When Colin Mason was coming of age in the late 1940’s, the United Kingdom was in post war ruin. He was recruited by the British Army and traveled to Singapore, upon his return to Barry, Wales, 20-year old Colin, trained to be a welder but saw little opportunity to grow his career and build a life for his family. In 1950, he and his wife Fay decided to immigrate to Canada with their infant son Jeff to build a better life. Colin soon found work at Texaco in Port Credit Ontario (west of Toronto) and spent his weekends cleaning small retail stores for extra money to support his family. Things were looking up for the Mason’s until Port Credit workers went on strike in 1958 and Colin was forced to turn his weekend ambition into a full time pursuit. With little more than a bucket and mop, Colin successfully grew his cleaning business, knocking on doors and offering his services. He never looked back. Over time Colin was able to add larger accounts and, by the seventies, Mason’s Janitorial had won major contracts to clean the IBM plant and Toronto International Airport.
In the early 70’s Colin decided to sell the successful company to Pritchard Services from the UK but agreed to stay on as General Manager. However he was only able to contain his entrepreneurial spirit for a few years before discovering another business opportunity in the Toronto market. He started a commercial sector window cleaning company with his oldest son Jeff and in 1977 Summit Window Cleaning was formed.
In 1983 they built on the business by purchasing a commercial cleaning company and in 1984 they added a carpet cleaning company. It was at this time that the family’s second son, Gareth- born in 1961, joined the company and ran the carpet cleaning operation. He worked alongside his brother and father from an early age and both he and Jeff learned the cleaning business and what it takes to grow a competitive company.
In 1987, with the cleaning businesses growing nicely, an opportunity to partner with Numatic International -a major cleaning equipment manufacturer from the UK - changed things again. Colin saw an unfilled niche in the North American market and because of his background, experience and relationships, decided the time was right to form North American Cleaning Equipment and the family company was redefined for a third time. Gareth says, “In 1986, my father saw a chance for us to diversify and capitalize in two markets, so I took over management of the equipment side and Jeff ran the cleaning company.”
After growing Summit Window Cleaning, Nationwide Housekeeping Systems and Professional Carpet Cleaning for over twenty-three years a decision was made to sell the service companies and focus on the equipment. Jeff went into partnership with his brother and in 2004 they rebranded the company as Nacecare Solutions. Now on the cusp of celebrating their 30th year developing commercial cleaning equipment, Nacecare beats the competition when it comes to price and quality. They specialize in uncomplicated and dependable vacuums, carpet extractors, scrubbers, floor machines, pressure washers, and janitorial carts that prove to be work horses in the field.
The company has developed a successful enterprise importing equipment technology and components from the UK for the Canadian and US markets. Gareth attributes the company’s success to his immigrant father’s tireless work ethic; not afraid to carve out a living for his family with a mop and bucket. “He would knock on doors and do the work no one else wanted to do. His standards for timely and quality work earned my father a reputation as a problem solver you could rely on; someone who would always deliver on his promises. He made valuable relationships because of that reputation. Those are the principles my father built his business on and that govern Nacecare Solutions to this day.” Sadly, Colin passed away in April, 2016 but his legacy lives on through his sons, their sister, Jeanette and thirty-five other dedicated employees at Nacecare Solutions. Gareth believes in the Nacecare mission to manufacture and sell equipment that is perfectly suited for the commercial cleaning industry at a fair price.
Gareth says the best examples of Nacecare’s solution-based products currently offered are battery-powered backpack vacuums along with their low noise emission vacuum equipment. “We still have an excellent relationship with five key suppliers who we know go the extra mile in product development. We are developing the equipment that makes the most sense for today’s commercial cleaning professional.” Gareth says the superior technology of gel batteries make Nacecare’s scrubbers the most sustainable battery units on the market and they’re 100% maintenance free. To eliminate any fear of trying their vacuums, Nacecare’s vacuum motors even carry a five year guarantee.
Gareth says that “a big part of winning over potential customers is proving to them that battery vacuums aren’t less powerful or less effective. In fact with 76% soil recovery they outperform many electric units. They run for 45 minutes on a full charge, and when using two batteries, that’s more than enough time to complete a standard cleaning shift.” When day cleaning is the customer’s preference, Gareth says Nacecare has the solution, “the industries’ quietest battery and electric canister and backpack vacuums.” The entire product offering is up to twenty decibels below the market standard, making them the ideal vacuum for the corporate, healthcare or education cleaning environment.
Another common sense solution offered by Nacecare is their janitorial carts; built based on the cleaning professional’s unique needs. Gareth explains, “In healthcare specifically, the facility types can really vary. That means the cleaning crew has to move through those areas and clean them efficiently. They can’t do that with a standardized cookie-cutter janitorial cart, so we let the cleaning professional design a durable, color-coded workstation that is perfectly suited for their needs.”
NaceCare is a corporation on the move with goals to grow their presence in the market. Their market share has been growing significantly over the past few years due to new innovative products such as the canister and backpack battery vacuums along with support systems like software to help the end users measure and compare their productivity levels and Return on Investment (ROI) for all 5 vacuum types.
They will be launching a completely new auto scrubber offering at this years ISSA show along with significant upgrades to the battery and electric vacuum lines including increasing the power of the motors on the battery units and offering a five year commercial warranty on all vacuum motors.
Gareth believes Nacecare Solutions is on the right track to expand their reach by continuing to invest extensively in new product development and knowing the market to ensure all new products are exactly what the end user needs while offering superior customer service and standing behind their products. Utilizing their industry background, NaceCare is living up to Colin Mason’s reputation as a problem solver you can rely on.
featured in Services Magazine
September / October 2016 issue
