Gold Medal Service Inc.

Mike Agugliaro and Robert Zadotti founded Gold Medal Service Inc. (GMS) in 1994 with the goal of providing reliable and comprehensive home services to customers in central New Jersey. For nearly 20 years, the business has grown steadily. Prior to founding the business, the partners worked together as licensed electricians. Today, Agugliaro and Zadotti bring long-term experience and expertise to the company’s management team.
“I graduated from vocational school in 1988 and went into the electrical field,” says Agugliaro, president of GMS. After working in the field for several years, he and Zadotti started their first business, Gold Medal Electrical. The pair determined that they could better serve the company’s customer base by diversifying operations. Therefore, they soon added plumbing, heating, cooling, drain and sewer, as well as waterproofing services to the business’ capabilities.
“We predominantly perform residential services,” Agugliaro elaborates. “We cover all of New Jersey except Atlantic City and Cape May. “We have built a niche around five core services: plumbing, heating, cooling, electric and drain cleaning. We have branded the business around those services.” With 125 employees and 100 service vehicles, GMS is able to extend those services to a broad customer base throughout the state.
A Capable Crew
The large team performs 95 percent of service work in-house, with the remaining 5 percent being certified waterproofing contractors, to whom the team reaches out when necessary. GMS maintains strong relationships with these strategic partners, as well as a network of specialty suppliers.
“We work with Barnett for plumbing and heating parts and accessories,” Agugliaro explains. “That relationship allows us to maintain a streamlined and efficient line to our resources. Lenox is our provider for heating and air conditioning systems. We are in their top 25 customers in the country. Lenox is great because if a customer has a problem, the company is responsive and our customers can get help directly from the manufacturer. Our vendors are our partners and those relationships are very important to us.”
Despite the recent economic downturn, GMS has held steady over the last two decades. “We haven’t had the down year that other people have experienced,” Agugliaro says. “Our revenue has increased consistently for the last 10 years. Throughout the recession, we had to work smarter and keep our team focused. We determined that we would not participate in the economy the way other businesses do.”
Cleaning Up
Hurricane Sandy, which devastated much of the East Coast between New Jersey and New York, is still keeping many contractors busy. “We are still getting work as a result of that storm,” Agugliaro explains. “Hurricane Sandy brought a new outlook on life. We have done more generators in the last three years than the previous 20 years of my career. We were able to bring portable generators to a lot of people. We bought them just to help out people. We did a lot of work getting water out of basements, too. When the storm came we didn’t shut down. We did everything in our power to service as many customers as possible. That work continues as many people are still relocating. The storm had a huge impact on our region.”
With the continued growth, including the influx of business post-Hurricane Sandy, Agugliaro and Zadotti are making some changes to the business. “We have started to deliver a whole new level of experience,” Agugliaro elaborates. “We are ramping up the quality of service for our homeowner customers. All of our guys are in uniform with an identification tag. All of our trucks are branded. We put on floor protectors. We know how important it is to act professionally at all times and we want to reinforce that.”
With this new initiative, Agugliaro wants to make sure the basics stay the same. “We are known as a one-stop shop,” he explains. “We have also built a reputation for a higher level of service and one of the most professional crews out there. Meanwhile, we are continuing to diversify our services to cater to our customers’ needs. Our waterproofing division is fairly new. We are also just starting a home security division. Our biggest concerns are making a negative impact on a customer and safety on the job. We live in a world of conversion rates, so our profitability and revenue are important. Still, we have great customer testimonials, which are something we cannot disregard.”
According to Agugliaro, the company takes great pride in the level of service the team delivers. “Our reputation is great because we have amazing employees,” he continues. “The Better Business Bureau has rated us A+.”
As the company’s reputation grows, so does its revenue. The business is more than 20 times the size it was in 1994, and in the next five years, Agugliaro and Zadotti plan to double the company’s current revenue. High standards for work and performance continue to drive Gold Medal Service Inc. into steady and manageable growth.