Paul Senecal did not realize he”™d stumbled onto his future career path at age 10 when he started to spend his Saturdays at his father”™s department store hanging out with the maintenance crew.
Fast-forward 40 years and he”™s at the forefront of a $35 million cleaning and maintenance company, Affineco L.L.C., with his partner Michael Diamond.
“When I got to 16 and could legally work, I already had six years of experience cleaning,” Senecal said. “When I graduated college, I had been exposed to so much I went into facilities management.”
Partnering in 2002 with Diamond ”“ who also began working for his father”™s cleaning company at an early age ”“ the two have built one of the largest privately held commercial cleaning companies in the Northeast. With 1,500 employees in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, the company primarily provides nightly janitorial services, but also a range of other maintenance, concierge and specialty services.
The company is headquartered in Bridgeport and made of three operating units: United Services of America, Premier Maintenance Inc. and Melillo Maintenance Inc.
“As kids we quickly learned that without customers we have nothing,” Senecal said. “As a privately held company, we”™re more concerned about the customer than anything else.”
Combining old-school customer service with new school service delivery, Senecal said the company”™s units have seen year-over-year growth even through the recession. In 2011 and 2012, the company was even a part of Inc. magazine”™s fastest-growing companies list.
“We care how much the building looks as much as the customer,” Senecal said. “We use every technology possible, but that”™s only part of it. You need that face-to-face time in the building with the customer. We take the best parts of a family business and corporation and blend it together.”
Senecal said the company was able to sustain growth during the recession by proactively working with clients to reduce services and costs before they even asked, especially with the financial service companies.
“That got us a lot of loyalty and it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Additionally Senecal said his company was able to avoid the missteps of his competitors by making long-term investments year after year. For the size of the company, Senecal said Affineco has more resources and support on and off site for customers than any other company.
“Companies that don”™t invest year after year can”™t provide quality service because they don”™t have the right infrastructure,” he said. “If you build it when you need it, it”™s too late. That takes a significant investment, but it”™s well worth it.”
