Spaulding Decon began as a crime scene cleanup company and progressed to a full-service home restoration franchise, establishing an impressive market position. Founded in 2005, Tampa, FL-based Spaulding Decon has 55 locations in the United States of America. Spaulding Decon has also made a name for itself by providing top-notch services to their clients with empathy and care
A customer-centric company
Spaulding Decon is a full-service restoration company; and offers a wide array of services such as mold remediation, water damage restoration, fire damage clean-up, hoard clean-up, rodent cleaning, crime scene cleaning, biohazard clean-up, and drug lab clean-up. The company’s technicians are trained experts who will turn your house back into a home. As a customer-centric business, it takes more effort to make sure the customer is heard and well taken care of. “Often, we service customers during their most vulnerable moments. We want to offer them some hope and peace,” says Laura.
How did it all start? Once, while working in law enforcement, Laura was at the scene of a double homicide when a family member of the deceased approached her to ask, “Who is going to clean this up?” She was unable to answer as law enforcement does not provide clean-up during these situations. Nor were there many companies doing such work at the time. This mentally plagued Laura, and she began some research and attended courses on how to clean biohazards. Later, she applied for a 15K loan, which she utilized to purchase cleaning equipment and founded Spaulding Decon. This was the beginning of her journey. In the year 2016, she added the real estate component and has kept technology evolving and consistent. Entering the home service franchise industry was difficult at the start, yet Laura took her company to a successful stature and helped others to establish a business through their franchise. Today, franchising has become a huge factor in the growth of a company. “Our workflow is recession proof, since services like trauma scene clean-up, mold and mildew remediation, hoarding clean-up, biohazardous waste removal, and many others, will always be needed, regardless of the current economy,” says Laura. “We offer a wide variety of clientele, from residential customers to commercial property owners to law enforcement agencies. Also, due to the regulated nature of the services our different franchisees deliver, we have acquired national contracts with companies that depend on us to provide them with efficient clean-up services, which means our franchises have immediate work once they open.“
"Often, we service customers during their most vulnerable moments. We want to offer them some hope and peace"
Laura explains that there is always a need for people in the restoration space. “The clean-up industry is a $346 million dollar industry, which means there is a ton of room for growth and opportunity. Since our inception in 2005, our corporate team at Spaulding Decon has grown by 50 to 75 percent each year. So, our franchisees have the ability to experience that same growth. Even better, competition is small and securing your spot in the industry isn’t difficult. The best part, though, is that you’ll be helping people during their time of need, as well as providing vital services to police departments and law enforcement agencies,” Laura adds. “Spaulding Decon doesn’t just hand you a franchise. We train our franchisees, provide them with mentorship, and provide them with all marketing and branding materials.” The company claims itself as a network of franchises that strive to help one another succeed. They seek ambitious, determined individuals who are looking for the support of a franchise system. Individuals who can follow the system and become supportive members of its community, be empathetic, be ambitious, and exude gratitude. The new franchisees are initially provided with field support, a ramp-up coach assigned to a franchise business consultant that helps you with sales and sales training, and an in-house marketing team that helps with all digital efforts, websites, and social media. It also has a call centre and a 24/7 live chat on the company’s website. It negotiates deals with purchasing, which gives them discounts. They also get their own websites with maintenance and promotion by the franchisor.
The motive behind the company’s inception was to alleviate some of the stress from customers dealing with things such as suicide clean-ups, rodent clean-ups, unattended death clean-ups, and much more. Laura claims managing such a business is a difficult process for those grieving and, in some cases, for those dealing with emotional issues such as hoarding. She and her team want to help their customers by providing them with exceptional customer service and care. “We go above and beyond so that your house goes back to being a home,” says Laura. She states that the crime scene cleaning industry is extremely fragmented, and most companies are local mom-and-pop shops. Spaulding Decon, however, excels in various aspects that differentiate the company from its competitors. It provides exceptional customer care and empathy. The team values empathy and authenticity, so it strives to always put its best foot forward and be empathetic to its customers during stressful times. As a full-service company, Spaulding Decon can replace things such as dry-wall, sheetrock, tile, carpet, basically anything that has come into contact with biohazard. “We offer a profound cleaning process, so much so that we will remove all surfaces affected by biohazard. “For instance, if there is blood that has seemed through grout, we will replace your existing tile,” says Laura. In addition to cleaning these homes, the company offers customers the opportunity to sell their homes as-is. This could prove to be very helpful for customers who do not want to return to the property or who cannot be in charge of clearing out the property themselves.
For a Noble Cause
Spaulding Decon is growing robustly. In the next 3-5 years, the company plans to expand internationally, with intends to open offices in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Social media has also been the propagating factor for a company’s growth. Gaining it an extensive number of followers; approximately 800,000 followers merely on YouTube. The company is harnessing this reach to benefit the various causes. The franchise feels it is important to give back to its community. Every year Laura and her team give a qualifying Veteran a franchise on Veteran’s Day. They also give away a free hoard clean-up to someone who needs assistance and also takes the time to volunteer at some of the local organizations.
In conclusion, Laura is proud of her venture because it provides a variety of service verticals that no one else does. With its extremely large territories, in-house marketing, and call centre, Spaulding Decon is currently thriving in the market
