46 | Business World Magazine |
March 2014
their clients came to us and asked if we had
any interest in getting back into it,” Jones
says. “Those customers wanted options, and
it made us look hard. The decision was made
to come back in as a green company. The cost
at start-up was more, sure, but once you’ve
equipped and ready, the decision makes that
much more sense. There was no transition
involved from that point.”
The Universal umbrella now includes
Universal Protection Service, Universal
Building Maintenance, Universal Protec-
tion Security Systems and Universal Fire/
Life Safety Services. Combined, it’s the larg-
est regional security and janitorial company
in the U.S., with more than 40,000 security
and janitorial professionals from 90 branch
offices guarding and cleaning assets across 47
states.
The corporate growth spurt has contin-
ued in 2014 with the acquisitions of Hawaii’s
Kiamalu Consulting & Investigations Agen-
