KLEENCO: ‘Work that is needed’

By Shawn McGrath, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

December 01, 2008 01:23 am

— ALEXANDRIA — Acts of God — think the proverbial tolls of time and tide — can be recession-proof, profit-generators for some businesses. Count Alexandria-based Kleenco among them.
Construction company Kleenco, 8239 N. Indiana 9, does environmental work, asphalt paving and sidewalk installation. But the business’s fingerprints can also be found on landscaping projects, plumbing work and electrical installation.
The business began as a partnership between Dan Vanhooser and his father-in-law, Jay Chambers, in 1987. Originally, the business began as a petroleum construction company, removing underground, fuel storage tanks from gas stations.
“At the time, the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) changed regulations on storage tanks, and the business-end blossomed,” said Kurt Tatman, Kleenco president. “Like every small business, we started in the bedroom of a house.”
By the late 1990s, that side of the business began to dwindle, and the company expanded into a new markets. And those new markets have more than made up for the loss. Company officials declined to provide revenue figures, but corporate controller Natalie Zigler said company revenue year-to-date has more than doubled from 2006, when they moved into their current location.
Company officials said they have no intentions of digging up their roots in Alexandria. The company moved into its distinctive art-deco-inspired office building along Indiana 9 about two years ago, and the business has boomed, doing business as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Arkansas. They’ve completed projects in Pennsylvania to the east and Arizona to the west.
“Since we moved into this office, our business has doubled,” Tatman said. “We wanted to be in Alexandria; we wanted to be somewhere where we had ties.”
Along with municipal work, a large portion of business is derived from building and maintaining big-box retailing sites. The company has worked on maintenance projects for the Anderson Wal-Mart, 2321 Charles St.
“We’ve seen the cyclical changes (with new retail construction),” said Jeff Miller, vice president of sales and marketing. “But being more in the maintenance side of it, they want to maintain their locations. Our business has not suffered.”
The company has been successful enough that it’s been able to donate to civic projects in northern Madison County, and especially Alexandria. Tatman said the business donated labor to refurbish the Alexandria Animal Shelter. It has also placed a canopy over the Alexandria City Building entrance, put in two new basement windows in the building, and completed some tucking and pointing to the exterior of the Chamber of Commerce office.
“They came in and did a lot of work for us,” Mayor Jack Woods said. “They did quite a bit for the money. They did a great job.”
And just as the company has no plans on relocating its headquarters, Woods said the town is making attempts to pull the business firmly within the city limits.
“I’ll tell you how much they mean to Alex,” the mayor said, “even though they’re outside the city limits, we’d love to extend sewer and water to them. We would love to have them inside the city. They’re a great bunch of people. They’re easy to work with.”
Because of the nature of the company’s business — like maintenance projects for existing retail locations, or erosion control work — it almost completely operates outside large-scale shifts in the economy.
“We deal with work that is needed whether there is a recession or not,” Miller said. “(But) we’re not completely recession-proof.”
Company officials are optimistic about the chances of growth, especially the business’s western operations.
“We’d like to double the number of our employees in the next three to five years,” Tatman said. “There’s a lot of potential in Texas. But we still want to stay here and focus on our work here in the Midwest.
“We’ve been steady growers — adding more services, more vehicles, more employees every year.”

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