San Antonio Sweeping Services (SASS) does it all. Their widely diversified pavement sweeping fleet represents one of the greatest varieties of pavement services offered anywhere in the industry. The SASS Owner, Brian Cooper, launched the startup with parking lot cleaning and striping services back in 1995. He kept the name but later changed the business model, to discontinue the striping and focus fully on sweeping services.
Today, 30 years later, the SASS pavement sweeping service equipment line is one of the most complete, if not the most comprehensive, in the entire country. There’s no niche that the company doesn’t serve, from small Tennant propane sweepers for industrial floors to agile ODRA parking lot sweepers, to the largest highway sweeper trucks. The business model also features state-of-the-art industrial power washing equipment that recycles water as it operates.
Spectacular Growth of San Antonio Sweeping Services
The company currently has over a dozen employees, plus Brian, his wife, Shannon, VP, and Kevin Black, General Manager. Cooper works from his home office in Austin, Texas, doing the business’s accounting, administrative paperwork, answering the phone, writing contracts, etc. Per Brian, “My wife has a pretty good feel for everything going on in the business. We’ve got three kids. She’s a stay-at-home mother and VP of the company. She comes in and does filing, paperwork, takes calls, and does other work. On top of it all, she’s a wonderful stay-at-home mom to our three kids.”
Black runs the day-to-day field and maintenance operations based at the company’s shop and office facility about an hour away in Boerne, Texas, which is around a half-hour north of downtown San Antonio, the center of the company’s primary market area.
Brian estimates that SASS probably services around 75 accounts per month on average. The business’s annual gross revenue has increased 20% each year through the past 3 years. As a result, SASS has bought 4 new sweeper trucks this year, 3 ODRAs and 1 NiteHawk.
Asked what accounts for this extraordinary growth in 2024, both Brian and his GM Kevin reflect humbly. Brian’s perspective goes to his vision for leadership, “We’re not as concerned about hitting a home run with every new contract. We’ll take a base hit.” Kevin adds, “Our goal is to keep everybody working and happy.”
As mentioned, the SASS business model accommodates anyone who needs pavement sweeping, in contrast to the industry norm, which trends toward serving niche markets. SASS’s business, per Brian, is about 25% routine parking lot sweeping maintenance, with NiteHawk and ODRAs. About 60% is highway asphalt milling cleanup. The other 15% is construction site cleanup.
Exceptionally Diversified SASS Sweeping Service Model
Currently, SASS has 12 sweeper trucks, including 3 ODRAs (one awaiting delivery), 2 Elgins, 5 Tymcos, 2 NiteHawks, 1 Schwarze, and 3 Tennants. Asked why the company has chosen to add 3 ODRAs out of the 4 new sweeper trucks purchased this year, Kevin answers, “Because they’re easy to operate, and it’s a very versatile piece of equipment. It can be used for parking lots, milling cleanup, heavy debris, etc. The vacuum works well, but it has a mechanical broom that is very strong.
Brian adds, “We choose a truck based on what we’ll be doing with it. But we’ll always stay with the Isuzu, Tymco, and ODRA chassis because they’re easier to work on, and we can swap parts back and forth with others of their kind that we already have. Since we have a large inventory of parts for all of those, we can usually get one up and running pretty quickly.”
Sweeper Truck Maintenance at SASS
“We take care of everything in-house,” Kevin explains. “We have a large inventory of parts on hand and we have a mechanic in-house. We don’t take anything to a shop at all. We do everything from small to major repairs daily. We might not do washings daily, but each sweeper truck is gone over and cleaned every day before it goes out on another run.
Daily maintenance is critical. It keeps the trucks running longer. We have a Tymco that we’ve had since 2006, and it is still running great to this day because we strive to be thorough with the daily maintenance. The trucks are greased, oil is checked, and parts are replaced as needed. Downtime is mostly caused by errors like maybe a driver taking a corner too sharply, or someone forgetting to do this or that maintenance task, etc.”
Brian adds, “On a construction site, there’s not always a clear path to what should be swept. There are unknown hazards, and sweeper truck tires tend to find those hazards. It’s a learning process for customers and drivers. The trucks don’t break down from being a truck, but from a driver hitting the side of a dump truck, or some damaging debris, etc.”
Environmental Preservation At SASS
“In Texas,” Brian continued, “preserving the environment, including protecting waterways in good condition, is a priority. We use the Cyclone brand pressure washing machine that sucks the water back out, and we then take it to a facility to dump instead of going down a drain and into the river.
We use the Cyclone pressure washers for services to construction companies and property management companies, parking garages, etc. We have a couple of trailers with 1,000-gallon water tanks, with high-pressure pumps that go from 2” to 1” pressure. Sweepers can’t pick up light dust, so we can wash it off the pavement, and we can help anywhere where there’s a need for pressure washing of various other kinds of surfaces in San Antonio too.”
Marketing and Branding for SASS
We asked about marketing and sales for San Antonio Sweeping, and we discussed other topics below. Brian tells the story from here: We get requests to provide bids, and we look on the computer for those opportunities, and we do go out physically to make sales calls, but not much because we’re usually so busy,
We haven’t needed to do much for marketing. People have heard of us. It’s all word of mouth. We’re all over Austin and from there, throughout south Texas, and we’re in parts of central Texas. It’s worked for us. We’re blessed to have the business we have.
We have logos on our trucks with the office number, and that’s really where we get most of our business, from worksites. Our guys wear work shirts with our logo, and the newer style with gray reflective strips all have the logo. We give mugs with logos to job supervisors who may be in a position to steer business our way. Asphalt companies may wear our shirts, and they work together with other contractors. So, they’ll tell others about us, and vice versa.
Quality Management at SASS
I talk to pretty much everybody who calls in for service. If it’s a company we do regular service for, I’ll go out and talk to them, or call, or text them, to make sure everything is looking good. I’ve reached out to every one of our customers. I speak with them on the phone multiple times per year. If our driver finds there’s a problem that’s not normal sweeping, they’ll send pictures to the office. But, we have GPS with photos. They [the drivers] login and fill in the required information after every shift, so we’re always aware of any issues.
SASS Streamlining Post-COVID
We learned a lot through COVID, such as — we don’t need as many people if fewer can do it. It’s been working. After COVID, we seriously sat down and looked at everything we were doing and streamlined it all so that it worked best for everybody.
I think what we’re doing is steady, manageable growth. As San Antonio grows and Austin grows, which they are, our customer base is growing as well. We’re doing great the way we’re doing it. I don’t want to jeopardize that. I try not to take on a lot of debt. We don’t want to grow faster than we can handle. We like to pay for things as we go. We keep growing as needed; if we need more to do the work, we get it. And, we want to be humble [not grow just to be bigger].
The SASS Team Management and Culture
The hardest challenge has been finding and keeping good employees, especially since COVID. Salaries have been all over the place. Finding enough people who want to work for honest pay has been harder.
We offer a competitive compensation package. We just try to treat everyone fairly. And, around holidays, for example, the 4th of July, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc., throughout the year, we give bonuses and gifts in appreciation, just to tell everybody they’re doing great.
For training and management, the newer ODRAs have cameras for the drivers to see out. The older ones do not, but the plan is to put them in there eventually. We do payroll and schedules through the employees’ phones. But, no, we don’t have cameras facing into the cabs of the trucks. We don’t want to be Big Brother. If you’re watching the drivers, it means we don’t trust them, and we do trust them.
Advice for Industry Newcomers from San Antonio Market Leaders
I would say, know the business. Know the long hours it’s going to take, and know the hard work it requires. But, know the rewards that make it all worth it. Know what you’re doing. You’re going to have to be it all — mechanic, sales rep, sweeper truck driver, office staff, everything. Expect to work long hours. Or, you’ll need to be rich or have Daddy Warbucks to finance you.
Kevin added, “Plan, of course, but take it one day at a time. I hear a lot of people talk about how expensive the equipment is and the pay for drivers now. But, there’s more. There are also the repairs, having people who can do those, insurance on the trucks, etc. It’s an expensive business to be in and, as Brian said, there’s a lot to know.
For more information about San Antonio Sweeping Services, San Antonio, TX, you can call (210) 695-5777 or visit https://sanantoniosweeping.com.