Mark Melton has grown his cleaning business into a tidy little tri-county empire over the past decade, sweeping in $19.8 million in revenue last year.

Carpinteria-based Melton Franchise Systems, a master franchisor for Coverall Health Based Cleaning Systems and owner of the Molly Maid business in the region, made the No. 19 spot on the Business Times’ recent Fastest Growing Companies survey as sales soared 23 percent from 2007 to 2009.

“Janitorial service is kind of a stable industry,” Melton said. “It’s recession-proof in a way. People still need their buildings cleaned.”

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