Partnerships, Acquisitions Spur Growth at Hoffman's Exterminating

NORTHFIELD, N.J. — A company on the move is Hoffman’s Exterminating, based in Mantua, N.J., which has been expanding with acquisitions in New Jersey and surrounding states.

This growth-by-acquisition strategy was formed by President Bill Hoffman and Co-Owner and Vice President Robert Schwenker, who started forming relationships with other pest control companies more than 25 years ago “as a way to service customers in areas that we didn’t currently service,” said Hoffman.

These relationships have turned into either partnerships and/or acquired companies. During the last 13 years Hoffman’s has acquired 12 companies and formed partnerships with dozens of companies throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

“Early on, we had a few PCOs come to us with a few accounts, an area or even an entire division that they wanted to either sell or simply give away in order to move into a different direction for their business,” Hoffman said. “We also realized that we had a specific skill set that complemented other PCOs in our market, and we realized that is was better to work together then compete over every customer.”

A benefit of these relationships and alliances for Hoffman’s is that the company has been able to bring on board talent, including longtime industry professionals Bob Schwenker, Eve Pappas and Wayne Mauri.

This desire to build relationships led Hoffman to become an active member of the New Jersey Pest Management Association (NJPMA), where he now serves on the board of directors. “I continued to find that helping, teaching and just being around good people was actually building my business,” he said.

During the past two years, Hoffman's has taken a more targeted approach to M&A, seeking out specific partners to fill out the company’s geographic footprint and customer base in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland markets.