I have learned that if you take care of people, money will take care of you. But if you chase money it will simply grow wings and fly away.
Q & A With Bradley Jacobson, Senior Engineer & Owner of UltraVac
What services or products does your company offer, and in which locations are these offered?
Residential, Commercial & Industrial Duct Cleaning in Manitoba and North Western Ontario, Canada.
How did you come up with the idea to start the UltraVac, and what purpose did you intend to serve with the concept?
I started Ultra Vac because of business practices that were common in the duct cleaning industry. Companies who are now my competitors would hire commission sales professionals to come into people's homes, and by hook or crook, get the home owner to spend as much money as possible to have their home's duct system cleaned.
I feel that this business practice is completely unethical.
Every decision I made in the creation of Ultra Vac revolves around one word. Integrity.
Integrity is creating Unlimited Vent & Duct Cleaning. We clean the ENTIRE duct system of any home that is two thousand square feet or less for one very fair price.
Integrity is using the most powerful equipment so we can properly clean from every vent back to the furnace using industrial vacuums, which generate a minimum of five thousand cubic feet per minute of suction and pneumatic scrubbing systems generating a minimum of 175 psi of air pressure.
Integrity is paying my staff industry leading wages and supporting them in both their personal and professional growth.
Which milestones have marked meeting benchmarks towards the fulfillment of your personal goals/ the company's vision and goals?
The first milestone was when we surpassed 100 reviews on Google with every single review being a perfect five star rating. Years later and we still possess a perfect five star rating on all online rating platforms.
Another milestone was being selected as one of Canada's best businesses by The Canadian Review Board two years in a row. This is exciting because it's not just based on reviews by our clients but also by ratings online from our current and previous staff.
Which steps have you taken for the company to achieve the level of consumer trust that has been nationally recognized?
My leadership approach is to serve my team with the same level of excellence, understanding, care and support that I want them to serve our customers.
My team are not treated like merely staff but are trained to be Brand Ambassadors who are fully trained Technicians and not simply a labour force.
Each and every one is a valued professional with individual goals both personally and professionally and my role is to work with them to empower them to learn to take the steps to reach their potential.
It is the care that our team demonstrate on a daily basis in people's homes and businesses that truly sets Ultra Vac apart. Every business and home's duct system is unique and we take the time to not just understand these nuances, we take the time to explain them to our clients. Many clients do not know how their duct systems work before we come into their home. But by the time we leave, they are more knowledgeable about their home and after witnessing our teams' hard work and the before and after photos of their duct cleaning, our clients have the peace of mind that they have the healthiest home possible.
What part of your education or other experiences do you feel was the most helpful in preparing you for success?
As a certified Life Coach with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Psychology (University of Winnipeg) and Conflict Resolution Studies (Canadian Mennonite University) I focus my energy on ensuring my team has the supports in place to facilitate their work with excellence.
As a Fourth Class Licensed Power Engineer, I have the expertise to train our technicians in more than how to use the most powerful equipment in the industry, I train them in Thermodynamic Principles so that they can understand WHY duct systems are built they way they are.
Being a Power Engineer is also extremely helpful in supervising and training our technicians when we are facilitating huge commercial and industrial duct cleaning. Some duct systems we clean run thirty stories high and others run over a kilometre long. Possessing in depth understanding about the physics behind the creation of these massive systems is a definite key to our success.
Which strategies have you found the most effective in growing your audience/ bringing awareness of your service to a larger consumer group?
Facilitating our work with integrity and excellence is the springboard from which we have launched our website's success (www.ultravac.net), our social media ad campaigns (fb.me/ultravacwpg) and was the reason we were featured on television four times.
Which partnerships, if any, have been the most constructive in bringing your goals closer to becoming a reality?
I like to say that I view every duct cleaning as the client and our technicians as:
Team Ultra Vac VERSUS The Evil Dust, Dirt and Debris
Which is lurking in the client's duct system.
This mindset brings our clients into our discussions on our every decision on the how and why we are attacking the cleaning of the duct system with truly innovative cleaning techniques and not just relying on the equipment to hopefully do the cleaning for us.
Are there any challenges that made it difficult to continue operation and that you managed to overcome? What was your approach to get past these?
During the entire pandemic, Ultra Vac continued to grow. Because of our continued success we made the decision to not apply for any provincial or federal benefits. In fact, we even purchased Healthy Air Duct Cleaning - one of our major competitors and brought them into our fold right in the middle of the second wave.
As the pandemic dragged on wave after wave it made those decisions more and more difficult but in the end we stayed focused on providing the best quality and service the industry has ever seen at a fair price and we made it through! Now that we are on the other side, I have to admit that it does feel incredible to have overcome such a global scenario completely on our own.
How do you balance work, passions/hobbies, and relationships?
The Ultra Vac team is a group of truly incredible professionals. As we have continued to grow I have been able to train our technician team to be more independent which has reduced my work load. Our senior technicians have also stepped up in providing training, facilitating route planning as well as customer service resolutions. Our office continues to do an exemplary job of answering customer concerns, set reasonable performance expectations and ask for help when they need it.
Learning to release more and more of the day-to-day responsibilities to my incredible team has enabled me to maintain my work/life balance.
During the pandemic I was able to get back into the recording studio and working with Juno and Grammy nominated artist and producer Fresh IE. I released my latest studio album where I reimagined my favourite 80's and 90's songs. The album title is "Mosaic Arcade" under my performer name "DJC2". My new single "Hotel California" (Originally recorded by The Eagles) is being featured in the movie "Five True Friends". www.djc2music.com
My incredibly supportive and brilliant wife Joanne has walked this path every step of the way right by my side. There has not been one decision that I have not run by her first for her opinion. There has not been a moonlit walk or date where she does not listen to my latest excited adventure or idea in my business.
My father has been my biggest supporter since I was a fledgling entrepreneur at the age of fourteen when I started to DJ at every dance or event that would have me. Thirty four years later we still talk about business daily and his faith in me and my endless creative ideas never fails.
I am also fortunate that my brother Jordan is my most senior technician. Having his trusted support and expertise has been one of the keys to Ultra Vac’s success.
My fifteen year old son Nicholas has spent his entire life having me bounce business ideas off him and now he is one of our most valued technician assistants specializing in new home construction cleaning.
What are your future plans to build on your personal/ company achievements and fulfill your vision for success/ what developments can your audience or clientele look forward to expecting next?
Maintaining Ultra Vac's exceptional customer experience as we grow is my focus. Acquiring more clients will not result in sustained growth if we fail to deliver our exceptional quality.
I can train anyone to learn about thermodynamics and how to operate the most powerful equipment in our industry. I cannot train people to possess integrity and care about the quality of their workmanship.
Finding the right people to continue to build our unparalleled brand will be the true key to our success.
Our Canadian clients can look forward to seeing Ultra Vac continue to lead the duct cleaning industry in Quality, Service, Value and Safety.
What advice would you like to give readers that hope to achieve success in your field?
Invest in the right equipment and offer customers unlimited vent and duct cleaning prices. Don't follow in the footsteps of the past and provide per vent pricing. As one of my senior technicians likes to say: “You can sheer a sheep every year but you can only skin it once.”
Is there anything else you would like to share with Winner Magazine readers?
I have learned that if you take care of people, money will take care of you. But if you chase money it will simply grow wings and fly away.
We thank Bradley for sharing these insights and experiences with Winner Magazine's readers. If you are looking for Duct Cleaning in Manitoba and North Western Ontario, we would recommend reaching out to Bradley at UltraVac!