When Patrick Mendick's bank in Omaha directed him to the Nebraska Business Development Center offices in Kearney and Grand Island to determine the value of the business he co-owned, Miktom, Inc., he in turn learned the value of the services NBDC provides.
"Everyone we spoke to at NBDC is aces," Mendick says. "They were very helpful and gave us exactly what we needed."
Since its founding in 1989, Miktom, Inc. has offered a variety of parking lot services including sealing, sweeping and striping. "We cater to the contractors that build the parking lots," Mendick says. "We come in and finish the job, similar to what a finish carpenter would do. It takes an independent company like us to do what we do and to do it well."
The business was started by Andrew "Mick" Vinckier. Mendick and Rod Baxter purchased and incorporated the southwest Omaha business in 2005. From 2005 until 2011, managerial functions were divided between the two owners.
In 2011, Miktom contracted NBDC-Kearney and the NBDC office in Grand Island to provide valuation services. NBDC created a valuation report to determine the value of Miktom to allow Baxter to exit the business. After completion of the valuation report, Mendick applied for funding from the Small Business Administration to acquire Baxter's share of the firm. Last October, the SBA approved the loan.
The company's parking lot services include miscellaneous projects that allow Miktom to stay diversified and generate additional revenue. The option to choose smaller jobs allows Miktom to carve out a niche in the industry and take on work that similar companies are unwilling or unable to do.
Mendick says Miktom has built its reputation on the quality of its work and its employees, who are known as Parking Lot Maintenance Technicians, or PLMTs. Each is skilled in the company's service offerings as well as in customer service. They consider their work a career, he says, not just a job.
"We know that a high-quality product costs more than inferior substitutes, and that a job well done is far more rewarding than just being cheap," he says. "We apply these principles to every job that we do, from proper preparation to final application and consultation with the project owner."
Because of the valuation services provided by NBDC, Mendick now takes pride in knowing the true value of his company.
"NBDC's alliance with the University of Nebraska at Omaha gave them immediate credibility," he says. "Without their valuation, we could never have come to terms. It made all the difference for us."