James Kastelein built Alpha Exterior Solutions one driveway at a time — pressure washing Richmond’s suburban grime off patios, storefronts, and vinyl siding. Now he’s moving the whole operation to Midlothian, trading his current setup for a larger commercial space that can handle what he calls the company’s “next phase.”
The lease comes on the heels of Alpha’s first acquisition, a deal Kastelein says positions the exterior cleaning company to scale beyond its origins as a one-truck operation. The Midlothian location will consolidate equipment storage, crew staging, and administrative functions under one roof.
“It’s preparing us for our next phase of growth, and just increasing capacity to scale,” Kastelein said. “We’re going to move our whole operation there.”
The move tracks a pattern playing out across Richmond’s service economy: small operators that survived the pandemic are now hunting for growth through acquisition rather than organic expansion. With labor still tight and equipment costs elevated, buying a competitor’s client list and trained crews can be faster than building from scratch.
Midlothian has become a magnet for these companies. The corridor along Hull Street and Midlothian Turnpike offers something increasingly scarce in the metro area — affordable industrial and flex space close to Chesterfield’s sprawling residential subdivisions. For a business like Alpha, where response time and fuel costs matter, proximity to customers justifies the lease.
The exterior cleaning industry itself has consolidated rapidly in recent years, with private equity-backed rollups snapping up regional players in markets from Texas to Florida. Richmond hasn’t seen that level of institutional money yet, but local operators are watching. Kastelein’s acquisition suggests he’s positioning Alpha to be a buyer rather than a target.
What remains unclear is the scale of Alpha’s ambitions. Kastelein declined to specify the square footage of the new space or the terms of the acquisition that preceded it. The company’s website lists residential and commercial pressure washing, soft washing, and roof cleaning among its services — a standard menu for the industry.
For Chesterfield, the lease represents another small win in its ongoing effort to capture service businesses migrating from Richmond and Henrico. The county’s Economic Development Authority has pitched Midlothian as an alternative to pricier industrial corridors, and companies like Alpha are taking the bait.
Whether Kastelein’s bet pays off depends on questions he can’t fully control: Will Chesterfield’s housing boom continue feeding demand? Can he find workers willing to spend summer days pressure washing in Virginia humidity? And in an industry where the barriers to entry are basically a truck and a hose, how long before the next competitor undercuts his prices?
For now, he’s betting the answer to at least the first question is yes.
- Alpha Exterior Solutions is relocating its entire operation to a new Midlothian commercial space
- The move follows the company’s first-ever acquisition of another business
- Owner James Kastelein says the expansion prepares Alpha for its ‘next phase of growth’