INNOVATIVE BUSINESS TO YOU BY CANADIAN
Jodi Scarlett, President ProStar Cleaning & Restoration
J
odi Scarlett is the founder and president of ProStar Cleaning & Restoration. She launched the business in 2002 as a residential maid service. Today that small cleaning company has grown into a large restoration and construction company tackling multi-million dollar projects. “In the early days of cleaning I thought, ‘we should clean bigger things.’ Then I thought, ‘we can put things back together too!’ says Scarlett. “We add new product lines all the time from asbestos remediation to fentanyl cleanup to opening a Canmore office and the acquisition of another restoration firm.” She continues, “We have integrated many parts of the business to an in-house format. For example, we employ a dozen full time carpenters on staff, and we started our own flooring and renovation company, Vibe Interiors. By managing all components of a project, we are able to achieve the best and most timely solution possible. We’re large enough to deal with disaster areas up to 1,000,000 square feet, but not so large that we’ve lost sight of what matters most: the people. My staff and I donate our time and expertise to support restoration education. As a forwardlooking industry leader, we enjoy helping to inspire the next generation of restoration specialists.” Scarlett discusses her approach to innovating in her business.
“It really is an armchair approach. I look at the industry. I think about the trends. I see things going on like market consolidation, rising deductibles and extreme weather. Then I think about those trends and how they impact us functionally and operationally. We are a small business compared to our competitors, and we are competing against national corporations. After I do a deep dive and understand what is coming down the pipe, I think about what my competitors are doing about the changing trends. Then I think about how ProStar can personalize those services.” To expand on resources and capabilities without losing sight of personalized, customer-centric service, Scarlett innovated and evolved ProStar by partnering with a brand that would allow them to tender nationally and take on more insurance work. However, she did it in a very specialized way. The franchise group allowed her to retain ProStar’s local identity, name, system, and culture. Everything Scarlett had built was retained and elevated to a new level. “By innovating our operations without compromising our identity, ProStar introduced the idea of being remote, but local,” Scarlett explains. “We built a new division called Remote Large Loss and under that branch have completed major projects from B.C. to Ontario, and in northern communities. We have rebuilt major structures worth several million dollars in remote environments. ProStar’s remote but local initiative operates by supporting local trades and vendors in our project areas. It’s about authentically participating in those communities by sourcing labour and materials from the community.” She concludes, “Innovation to me is taking inspiration from what other, bigger companies are doing, but turning it around so it reflects the authentic and local sprit and culture of our company.”