This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter.
Bart Proctor, CEO of Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, has the modest ambition for his company to be “the best life safety company in the world.” Based on its flurry of recent activity in the acquisitions space, not only is Proctor living up to this objective, but he is also building one of the largest combination fire/security services companies in the nation.
That major acquisition was followed with buys of Pennsylvania-based Yarnell Security Systems (Dec. 2021), California-based Matson Alarm (Feb. 2022), Pennsylvania-based Choice Security Services (March 2022), and most recently, Delaware-based B Safe Security (April 2022). Including related fire acquisitions, Pye-Barker has rapidly expanded to 125 locations in 29 states across the U.S., with more than 3,200 team members.
Proctor says the company plans to continue building Pye-Barker though acquisitions of top-notch, successful fire protection and security companies, helping these companies achieve ever-higher growth through enhanced customer service, employee training and empowerment, advanced technology and operational improvements – a strategy that will contribute to organically expanding Pye-Barker’s footprint as
“Business owners and their families like our culture and our acquisition process,” Proctor says. “For us, it is all about the people who work in the business, the customers and the culture. We make it very easy to do business with us.”
Growth Beyond Fire Services
Founded in 1946, the company started out delivering bottled gas to welders; however, the company later realized (perhaps not surprisingly) that these customers also needed fire extinguishers. Soon, extinguishers became its primary business, until Pye-Barker began adding fire suppression, fire sprinklers and alarms to the mix, transforming it into its current iteration as a “life safety” business.
Now, fire extinguishers and suppression, fire sprinklers, and security/alarms make up the company’s three main divisions, with teams in each tasked with growing their particular segment of the operation.
As evidenced by the recent acquisitions, the formation of Pye-Barker’s alarm division has been active and fast-
Although Pye-Barker had already acquired 12 alarm companies prior to the purchase of Mountain Alarm, a 70-year-old family business, it led to the creation of the alarm division. Its fire sprinkler division was formed July 2021 with the acquisition of Rapid Fire Protection, while the extinguisher division was always the core business.
Eric Garner arrived at Pye-Barker via Mountain Alarm, a company launched by his grandfather and later headed up by his father, whose desire was grow the alarm company into “something special and big.” Garner came up in the business, working part-time as a kid, going full-time in 2007, and becoming CEO and president in 2018 when his father passed away.
At the time Mountain Alarm merged with Pye-Barker, it had more than 60,000 monitored accounts and 350 alarm team members. As part of the acquisition, Garner has assumed the role of president of the Pye-Barker Alarm Division, which as of this writing, consists of the four mentioned alarm company acquisitions representing more than 850 alarm professionals and 140,000-plus monitored accounts, Garner says.
Pye-Barker is “very bullish on the alarm space,” Garner says, adding that there are plenty of active acquisition opportunities. Still headquartered in its original headquarters of Ogden, Utah, Mountain Alarm has kept its name, operating under the Pye-Barker umbrella. As Pye-Barker brings more companies into the fold, many of them are, for now, doing the same.
“This depends on the location,” Garner explains. “If it is a new location we often keep the name for a time. If it is an existing location we will absorb it into the existing local brand and oftentimes brand it Pye-Barker. Over time, the strategy will evolve to become more inclusive, for example, positioning Mountain Alarm as ‘Mountain Alarm, a Pye-Barker Company’, perhaps even later on, changing this designation again.”
By hiring extinguisher and fire technicians, some of the alarm-focused locations are transitioning to make all three services and products the company offers available as a turnkey solution for customers. Absent this capability, customers are referred to technicians in the other divisions if the need requires; however, the ultimate objective across Pye-Barker is for every location to provide the full menu, becoming one-stop shops for all things life safety, Garner says, adding that it will take time to roll out across the entire operation.
Inside the Acquisition Process
Garner emphasizes that Pye-Barker is not interested in acquiring distressed companies – only those that are thriving in their spaces. “We look for companies that have a good track record and a good corporate culture with happy engaged employees and a strong customer base,” he explains. “We spend a lot of time in person with the owner and on-site, if possible, to get a sense of the culture. Are the employees empowered, or are they micromanaged? The decision is as much of an art as it is a science.”
Once a company is acquired, it is integrated into the Pye-Barker software packages and processes, such as accounting systems, sales software (pricing and quoting), payroll, etc. The objective, Garner says, is to make life easier for these locations whose primary task then becomes growing the business and taking care of customers. Pye-Barker corporate deals with the rest – what Garner calls the “administrative headaches,” such as accounting, taxes, etc.
The relationship brings other advantages. “We bring more buying power and better prices as well as more offerings for the customer,” Proctor says. “[At the same time] their customers get to keep dealing with the same local customer service representatives and technicians they always have.”
The locations are not micromanaged, and each sets its own sales targets, although Pye-Barker may provide higher-level account management targeting growth, Garner says, adding that they keep the sales and the customer service at the local level. However, based on the metrics, more staff may be added on the technical and/or customer service side at some branches to support faster response times; essential since, as Proctor says, Pye-Barker prides itself on same-day or next-day service.
In support of this desired outcome, Pye-Barker is also implementing call-center software to assist in customer service, is conducting customer service training and empowering technicians to make decisions in the field.
“We are focused on the best customer experience, specifically one-call resolutions and same-day or next-day service availability,” Garner says, echoing Proctor. “The goal is to have one too many service technicians and customer service reps rather than having one too few.”
To aid in a seamless transition and integration, a team consisting of HR, IT and trainers visit each acquired company, working closely with the staff to provide training and support, as well as holding weekly virtual meetings over a 12-week period. After this period, meetings typically move to monthly, but there is still plenty of interaction, support and attention, Garner says.
He believes alarms will continue driving significant growth for the organization, describing the acquisition possibilities as “endless.”
Proctor is equally enthusiastic about the outlook ahead for the Pye-Barker organization as a whole. “The future is bright,” he says. “We think very favorably of the commercial fire, intrusion alarm and security space. I can’t speak for the entire industry, but we intend to keep building the best life safety in the world, which means buying the best companies and service providers we can find.”
Pamela Mills-Senn is a freelance writer based in California. Learn more about her at www.pamelamills-senn.com.
