Swamped in a Good Way
Business is booming for Unified Cleaning & Construction Services, LLC
There are not enough hours in the day for Joe Facinoli, the owner and President of Unified Cleaning & Construction Services, LLC, based in Timonium, Md.
The voicemail on his cell phone has been full for three years and can’t take any new messages; but he still manages to get back to anyone who texts or emails him. He also returns calls if he sees a missed call because he believes, as busy as it gets, it’s all about relationships. Eventually, he quips, he’ll empty his voicemail messages; but that also takes time and he knows it’ll just refill in a day so … why bother?
He’s got more important tasks at hand.
You might reach him at 7 a.m. heading to a job site, or after 10 p.m. when he catches a second wind and starts to push through the piles of papers on his computer desk. In between, he’s the hands-on owner of a million-dollar Baltimore-Washington, D.C., cleaning company specializing in everything from post-construction cleaning to drywall repair and installation. Painting, power washing, window cleaning—all of it has led to booming business for Unified Cleaning & Construction Services, LLC (Unified).
Busting at the Seams
Unified’s crews work on an average of two to five sites a day, Facinoli says, but if he increased his current staff of eight full-timers and 40 part-timers he could easily do 10 to 12.
“It can be overwhelming, but that’s the way I like it right now,” Facinoli says. “We are going to hire more personnel because we definitely have the business, but that also takes time and time is just not something I have a lot of right now.”
Facinoli isn’t complaining. He remembers the days of searching for a company he could call his own when the idea for Unified basically found him. He was renovating homes in the Baltimore area and selling to investors when bigger companies stumbled onto the market and started overpaying to eliminate competition.
“We couldn’t compete,” he says. “In the 1980s, I operated a daily janitorial company, so after the housing thing, I had an opportunity to sell and work for a national cleaning company. I took on a few jobs cleaning construction sites because the money was good, but the bosses didn’t want to be in that market and told me to stop, so I moved on.”
Never Give Up
Despite that setback, Facinoli believed in the construction cleaning market, and joined a regional cleaning company. After four years, that owner also wanted to focus on daily cleaning for commercial businesses and suggested Facinoli start his own business.
“I’m still friends with the owner and after he said it once I told him, ‘Don’t tell me twice or I will start my own business,’” Facinoli says. “He did say it twice, so I started with two accounts and it just grew from there.”
He adds, “I think a big reason we’re so successful is that I’ve worked in construction, so I know what to expect and when and where to clean, sometimes before the contractors do. Project managers can be creatures of habit. When they find a subcontractor who they know does good work and is reliable, they want to work with them. They don’t want headaches. Job sites are controlled chaos, at best, and you need to know how to work around them and together. Project managers know I’ve trained all my guys on how to work around congested job sites and get everything done without being in the way.”
Unified is officially home for Facinoli. His son Tyler is starting to help more with the business. The company’s busiest months are typically June, July and August.
“The summer is when all of the school renovations take place and construction crews are compressing six-month jobs into three months during the summer breaks,” he says. “It is the busiest time. The worst part is waxing floors when work crews are still in the building. The sites become a logistics nightmare with all the moving parts.”
Quality Expectations
Unified will never claim to be the least expensive cleaner in the market, Facinoli says, but project managers also know his company’s quality and understand the realities that the cleanup industry can bring.
“I tell people if you are just looking for the cheapest price, and you settled on us, you probably didn’t go far enough down the list,” Facinoli says, laughing. “Our bids aren’t always the lowest. It has to be good for the client and us. If there are crews still in there while we’re cleaning up, that’s factored in because we know it will take more time.” This knowledge comes from experience.
“I never have to worry about business anymore,” he says. “I still believe in meeting every client face to face. If I see a new crane or a new building site, I’ll stop by and talk to the project manager. That’s just the way I do business.”
Fatherly Pride
It is an interesting world where Facinoli found his work ethic.
His father, Frank Facinoli, would have been 100 years old on September 1 of this year, but passed nearly 10 years ago. He served as an Air Force pilot in World War II and one of Joe’s favorite possessions is a black-and-white photo of his dad in the cockpit of his plane in 1945. General George Patton and two other military leaders are also pictured preparing to board.
He believes it was taken in Austria, where Patton led a mission to rescue the world-famous, high-stepping Lipizzaner stallions after hearing that the Germans, running out of rations, were starting to use them for food.
“Patton loved horses,” Facinoli says. “I never got the chance to ask my dad about that mission but it all matches up.”
Frank was assigned to Patton’s 3rd Army headquarters staff as a pilot flying Stinson L-5 Sentinels for the 14th Liaison Squadron.
“My dad had a lot of Patton stories because Patton and a few others often used his squadron’s planes like a taxi, to get to places,” Facinoli says. “It was dangerous. He was in a squadron of 12 and the only artillery he had was a .45 sidearm on his hip. In the picture, you can see Patton with his pearl-handled pistol and carrying a camera. He always took pictures. He was an incredible man.”
No doubt, if Joe Facinoli’s dad were around today he’d be equally impressed with his son—and the successful business he has built in Unified Cleaning & Construction Services.