D & D Pressure Washing: A Love Story

Sometimes the story isn’t the one you thought you would write.  This is one of those times.

This was meant to be a business story.

Doug Drozd and Dina Asuras moved to Land O’ Lakes about two years ago. In November of 2011, they started . The business grew quickly, thanks to networking and customer referrals.

“The chamber of commerce has been really good to us,” Drozd said.

But it may just be the charm the two radiate when they’re together that makes people happy to send business their way.

Originally from a small town in Illinois, they met when Drozd showed up at her parents' home to fix a water main break.

They would see each other around town after that.

He asked her out. She said no, turned him down at least three times.

“Maybe more than that,” Asuras laughed.

“I don’t think so,” Drozd said.

Then, in December of 1996, Asuras was in an accident. A semi truck ran a red light and slammed into the passenger side of the car she was riding in.

Someone told Drozd about the accident. He called the bakery where she worked to find out what happened. He didn’t know her last name; they didn’t know what he was talking about.

He tracked her down. She was home with a friend the day he showed up at the door and asked her out again. She was still recovering, a process that would take many months.

The three of them went shopping for Beanie Babies.

That was January 17, 1997.

The two have celebrated on the 17^th every month since. But they never married. Then, a year ago, the two took a trip to St. Martin.

“We plan vacations by where we can go geocaching,” Drozd said.

One morning, they went into a jewelry store. Asuras had searched for a blue sapphire ring for years but hadn’t had any luck, she said.

And there it was: the perfect stone. But didn’t particularly like the setting. So Drozd walked over to the engagement ring display.

“What about this setting?” he said.

That’s an engagement ring, she told him.  I know, he told her. He bought it.

“But I don’t know when you’re going to get it,” he said.

The two went geocaching. Bad weather and extra steep trails prevented them from finding a few, but they finally “butt skidded” down to reach a particularly tricky cache, Asuras said.

Drozd found the cache, wrote his plan for the next few moments in the log, and then pulled out the ring, which he’d kept in his pocket all day, trying not to lose it as they navigated the tricky trails.

“If we can make it up out of here, the answer is yes,” Asuras told him.

They haven’t set a date yet. And they may not.

“It took me fourteen years to propose, so I have 28 years to tie the knot,” Drozd laughed.

Their business keeps them together “24/7,” Asuras said. They like it that way. The two moved to Florida for the sunshine, and the pressure washing business means they get plenty of it.

“I get a good tan,” Asuras said.

“It’s just so much fun to see things come clean,” Drozd said. He often will do a bit extra, just because he likes to see the results—mailboxes, curbs, areas that aren’t included in the price but that look better once they’re done.

The though company is not even 6 months old, people are calling from all over, Asuras said. 

“All of a sudden we’re trying to go everywhere,” she said.

They care about each other—and their customers. The proof is in the little details.

“We go further and we treat your house like it’s our own,” Drozd said.