1947
Schendel Pest Control was born in Bob Schendel’s garage in Topeka, Kansas.
Closing a Chapter Brent Boles, president of Schendel Pest Services in Topeka, has watched his company come full circle. After spending 18 years as part of the Schendel family, the last six as sole owner, Brent closed his chapter of the business, selling the company to ServiceMaster.
“It is ironic because in the last 10 years we have been the company helping small businesses with their succession plan,” Brent says. “Now all of a sudden we got big enough that we needed help from a bigger player.” Also ironic is that even though Schendel was successfully expanding into new market areas and actively acquiring new customers, that growth was actually creating a larger problem on the financial side. Rapid growth over the last 10 years made it harder to offer competitive benefits for employees. Facing a 48 percent increase in health care costs, the financial hurdles of taking care of it employees became overwhelming.
1970’s
Bob Schendel offered his branch managers the chance to purchase the business. Paul Mages bought the Topeka branch and his brother-in-law Jon Isaacs purchased the Lawrence branch. They merged the two companies creating Schendel Pest Services Corporation.
1994
Paul Mage’s son-in-law, Brent Boles, joined the company.
2000
Brent Boles become full partner.
Making the Right Choice Brent had a difficult choice to make: downsize the company to make benefits more affordable; reduce benefits packages; require employees to pick up more of the financial burden; or bring in a private investor to help with capital issues. Brent didn’t like any one of those options because, ultimately, none of them helped the people he cared about most, his staff. At that point Brent knew he needed to find a solution that would benefit everyone.
2006
“There were a lot of trigger points over the last 12 months that led to this decision,” Brent says. “The increasing
ServiceMaster took over ownership of Schendel Pest Services.
reet, late 1950s
Brent Boles purchased 100 percent interest in Schendel Pest Service.
August 1, 2012
continued on pg. 50
Schendel Bug 1958
Schendel Office 2012
TK...Topeka's Business Magazine
Fall 2012
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