire Building Maintenance of Petaluma has been the one to get the job done for its over 100 clients. The full-service janitorial company celebrated its 20th anniversary last month.

The success of the once small company that has blossomed into a business with 25 employees, is due to owners Jordan and Julee Pepper's dedication and ability to meet the needs of their clients.

"I enjoy taking care of my clients," says Jordan Pepper, co-owner of Ramfire. "I have quite a few clients that depend on me exclusively to handle their building's needs and I enjoy the relationships I form."

Pepper, a former New Yorker, didn't start off working in the janitorial business. He originally worked as a dancer and came to California after getting a job at Lake Tahoe. It was there that he met his wife Julee. "My wife is a native San Rafael girl who also grew up in Santa Rosa," says Pepper. "That's what brought me to the area. I taught dance for a while in San Francisco and taught Jazz dance at the Marin Ballet Company, but I eventually gave that up to start the Ramfire business with my brother-in-law."

The company's unusual name comes from Pepper's brother-in-law's astrological sign. "Ramfire is an Aries born under the fire sign," explains Pepper.

The business opened up shop in Novato as a handyman/maintenance service that prepared homes to be put up for sale in the real estate market. Since then, his brother-in-law has left the company and Ramfire has moved to Petaluma.

"We did everything," says Pepper. "At that point we were doing carpentry, landscaping, cleaning, plumbing and carpetry. I have to say that the storms of 1982 put us into business. The company stayed a handyman business for the first seven years and then we hooked up with commercial real estate agents that asked us if we'd like to clean on a more steady basis. Getting a paycheck once a month sounded better than looking for work, so we changed into a janitorial business."

Ramfire now offers nightly, weekly and monthly janitorial services that include carpet cleaning, stripping and waxing floors, window cleaning, pressure washing of buildings and sidewalks, repainting of curb markings, gutter cleaning, and even moving services. Even though Pepper no longer does heavy maintenance, as part of his dedication to the client, he contracts out for whatever work needs to get done.

"In some places I work as the property manager because I am so full service," explains Pepper. "If my clients need anything done, I can handle getting carpenters and plumbers for them. We also do things like move boxes from one file room to another for a client so that personnel doesn't have to do it. We organize warehouses and reconfigure office partitions."

The company concentrates on serving commercial needs and preparing homes for the market, but they do perform some residential work. "We just landed an account with Gluon Networks," says Pepper. "We still handle some small accounts, literally under 1,000 square feet. We do work in Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties and we also do some work in San Francisco. We're very reliable. 'Rely on Us,' is our motto."

Pepper adds, "I like being there when they [clients] need me. I'm able to respond to what my clients need and that makes me happy."