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Dec. 2003 — It’s an exciting time at A-Active Termite and Pest Control. We’ve just broken ground on the site where our new headquarters will be built. I know my staff is especially looking forward to our new building. For the fast five years our company has experienced high, double-digit growth. We’ve added technicians and office personnel and we just don’t have the space to accommodate them. Plus, we’ve tried to incorporate the technological things – the computers and scheduling – so we’ve been maximizing the space that we did have available.
We had enough office space for the leadership of the company. When we hired our office manager, Billie Burnette, she had a staff of four women, so we needed an office for her. So Jeff and Billie shared an office for 19 months. Our service manager, Chuck Roach, used a large converted closet where he could lock up expensive equipment and payroll information.
Our technicians never had their own areas. There were group areas. We had filing cabinets and each of them had their own drawer. They never had a cubicle they could call their own and claim it and put a picture of their spouse and kids. Salespeople did have that, but the technicians were never afforded that type of nicety.
Another problem is that we are a Brite Ideas Franchisee (i.,e., A-Active offers holiday lighting services). We had to rent out a separate storage facility to store the lights and equipment and that was getting to be expensive. We also needed storage room to keep equipment and repair tools.
We’ve been looking to buy or build for the last five years. Most of the buildings that we felt could accommodate us were not affordable and most of the ones that were affordable were worse than what we had. So we seriously started looking for land to build two years ago. In our market, where most of the places that had land available the builders had bought up the lots. So the only way they would sell you the lot was if they could develop it for you. That was very cost-prohibitive for not only us, but I am sure it is for a lot of PCOs.
Finally some land opened up that we could develop on our own about two years ago. The location is perfect. It has great access to a major thoroughfare that is being expanded from two lanes to five lanes. The location was affordable. Land was zoned industrial, so we could build anything we want. Plus it will accommodate 12,000 square feet of structure on the lot, so we will have room to expand. Buying land is similar to buying a car in that you are looking down road. You never buy a piece of land with intent of occupying it. You have to look at resale potential. The next step is getting our finances in order.
Check back at www.pctonline.com to read the next article in the series, which deals with the financing of the new building.