Nationwide Contract Sweeping Service Organized

Toledo, OH -- 1-800-SWEEPER, a new service network of independently owned power sweeping companies across the United States has been launched. The organization brings companies from coast-to-coast under a unified marketing and service structure. Offering parking lot sweeping, street sweeping and a variety of construction related sweeping services under a common brand, 1-800-SWEEPER benefits nationwide and regional facility management customers with the ability to contract self-performing local service providers through a single point of purchase. Customers at all levels benefit from the strength, experience and leverage gained through this combined initiative.

Coordinator Mike Lucht says: "We're combining our resources to provide innovative sweeping solutions to meet the diverse environmental responsibilities and challenges that are inconsistent across the country due to the varying effects of climate and regulations at the local level. 1-800-SWEEPER provides our professional self-performing affiliates a conduit to leverage themselves into a national service organization thereby strengthening the value of their local knowledge, experience and performance to customers nationwide." Lucht is the president of member company Progressive Sweeping in Toledo, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan and is the spokesman for1-800-SWEEPER.

1-800-SWEEPER provides power sweeping services in the private and public sector to commercial properties, businesses, contractors, municipalities and state governments throughout the United States. From one-time, on-call hourly power sweeping or establishing ongoing routine service to a municipality to sweeping multiple commercial locations on a contract basis, 1-800-SWEEPER offers reliable, value-oriented solutions that feature only licensed, insured, drug tested, and professionally trained environmental technicians and a variety of well maintained equipment.

Addressing Changes in the Market

In recent years, large national big box retail stores such as Target, Lowes, Rite Aid and Best Buy have centralized their purchasing and reduced their number of vendors in the interest of reducing their costs for exterior maintenance services. As a result, in many cases, individual store managers no longer are involved in contracting directly for these services at the local level. While this practice has reduced the vendor list for those multiple locations across the country, it has introduced several "generalist" facility management companies such as US Maintenance (USM) into the market as a middle man between the buyers and the performers of the service."As a result, many local, qualified service providers are unable to pursue the business on a national or regional scale, due to lack of time and/or resources. They find themselves disconnected with their customer, and working for a third party facility maintenance broker becomes their only alternative. Consequently, those with the investment and the risk have somewhat lost control of their destiny in this sector of the market," Lucht noted.

1-800-SWEEPER provides facilities managers an alternative to the third party facility maintenance brokers with an opportunity to re-connect with local, self performing service providers without giving up the economies of scale inherent to a single vendor. "Through our organization, we provide single point billing, single point of contract administration along with responsibility and built-in quality control for keeping parking lots clean using a dedicated, professional, drug-free workforce." Lucht noted.