Alta, Ardent Join Forces

HIGHLAND, Utah and ROUND ROCK, Texas — At last summer’s PCT Top 100 Awards Ceremony and Executive Summit in Orlando, leaders from Ardent Pest Control, Highland, Utah, and Alta Pest Control, Round Rock, Texas, met for the first time, and the more they talked the proverbial “light bulb” went off for both companies.

 

What got both parties interested in a partnership was discovering commonalities in business models and company cultures, as well as the ways each company could benefit from one another in terms of services offered, shared best practices and geography.

 

Both Ardent and Alta are fast-growing firms with young leaders who have embraced rapid growth drivers such as the use of door-to-door sales professionals. Ardent finished 2021 #64 on the PCT Top list 100 with $12.6 million in yearly revenues, while Alta reported 2021 revenues of $8.3 million (#92 on the PCT Top 100). 

 

“We both have similar backgrounds and face similar challenges, so being able to see some of their systems and processes for how they handled those challenges and vice versa…I liked the idea of being able to come together and say, ‘What are the best practices we can use to overcome these challenges together?’” Peterson said.

 

For Alta, D2D sales are its primary growth mechanism, so much so that the company is growing more than it could handle cash flow-wise. What appealed to Alta is Ardent’s success with ancillary services (e.g., attic restoration, rodent exclusion). “So it's kind of perfect where we were looking for a partner or a way to help fund our growth and give ourselves access to new markets,” said Chris Langlois. Alta’s leadership also includes Chris’s brothers Michael Langlois (president) and Tyler Langlois (president of sales).

 

Conversely, Ardent’s door-to-door sales program had slowed a bit in recent years, so the opportunity to infuse the company with Alta’s D2D sales team - and its practices - appealed to Ardent, which needs a growing customer base to sell the aforementioned ancillary services.

 

Ardent is based in Utah and Alta is based in Texas, but both companies have locations throughout the country. One of the reasons this merger works is there was very little geographic overlap. For example, Alta is in Austin, while Ardent is in Dallas and San Antonio; Alta is in Wichita, Kan., and Ardent is in Kansas City, Mo.; and Alta is in Washington, D.C., while Ardent is in Virginia Beach, Va. Combined, the company now services 15 markets.

 

“The only markets we overlapped in was Oklahoma City and Tulsa. And believe it or not, our Tulsa location was a very strong brand and our Oklahoma City was kind of a weaker one and theirs was reverse,” said Langlois.

 

The newly merged company also will benefit by combining employee benefits. For example, Ardent offered employees a 401(k) retirement savings program, but not health insurance, while Alta offered health insurance but not a 401 (k) program. Now employees receive both benefits, making the combined company a more attractive employee in today’s challenging labor market. 

 

Other benefits of being a bigger business include having greater buying power and ease of financing. 

 

Both parties agreed to use the Alta Pest Control brand. Langlois said this decision allows the company to move forward with a unified sates and marketing message, something particularly important for D2D sales professionals.

 

“The credit goes to Preston and his ability to swallow his ego in order to move forward,” Langlois said, adding that this allowed him to go back to his marketing team and say, “Hey, this is Alta, this is what we're doing. Nothing's changing. We're not partnering with another company that you have to go sell for.”

 

Peterson added, “It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. At the end of the day, our focus is on doing what's best for our employees and for our customers. It wasn't like we were being acquired and so we had to lay off a bunch of people. It's just the name. The culture we had built, the people we built, the leaders we built, they're all staying.”

 

Both Peterson and Langlois said the newly formed company has very aggressive goals and plans to double in size this year.

 

The merger officially closed in February 2023.