Pro Sweep: Putting the Plus in Service Excellence

Joe Baumgardner grew up working in his father’s masonry supply business, which was located in Missoula, Montana. Although he was still involved in that company as an adult, Joe says he simply wanted to take on a project that would allow for more business growth. Now, 16 years later, the company is a dominant force in the Missoula, MT, marketplace with between 15 and 20 employees and providing a wide range of services.

The ABCs of Packaging Your Sweeping Business for Sale

Soundcore Capital Partners is a New York-based private equity firm that is in the business of buying and selling companies. Further, the organization and its investor group have identified the power sweeping industry as one of interest to them. Currently, Soundcore is actively pursuing the acquisition of power sweeping contractors throughout the United States. As a result, WSA asked one of the company’s principals, Erik Emmett, who is an attorney as well as Soundcore’s Head of Deal Origination, to provide World Sweeping Association Members with an overview of their process, along with any tips he has for how contractors may improve the viability of their companies prior to putting them on the market.

SweepCo Owner Offers 35+ Years Experience

Our Featured Contractor for March 2016 is someone that many of our readers/listeners will have had contact with over the last 3+ decades he has been involved in the power sweeping industry. Although recently he has become an owner/operator of the power sweeping company he called SweepCo, Mike Dyke’s experience far transcends that of a typical contractor.

Pro Sweep Goes the Distance to Please its Customers

Bruce Christianson founded North Dakota-based, Pro Sweep, Inc., in 2000. “I got started in the business due to being parked in a parking lot in January of 2000 when the lot was hit by a big gust of wind,” said Christianson. “When I saw all the trash blowing I wondered if anybody swept it. The next day I went to my local grocery store and asked if anybody swept. The next day I did some research, probably through WorldSweeper, found out some pricing info to go back and tell him and since then we’ve been growing and expanding.”

Smith Cleaning Moving Toward Third Generation

Stuart Smith virtually grew up in the parking lot sweeping business in his hometown of Newberry, SC, which is near Columbia, the state capitol. At the tender age of 10 he started helping out his father, who took over the sweeping business of a friend who died in the early 1970s. They had a Clark-brand push sweeper that collected debris in a cloth bag. The machine had to be trailered to the single account that came with his dad’s newfound company. Stuart helped out in the mornings before school, which meant getting up before 5am. Their activities took about two hours to complete. Both his sister and his mother also went on the routes in order to get everything done as quickly as possible. Today, Smith’s son sometimes goes out on the job with his dad even though he’s only six years old. However, says Smith, he’s rarin’ to go and loves to run the backpack blower.

Austin and San Antonio Now Getting ‘Moore Clean’

After college Jose Moore went to work for a sweeping company, where his suggested changes greatly expanded the business. When a joint venture with the owner didn’t work out, Jose and his wife, Laura, started their own parking lot sweeping company with a single account… and a TYMCO 600! Through the couple’s perseverance, today Moore Clean, LLC is a full-service sweeping and maintenance company in the Austin, Texas, area with 30 full-time employees.