Service first for local cleaning supply company

St. Boniface Industrial

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This article was published 06/03/2024 (630 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cleaning up after people might not be the most glamorous job, but somebody’s got to do it.

“One of the appeals of the business is that the floor always seems to get dirty so it always needs to be cleaned,” said Ian Smart, president of Jan-San Equipment Sales & Service. “And you’re going to need equipment to do that.”

Jan-San — located at 540 Archibald St. — sells cleaning equipment and supplies, dealing in brands of equipment such as Advance, Clarke, Viper, Tennant, and Nobles.

“We sell new and used equipment. We’ve got the ride-on auto-scrubbers, the walk-behind units, big and small ones. Carpet extractors for cleaning carpets, sweepers, and individual hand-held vacuums and everything in between,” Smart said. “As the population grows older, it’s harder and harder to find people to work in a lot of these businesses, you see the natural evolution from a mop and pail to an auto-scrubber to save some labour and be a little more efficient.”

With self-driving ‘robot’ auto-scrubbers becoming more prevalent, Smart said it is only a matter of time before Jan-San will be selling those, as well.

“We support a couple of robots right now. As it is getting harder to find people, with a piece of equipment that does its thing and someone can give it a little love and attention at the beginning and end of a shift, but run autonomously between then, generally speaking that’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s coming. We can see that on the horizon and it’s an area we’re spending time looking at, to find the right piece of equipment for our customers.”

If you ask Smart, the main thing Jan-San deals in, though, is service.

“We are a service organization. Our goal is to give you great service,” he said. “When you call us and you have a piece of equipment that needs to be repaired or maintained, we go out and try to do a great job of that. Our hope is that if we do a great job servicing your equipment, when it comes time to buy a new piece of equipment, you’ll come to us or at least consider us. We also sell janitorial supplies, everything from toilet paper to mops and buckets and cleaning supplies and chemicals, all that. But our main goal is to provide great service.”

Smart believes that putting service first sets Jan-San apart. With 11 employees, Jan-San has four technicians who work on service calls each and every day, along with a designated delivery driver and sales and front of house staff.

“We’re of the view that that’s harder to find than it’s ever been,” he said. “Our competitors typically try to sell janitorial supplies or equipment, and then if they need to, they’ll provide the service. So we’re trying to come at it differently, which we think is a strength of ours. We have a great staff here and wonderful customers out there. We’re working hard to support the ones we have and attract new ones, as well.”

Founded in 2010, Smart bought Jan-San Equipment Sales & Service Inc. in November 2022 from founder Paul Savoie, whose family connections to the cleaning and janitorial industry goes back decades. Savoie still works with the company, in sales and business development, as does his sister, Michelle Bateman.

“We get along well,” said Smart, who prior to buying Jan-San worked as an executive for NFI Group and Standard Aero. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company he was with was downsizing. Smart took it as an opportunity to branch out on his own.

“I was looking to get out of the big company world and maybe own my own small business,” he said. “It’s a neat little business. I’m certainly proud of it. It’s been rewarding coming to small business, where you can touch and feel a lot of the details.”

For more information, visit jansan.ca