HISTORY
Delivered by Thousands
Three decades ago, Joe Collins had a different view on how to provide cleaning services to New York.
Commit to each cleint personally.
Commit to the highest quality service.
Today that vision is carried out across the greater New York area by each of the 2,600 menbers of the Collins Building Services - one committed team member at a time.
Collins Building Services, Inc. (CBS, Inc.) was founded in October, 1988 when Joseph Collins assembled a select team of executives; all well established by reputation and experience in the building maintenance industry. It was this team that Joe Collins trusted with his vision to establish an organization in which operations would be the backbone and service would be paramount. Through the years, the corporation has grown and flourished due to the efforts of its dedicated staff. Following is a sampling of milestones that mark the growth of CBS, Inc.
1988: With backing from longtime friend Peter Callahan, CBS, Inc. was founded by Joseph Collins and seven associates. In October they opened the doors of a small corporate office in the Madison Square Building at 15 East 26th Street. In the three months that remained in the year, the company acquired one account. Volume of revenue was negligible. The sales efforts were driven but the opportunities were few.
Corporate Profile
Collins developed and launched GreenSafe, its environmentally responsible cleaning program, several years before sustainability practices became widespread. It created FacMan, a proprietary, web-based customer management system to allow clients to monitor results at any time, form any computer.
It initiated electronic billing, innovative product sourcing, and office-based training by executives to ensure the founding vision and latest industry requirements are both taught in the optimal learning environment. And Collins internal quality control system and practices have developed a loyal staff with decades of service.
Today Collins is one of the five largest building firms in New York, serving many of the city's fabled skyline's premier towers, as well as many of it's leading owners, managers and corporations. Unlike it's competition, Collins is the only firm that has withstood the pressures of acquisition and consolidation. At 2,600 employees strong, it still considers itself a family business. And the founding team is still in the office or on the job site every day, doiing what they do best - personally making sure that Collins quality is delivered at the highest level possible.
Though the firm has grown dramatically in size, volume and technological innovation, the vision that launched Collins Building Services three decades ago has not changed. Now will it. Collins leaders and employees alike remain steadfastly committed to personal service of the highest quality - timeless values that will always be at the cutting edge.
In October 1988, the time was right for a building services company that would serve all clients - whether a start-up with a handful of employees or an international conglomerate - with personal care and attention at every level...
Joseph Collins founded that company and put his name on it, underscoring his unflinching commitment to the highest quality service, personally delivered. He drew together liike-minded executives, leased a modest office and together, the team began to get the message out.
One year later, the business volume of the company bearing his name was $2.8 million. The message was being heard: Collins was a company where you knew the leadership by sight because they were on site every week performing inspections themselves, taking emergency phone calls any time of day or night, and training every member of the Collins team to treat the building as if it was their own.
The employees heard the message as well. A Collins employee is given more personal training and mentoring than most; turnover is well below industry average. And the rewards are tangible - the company promotes almost exclusivley from within, so that the supervisors training new hires not only knows the job inside and out, but the corporate culture of quality from having performed it themselves.
Still, exceptional personal service, amd operational training excellence were not enough. One had to deliver more, and that often meant anticipating needs and meeting them before clients asked.