A number of small companies specializing in commercial cleaning, lawn care and other building services may see a spike in customer demand early next year.
City Wide, a national building maintenance and management company, plans to open an office in Bridgeport by the end of the year. Rather than add another service vendor to the mix, however, the company specializes in contracting with the hundreds of existing service companies to meet clients”™ building maintenance needs.
The result, City Wide officials say, will be a stimulus for small service companies within 25 building service industries, ranging from pest control and painting to parking lot sweeping and window washing.
A classic middle man, the company saves clients time and vendors the expense of advertising and sales.
“A day care center looking for janitorial services only knows about the top 20 companies,” said Jeff Oddo, City Wide CEO. “They”™ve never heard of the smaller ones. They”™ll get bids from the three biggest and when they contract, it will be with one of those vendors.”
Open a telephone book ”” if you still have one ”” and you”™ll see hundreds of companies offering lawn maintenance, carpet cleaning and lighting services, Oddo said. The top 20 percent of those companies will have professional sales and accounting services and the bottom 20 percent will be students, retirees or poor quality, he said.
Targeting the middle 60 percent of companies, Oddo said City Wide seeks out the best remaining vendors with which to partner ”” offering free advertising, accounting and customer support ”” all for the same fee vendors normally receive.
Oddo said the company can”™t promise clients the lowest price or best quality. Instead, it promises to offer a one-stop shop for all building maintenance services, remove the hassle of vendor management and quickly address any service issues.
Customer retention stands at 90 percent and above, Oddo said, driving the company”™s rapid growth. Within the last 10 years, City Wide has grown from servicing 3 million square feet to 100 million square feet.
New clients usually start with only one building service need but will, on average, add four or five more services, he said. City Wide”™s clients aren”™t typically housed in commercial office parks or high-rise buildings, but instead at schools, churches, daycares, auto dealerships and warehouses.
“Ask business owners what”™s the least enjoyable part of their jobs and they”™ll say the vendor management piece,” Oddo said. “That”™s where we come in, one piece at a time. We start with the biggest problems and after they see how easy it is, they add on services.”
The Bridgeport office will be City Wide”™s 37th market expansion, Oddo said. Each office produces $2 million to $5 million in revenue annually. But with Connecticut”™s higher cost of living, Oddo said he expects the Bridgeport office to be on the higher end of the spectrum.
“Citywide is an organization built upon a strong belief in serving others,” Oddo said. “We care about people, both the clients and our contractors.”
