Michael Cody needed stronger marketing muscle, more equipment and deeper pockets to keep his business, Clean Sweep Restoration Services of New England, on the growth track.
Disaster recovery giant BELFOR wanted the clout of a full-service property restoration company with strong community ties to help it break into the local market.
Sensing a win-win situation, BELFOR, a $1 billion global firm based in Michigan, acquired Clean Sweep in September for an undisclosed amount.
Clean Sweep gets rid of smoke, dust and mold following fires, floods, hurricanes or tornadoes and other disasters. The company also rebuilds and restores household and business items.
Cody built a regional powerhouse from humble beginnings. When he started Clean Sweep in his basement in 1996, Cody didn’t envision that the one-man operation would become the largest disaster recovery and property restoration business in Connecticut.
Clean Sweep grew beyond the county borders and developed a strong brand image. The Wallingford-based company obtained business licenses in Massachusetts and New York, grew its workforce to 50-plus specialists and brought its fleet of trucks up to over 30.
And last year, Clean Sweep moved into a 20,000 square foot industrial building.
Dealing with a volatile market is nothing new for Cody. Up until about 2005, most of the company’s business came from insurance agents helping their clients impacted by disaster. A sluggish economy forced Cody to look other revenue streams.
Clean Sweep shifted its business model to focus on hotels, property managers, municipalities and restaurants.
A few years back, Cody helped clean and restore Shelton High School after a fire, a job that helped the company expand its customer reach. Around the same time, Clean Sweep also scored a deal to provide disaster recovery services to a 300-store restaurant chain.
Sales have always been up around 10 to 15 percent annually, said Cody, who declined to provide detailed financials. But growing the company has been a slow, strategic process.
Cody, who never planned to sell the company, says the reason for the deal is simple: more resources delivered faster and more efficiently.
“It’s a good fit because a business like ours doesn’t have the same tools and resources as a company like BELFOR,” said Cody, now general manager for the firm’s Connecticut hub.
With more than 3,000 full-time, experienced specialists in North America and 180 offices in 28 countries, BELFOR analyzes and restores fire, water and storm damage for residential, commercial and industrial clients. The company has 90 offices in the U.S., including five regional hubs in California, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Earlier this year, BELFOR merged with two property restoration businesses in New Jersey and New York as part of the company’s ambitious plans to grow.
According to BELFOR leaders, the two deals position the firm “to better serve its current clients and attract new customers in the region, which is largely underserved by its competition.”
Cody says there is no way Clean Sweep could measure up. Two examples tell the tale.
Less than 24 hours after Hurricane Irene hit Connecticut in August, Cody received more than 250 calls for disaster recovery and property restoration services. Within hours, he was out of men and equipment. But the phone never stopped ringing.
Around the same time, Cody says a job to restore a 600,000-square-foot building in Albany caught his attention.
“BELFOR sent more than 500 people from six countries to do that job,” said Cody. “Those workers had immediate access to all the expensive, specialized machinery they needed. An independent can’t do that.”
Although his accountant and legal time vehemently opposed the idea, Cody said he agreed to sell the company to BELFOR — on a handshake with its CEO, Sheldon Yellon.
“My lawyers and accountant thought I was crazy,” said Cody. “But that was good enough for Sheldon.”
Even though the deal didn’t officially close until the end of September, Yellon got the keys in August and Cody got the help he needed so he could keep taking calls.
“BELFOR sent all the estimators and specialists we needed. We got every kind of help you can imagine,” said Cody. “We were able to take on any job that came our way and live up to all the promises we ever made.”
The company plans to double its Connecticut operation over the next two years. As part of the deal, Cody has a five-year commitment with BELFOR, with options to renew. His wife, Gloria, also kept her job.
Cody said the family has no regrets about selling Clean Sweep.
“I’m grateful for how it all turned out,” he said. “I still work in the same office, see the same great people and do the same job I did before. But now I don’t have to worry about things like equipment, payroll and bills.”
