This audio interview was conducted in 2014 by Ron Barnett, president of Florida-based Blown Away, Inc. Moderator and co-contributor was Ranger Kidwell-Ross, Executive Director of WSA.
The intent was to provide information and ideas for an entrepreneur based in the San Francisco area who was looking to purchase a power sweeping company. Ron has been very successful in the Florida region by assisting individuals in developing their own power sweeping businesses. Along the way, he has purchased a number of sweeping businesses.
If you are thinking about purchasing a sweeping company, you will find the ideas and information contained in this 50-minute audio to be of help.
For the first time ever, our Featured Contractor for this month is not one company, but two. Lexington Pavement Sweep was founded in the late 1980s by Jim Blackerby, Jr., to serve the Greater Lexington, Kentucky, market area.
By contrast, Louisville Pavement Sweep was founded by his son, Jim Blackerby III, only about a year-and-a-half ago. This is, in large part, the story about how a sweeping contractor of high ideals has inspired his son to follow in his footsteps.
John Bailey began his street sweeping career in 1988, leaving the shoe-selling business for a client that paid him $200/month, which was just enough money to cover the loan payment on his single “Trailer Vac” mounted on his pickup truck. That Trailer Vac still runs today, after a few refurbishments, and Bailey now boasts a fleet of a dozen sweepers as well as his own LLC, Bailey’s Sweeper Service, operating out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Bailey credits an old window washer as his motivating factor to go from shoes to sweepers, so it is fitting that Bailey’s Sweeping Services has a window washing crew to go along with their parking lot sweeping service.
This article contains a podcast interview with an anonymous contractor regarding expansion of services beyond parking lot sweeping. The interview is embedded at the bottom of the article.
HR Sweeping was originally founded in the 1970s by a former airplane designer. The business was started with a Bel-Aire sweeper with the somewhat new business model of getting parking lots clear of debris. The company’s use of technology has changed somewhat since its inception, as has their service area, and the firm’s legacy is now carried on by the founder’s daughter, Sharon. What hasn’t changed is HR Sweeping’s commitment to keeping their customers satisfied no matter what — even if it comes to using a broom, dustpan and wheelbarrow.
Our Executive Director, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, assisted a WSA Member with evaluating options in how to sell his single night route and sweeper, so that he could concentrate on his daytime construction sweeping. The night route is profitable but he finds it time-consuming and he’s having a difficult time retaining an operator for more than a few months at a time.
Various options were discussed on a recorded phone call and this is being provided to Members as a podcast on the topic. Since the contractor is not leaving the area and the route is profitable, the most time is spent on the idea of leasing the sweeper and route to someone who wants to develop a business of their own.
