A Company with a Heart to Serve
After three decades, Duncan & Sons’ continues to lead the charge in service to the Knoxville community and beyond
Shelli Denney can remember when she first met the leadership team at Duncan & Sons’. She had just begun her role as Property Manager and Principal Broker at Cooper Realty Investments, which has two full-service buildings in West Knoxville. Finding a company that could handle janitorial services for their properties at an exceptional level proved challenging. “We had gone through probably five janitorial companies in six years when I started,” she says.
When they put out to the market that they were looking for a new partner, it was Duncan & Sons’ that stood out. “They came and took a look at our buildings and had a great game plan on how to get our buildings back in shape.” Cooper Realty had found their match. “Our buildings looked so much better within a week of them tackling them.” It’s been six years since that partnership began. Cleaning staff are there five days a week keeping the buildings in order.
Shelli’s story is one of many. Over three decades, thanks largely to their commitment to customers, Duncan & Sons’ has grown from a one-man lawn care operation to a building maintenance company of 400 professionals. “We have the best cleaners in the industry, because we work hard to maintain a culture that attracts and promotes people,” says Mark Woods, Operations Partner. “Our company culture celebrates our employees and our clientele.”
No one knows more about this company’s opportunities than Mark, whose career at Duncan & Sons’ began as a part-time cleaner. His rise through the ranks brings a unique perspective to his leadership role. “Working from the bottom up has been very advantageous because I can identify with our cleaners,” he says. “I have insight that I might not have considered otherwise, and our employee satisfaction is a huge part of our success.”
With dedicated personnel, the company offers janitorial services, building maintenance, hard-surface floor care, and carpet cleaning. Its reputation has resulted in them building strong relationships with businesses near and far, across Knoxville but also as far north as Kentucky and as far west as Utah.
Given their philosophy of building trusted, long-term relationships, it’s no surprise that their customers like Coo-per Realty Investments have been clients of Duncan & Sons’ for years, many for decades. It’s also no surprise that the company has received Cityview’s Best of the Best Award in the office cleaning service category every year since 2018.
“We call them the Chick-fil-A of janitorial,” Shelli laughs. “If they miss a trash can, or they miss something else on the property, we send them an email and joke that they’re camped out in our parking lot because they have some-one on the property within five and 10 minutes.” She raves about Duncan & Sons’ commitment to their work and their customers.
And for Mark, this focus on serving not only the clientele, but also the employees is what he believes has made Duncan & Sons’ the successful business that it is today.
“Our mission is to bring value to our clients and opportunities and development to our people,” Mark says. “Having a heart to serve takes time and effort, but it is a worthy endeavor.”
Gold Winner : Cleaning Service – Office
865-524-3225 1401 N. Central Street Knoxville, TN 37917 duncanandsons.com