Business Spotlight: Air Commanders

After nearly four decades operating, HVAC system and chimney cleaning company LCS Kleen-Aire Inc. completed a 6,400-square-foot addition in Springfield this year prompted by promising increases in its commercial business.  

Launched by Mike McGauley in 1978 as Lucky Chimney Sweeps, the business these days specializes in residential and commercial air duct cleaning, says Business Development Director Tyler McGauley.

McGauley, the founder’s son, focuses on the sales and marketing end of the 15-employee business, but he’s been known to get his hands dirty in the field when needed.

“Being a small, family-owned business, I wear a lot of hats,” he says. “We all help each other out, especially with this construction process.”

The company served as its own general contractor for the $500,000 addition at 3210 S. Scenic Ave. that included new delivery docks, a break room, laundry room and parking lot, according to city permits. The docks provide a staging area for 11 service trucks, plus two sales vehicles, that serve clients across the Midwest. While the residential work is localized, McGauley says commercial customers have taken employees as far out as Salt Lake City.

LCS Kleen-Aire serves such commercial clients as Con Agra, Kraft and Nestle, says Operations Supervisor Tammy Childers, who has worked for the business 25 years and is married to Operations Manager Steve Childers. She says roughly three-fourths of revenue comes from commercial customers, but about three-fourths of job orders originate on the residential side.

“Technology has had a huge impact on us,” she says, recalling when she first came on board she told Mike McGauley the company needed a computer. Back then, pager codes were the common way to communicate with technicians in the field. Today, the company has five workstations and three laptops, but on the service side, not much has changed.

For most customers, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are out of sight and out of mind. Tyler McGauley says the company’s thorough approach to system cleanings – the average residential job takes six to eight hours – has won favor with food producers and health care providers Mercy and CoxHealth.

“The same technicians that do a residence are traveling throughout the country doing these high-priority environments such as food plants,” he says.

Residential jobs range between $450 and $700, while commercial service starts at $500 and industrial around $5,000. Chimney sweeping costs $100-$150 on average.

Gene Gore, factory hygienist for Gerber Products Co.’s baby food plant in Fort Smith, Ark., says the Nestle-owned company has hired LCS Kleen-Aire to clean its 43 air-handling units for about five years. Service this summer on eight units at the 1 million-square-foot facility cost roughly $42,000.

“It’s a turn-key project. I’m very hands off with it,” Gore says. “They have learned our facility to where they know where all the connections are from electrical to water and plumbing.”

Gore says the manufacturer is producing foods in aseptic environments, so air quality is a top priority. “From a microbiological standpoint, we have to ensure that there is nothing getting into these products that could cause any harm to kids,” Gore says.

Competing against such companies as Enviro-Air, ServPro and Spring Mountain Air, McGauley says 2014 revenue was up 10 percent from growth on the commercial side. Declining to disclose figures, he expects 2015 to finish up around 5 percent.

Spring and fall are the busiest seasons. McGauley says people tend to recognize moldy smells or problems when they turn the air on or the heat off for the first time. Vents and ducts can be traps for moisture, so the company uses industrial “negative pressure” vacuums to thoroughly clean vents.

“Indoor air can be 70 to 90 percent dirtier than outdoor air,” he says, pointing to Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

McGauley says common contaminants are dirt, grime, moisture and smoke. Air quality also is impacted by trash that can pile in vents or small animals, such as squirrels and snakes, that hide away inside systems. Even family pets, which naturally shed skin cells, are factors.

“All those contaminants can become airborne and get stuck inside systems,” McGauley says. “If you didn’t dust or clean or scrub toilets for 10 years, you could imagine the state that everything would be in.”