What are the biggest headwinds facing your company and other BSCs this year?

Running a business has not been the same since the massive disruptions of COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdowns. The trend of people continuing to work from home, the changing economic environment, the impact on client sectors and the rise of union action and demand for higher wages have created a complicated environment. This continues into 2024. We face rising costs across a number of areas plus economic uncertainty, which affects client decision-making critical to our ability to grow and deliver our services.

How can businesses respond to these challenges?

The key to responding to these challenges is to continue to run the fundamentals of a good business. Know your products and services, know your client needs, price competitively and keep a close eye on your margins to ensure you can maintain profitability. Being able to respond to new client needs and maintain some agility in the model is critical in these times. It is equally important to listen to your clients so that as these needs adapt and change, so also do the products and services they require. At Total Property Services, internally working on building a great company culture has been one of the best ways to ensure our staff are engaged, translating to great service on sites.

Now that you’ve identified some of the headwinds on the horizon, what are some positive trends the industry can look forward to?

Hopefully, robotics will hit the sweet spot of meeting the right applications at the right price point and will become more widespread in their use. Technology-supported reporting and the flow of information share between facility managers and service technicians is an exciting space where we can move into real-time information and get smarter solutions. This is an area where we see immense gains in productivity and the ability for our service personnel to be the eyes and ears feeding information back to decision-makers and speeding up building maintenance and repairs.

What is the team at TPS particularly excited about?

We continue to expand our service capability and want to become a market leader in wrap-around service provision for quality commercial assets. We also want to expand our offering in sustainability and step up our role in the decarbonization of commercial buildings. Our team is excited about the foundation of growth we have laid in the last few years that is now driving the expansion of our service range into new areas across the country. We also continue to invest in our technology to track and report across all our services and work with our clients to understand their reporting requirements and deliver them in real time.

How did you, personally, get your start in the BSC industry?

I previously ran a management consulting firm with a range of clients across diverse industries. Total Property Services became a client for a piece of work around market strategy. This work led to a range ofother projects and continued to grow, which led to a conversation with the owner and an offer to step in as managing director and run the company. This was back in 2016, and the time has flown.

What do you enjoy most about the work?

I love the people aspect of the business. We have diverse teams of people across the country working in our service divisions; and, as a company, we have the opportunity to help people develop in their careers and even sometimes use us as a springboard to other opportunities. My favorite moments have been seeing people start with us in low-level roles, receive training and then get promoted into key management positions. We have seen new immigrants to the country establish themselves and then be able to gain citizenship and bring their families across; and it has been really rewarding to be part of their journey.

How has WFBSC membership served you?

BSC membership has been important in looking at market trends and the impact of government legislation, the negotiation process with the unions and generally being aware of what is happening. Also, the collegial side of the network and partnering with like-minded people has been great.      

What advice would you give to new entrants to the BSC industry?

You are entering an industry where the majority of feedback you will get from your clients will be negative…so find ways to create positive feedback and develop a strong self-belief in the business you want to run. Look after your people — investing in them is never wasted, and taking care of them will deliver back outstanding results.