The Hurley Group
History of Hurley
50 Years of Excellence
The Hurley Group began 50 years ago as a way for its founder, Richard Hurley, to gain a little extra money to subsidize his meager paycheck as a Toronto Transit Worker.
From that one client in 1956, what was then known as Industrial Floor Service, has transformed into the Hurley Group that today boasts annual sales of more than $160 million a year and about 5,000 employees.
Its businesses stretch across Eastern Canada and parts of the
But 50 years later, Hurley does not see its clients as just a way to make additional money. The company, consistently ranked as one of the 50 Best Managed Companies in
Growth has not prevented the company from sticking to its core values of hard work and appreciation for its customers, however. This was the mantra 50 years ago and it remains at the core of the company’s philosophy today.
Proof of this is the fact that the first client Richard Hurley signed up in 1956, a small engineering company in
With its roots in building cleaning, Hurley now offers facility services to a diverse portfolio of properties in
A Family Affair
The company’s strength finds its foundation in the partnership which continues to define its strategic goals within a high performance service culture, and an outstanding executive team positions it well from an operational succession perspective.
“I became the third employee,” said Michael Hurley, who joined his brother Richard, the founder in 1958. “In those days we did everything. Everyone pitched in and the business grew steadily.”
Each passing decade saw new customers, new techniques and new and innovative ways to serve these customers well. In the early 1970’s, Industrial Floor Service, the original company name, became “Hurley Brothers Ltd: Janitorial Specialists” and the family name has been associated with the growing company ever since.
By 1980, the company was doing $2 million a year in business and 250 employees, but the work was largely confined to small office buildings.
Three’s a Company
The brothers realized that if the business was going to take the next step it would need to expand to larger clients and add top management. Michael Hurley recommended Horgan, who was a divisional Vice-President at Dustbane Enterprises at the time.
Horgan was drawn to the company for a number of reasons. First, there was the opportunity to take a small company and grow it into a great much larger venture. Then there was the chance to own equity and make the move from manager to an owner and operator.
“The first two years were a challenge,” said Horgan. “We consistently came in second in all the bids. But the potential clients started t pay attention t us, to our great reputation and the first-class work we did.”
The company’s first big break came in 1982, when telecommunications equipment company Northern Telecom selected it to service its massive complex in
Throughout the 1980’s, it acquired smaller companies, expanded its client list and added strength in both on-site employees and seasoned managers. Its growth necessitated by the need to expand as Hurley’s customer demands grew.
Through both organic growth as well as by acquisition, the company continued to expand throughout the 1980’s. This led to the re-branding of its name to “Hurley Brothers Ltd: Corporate Housekeeping Specialists” to reflect its growing involvement in total building care and maintenance.
It would again change its name in 1991 to The Hurley Corporation.
A Rapid Growth
But the growth of the 1970’s and 1980’s was nothing compared with the burgeoning expansion that the company would see in the 1990’s. The breakneck speed at which the company grew in the last decade of the 20th century transformed it into the dominant entity which it is known today.
Four key acquisitions during the mid-80’s into the early 90’s helped spread the company’s tentacles beyond
“There is a difference between us and many other corporations in growth mode, “Horgan said. “If we buy a company it is with an eye toward operating it as an ongoing entity. We are operators, not sellers.”
The company established a foothold in the growing southwestern
Martin Building Maintenance took advantage of opportunities to expand its services to its manufacturing clients. From landscaping and mould removal to fleet maintenance and general repairs, Martin has provided additional services and managed subcontractors and now offers fully integrated services.
By building on an existing customer relationship with 3M Group, Martin Facility Services, an integrated services provider responsible for managing the vendor services supply chain , was also created as an offshoot of the original division last year.
The mid-1990s also marked the company’s first foray into the key
A Member of Compass Group Canada
www.compass-canada.com