Dave Ross, founder of Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping, recognizes the team effort it takes to run what is now an interior and exterior property maintenance and construction company that specializes in power sweeping.

Much of Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping’s work involves keeping passageways safe for vehicles and pedestrians. At the entrance to LEGOLAND Discovery Center at Federal Realty’s Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts, it also means carefully removing debris or snow and ice around Gio, the familiar Lego giraffe.

In 1999, as the world prepared for a new century, Dave Ross was planning his own adventure of the century—starting a regional sweeping company called Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping (MMPS). “We chose the name because we knew it would be used for a while, and it was. From 2000 through 2002 everything was millennium, so we got a lot of name recognition from that.”

Dave is founder and President of the company that is now a comprehensive facilities maintenance and construction company specializing in power sweeping. It serves New England from its headquarters in Medford, Massachusetts, and other facilities in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the lakes region of New Hampshire, and Hartford, Connecticut. Its clients are a mix of commercial, municipal and industrial groups, including shopping centers, industrial parks, hospitals and colleges.

Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping wasn’t Dave’s first entrepreneurial venture. At the age of 10, he sold programs at a local racetrack, making 10 cents on each one. Later, he owned a small food vending company. But it was his knowledge and experience in the waste service industry that drove him to this century’s entrepreneurial role. For 15 years he worked for Vining Disposal, first as a laborer, then a driver, moving up to supervisor and finally sales.

In 1999, Dave saw a need for sweeping services, so he purchased a sweeper and offered parking lot sweeping to local business owners. “For the first year, I was self performing, generating sales during the day and providing sweeping services for my customers at night. The response was overwhelming and I kept growing it,” Dave says. Now the company has a fleet of 100 vehicles that includes hydraulically powered regenerative air sweepers, mechanical broom sweepers, waterless sweepers and specialty equipment.

Driving Growth

When he started the business, Dave did it all—sales, sweeping and mechanics. He was able to expand by developing relationships with property managers and owners who then began to ask for more services, such as pothole repairs, line striping and power washing. Dave jumped right in.

During its first year, MMPS earned $200,000. As customers asked about other services, Dave saw the potential to expand. “When I saw an opportunity to fill a need, I would subcontract the service, and once I had enough customers for it, I’d bring it in-house,” he says. “From that growth, I was able to hire employees that could help me cover the individual needs of our expanding client base.”

According to Dave, none of MMPS’ success would have been possible if it were not for a gentleman named Bob Benard, President of C.N. Wood in Woburn, Massachusetts, a major dealer for Elgin Sweeper Company in Elgin, Illinois. “Bob helped us learn more about the industry, equipment and business in general. Without him and his team of experts, we would not be where we are today,” he says.

The business continued to grow and now bills $25 million annually. “Never in our 19 years were we ever slow,” he says. “We were lucky. We never had a recession here in Massachusetts. We were always busy and kept growing.”

MMPS is now a full interior and exterior property maintenance and construction company that specializes in power sweeping. A few years ago, he added a waste division. “We needed a roll off dumpster for our own use and then realized it would work for our customers, so now it’s a good-sized service.”

Caring about People

The company has 100 employees, including Dave’s sister, Nancy, who has been with him from the start and continues to manage all of the office and administrative needs. Despite its size, MMPS always has been a family-owned-and-operated company. “Everyone knows each other and it’s truly a team effort on all levels,” Dave says. “Our workforce is diverse in culture and age. Our employees are constantly learning from one another and sharing what makes them unique as individuals.”

Over the years, the company has held several physical fitness contests, and Dave has distributed tickets to sporting events to reward employees for outstanding service. “When you see someone going above and beyond for the company and for their coworkers, that’s deserving of recognition. I’m proud and humbled by the quality of our ‘Team Millennium,’ our employees who work with our customers. There’s no question that their talent and customer care is the reason we’ve grown as well as we have.”

MMPS’ fully licensed and trained operators are OSHA certified and the company has a full-time safety officer on staff who routinely reviews policies and runs monthly in-house training sessions to review procedures and policy changes with employees.

Tending to the Environment

The MMPS team considers itself a “best practices” organization that adopts practical, environmentally friendly processes. Its staff of LEED-certified project managers track trends and help identify which procedures are best for the environment and will work for the company.

“I think we can all agree that stewardship to our environment is an issue of paramount importance,” Dave says. “It should be on everyone’s mind. I found myself having a regular dialogue with myself about how our industry might be adding to the environmental concerns, and what I could do to reduce waste and pollution and maybe even encourage others to do the same. The growing demand and interest from customers to become more environmentally conscious drives the need for all industry participants to evolve their approach to power sweeping and property maintenance in general.”

The company recycles about 80 percent of its sweeping debris, and its porter clients are serviced with only green cleaning products. (A day porter makes sure that a property is clean, looks nice and is in good repair.)

“The growing demand and interest from customers to become more environmentally conscious drives the need for all industry participants to evolve their approach to power sweeping and property maintenance in general.” Dave Ross, Founder and President, Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping

Setting the Standard

MMPS is a member of several prominent industry-specific organizations so it can stay current on new trends and methods for best approaching environmental safety and application on the job. The company also is vigilant in staying up to date with technology and maintaining constant communication with customers to learn their needs and goals. Then MMPS tailors its services to accommodate clients and evolve with them.

Its attention to new ideas has not gone unnoticed. About 12 years ago, MMPS was invited to participate in a tandem sweeping research project with the City of Cambridge and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The insight gained from the study has prompted other local municipalities to evaluate their own sweeping procedures and make changes that align with the EPA’s pollution reduction goals.

According to Dave, municipal sweeping is a key component in the reduction of stormwater runoff pollution. “Most people consider street sweeping a cosmetic practice, but fail to recognize it as a cost-effective tool for removing pollutants as well. With so many variables, it’s difficult to quantify the impact of street sweeping. We found that the best way to remove the most pollutants was to modify our sweeping technologies, and the frequency and speed of sweeping to match pavement variations or other conditions of operation.”

His company started a program where a mechanical broom sweeper was followed by a regenerative vacuum sweeper that picked up the smaller particulates. “We knew the broom was only picking up about 50 percent of all debris, so it was leaving a lot behind. Those small particulates are the most dangerous ones to go down the sewers and plug up the environment,” Dave says. “At high-volume times of year, we send out air sweepers to directly follow the mechanical truck to maximize the debris removal. After the study, our method of tandem sweeping was adopted as a standard practice and is now listed as a best-practice principle in sweeping.”

Supporting the Community

Dave’s concern about his surroundings includes his desire to help the community. “This is my home. Giving back means something to me personally and I try to do that whenever I can,” he says. “I come from a family of local public servants; it’s in the blood and close to the heart.” Dave’s father and brothers have been firefighters, but Dave said he could never pass the test. “I don’t test well. Besides, my dad said my talents were different. I would either be a politician or a trash person.”

MMPS employs a number of retired public servants from both fire and police work, and participates in local fundraising efforts. “We donate financially and provide a billboard truck for line-of-duty deaths to help do our part in spreading awareness about the generosity of our police officers.”

MMPS also works with the Boys & Girls Club in Medford and sponsors a number of youth sports teams—soccer, football and softball. It is also the primary sponsor for the Medford Overcoming Addiction’s annual kickball tournament, and besides financial support, donates manpower to run the event.

“It’s a tremendous effort to bring awareness to the complicated and rampant issue of addiction in our communities. This and the problem of homelessness in the area are appalling and there’s just not enough being done. So, we’re willing to step up to do our part.”

During the holiday season, MMPS donates turkeys to local homeless shelters and churches and puts together “blessing bags” that have necessity items, such as hats, gloves, coats and blankets, and distributes them to the homeless community.

Growing a small local sweeping service into a successful regional maintenance company is a great example of what an entrepreneur like Dave Ross can do to help a whole generation of people and the environment.