Calgary janitor’s parking lot business survives AI

AI-proof parking – Brian Winch says the family business he now runs—Clean Lots—has stayed “AI-proof” because the work is physical, property-by-property, and involves details machines can’t reliably handle. He traces it back to his father, Joseph Winch, a World War II refugee fro

For decades, Brian Winch has driven out before most people are awake—because the work has to be done when the parking lots are quiet, the sunrise is still there, and customers haven’t arrived yet.

Winch says he learned that rhythm at home. He grew up watching his parents work hard just to keep food on the table. and what he calls “picking up a few side hustles” wasn’t framed as a hustle at all—it was simply how his family survived. As one of three boys. he says that when he and his brothers became teenagers. they joined their father in heading out at the crack of dawn to clean trash from business parking lots.

“There was no complaining about being poor, working-class people doing what they needed to do,” Winch recalls. He says the routine felt peaceful—waking up early, watching the sunrise, and helping a business owner clear their lot so it looked fresh and clean when customers arrived.

The business didn’t start as a formal plan. It started as the kind of daily work that teaches you what service looks like up close.

Joseph Winch’s story shaped the company’s mission

Winch identifies his father as Joseph Winch, a World War II refugee who immigrated from Poland to Calgary, where he grew up. Winch says his father worked on the kill floor at a meatpacking plant after arriving, laid track for the railroad, and worked as a hospital orderly.

When Winch was 21, his father died suddenly. He says the loss arrived at a moment when he didn’t have time to tell him he was considering other career options—options his friends were taking toward other paths.

Deep in grief but determined to make a way for himself, Winch began reaching out to properties to offer cleanup services. He established Winch Janitorial Services, which he says later became Winch Enterprises.

Eventually, Winch founded Clean Lots, where he also writes and teaches what he calls “America’s Simplest Business.” He positions the work as “AI-proof,” arguing that no robot can, “as of now,” truly scour an entire property for every little cigarette butt in the bushes and in hard-to-reach places.

Clean Lots became a family operation—and scaled to real money

As Clean Lots grew, Winch says his twin brothers stepped in a few years into his janitorial career. He described a clear split of roles: one brother operated a forklift and helped with cleanup, while the other focused on project bidding and outreach.

Winch says the business scaled to over $700,000 per year. He adds that working with his brothers has gone better than some might expect, and frames the partnership as a way to keep the family together through the years.

Yet the person who surprised him most while he worked—walking alongside him in the parking lots—was his father. Winch says some days he can “sense his presence” next to him. He even describes hearing his father speaking to him in his head: “Brian, take a few steps that way.”

He says he once followed that voice and found a wallet. At first, he thought he was “crazy,” but he says the moment changed how real the experience felt.

Mentoring others is the next version of the same work

After building his career, Winch says he wanted to mentor others in business builds within the industry.

He points to a Chicago high school teacher who, according to Winch, built a business to earn money during summers off. Winch says that teacher partnered with friends and grew the operation to work across multiple states.

In those stories—his own and the teacher’s—Winch says he came to understand what his father’s legacy, and his own, was really about.

He says it was never only about trash. It was about being of service to others.

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