How do you go from being a stockbroker at a prestigious Wall Street firm to being a Pest Management Professional (PMP)?
For the answer to that question, you'd have to ask Hilary "Buz" Jones, a partner at Absolute Pest Management, located in Norfolk,
Va. After he graduated from Hampton University in Hampton, Va. with a degree in business management, Jones launched his work
career by landing a job as a stockbroker at U.S. Trust Company, located at 45 Wall Street, in New York City.
U.S. Trust Company wasn't just any old Wall Street company, it catered strictly to wealthy clientele — you had to have at least $5 million to invest to have an account there. "That was back in 1973, when a dollar was a dollar," Jones says.
Actor John Wayne, along with the Gillette people and the owner of the New York Mets baseball team, Joan Payson, were some
of the firm's many clients. Looking back, Jones says, "That was a good experience for a young man, to say the least. It was fun. But I love what I'm doing
now (working in the pest management industry).
"I dress the way I want to dress and I come and go when I want to. It's the independence of running your own shop. That's
the beauty of it.
"We help people. When people call on us, they have a problem," he says. "We are more of a problem solver, trying to remedy
our customers' problems."
Jones didn't exactly jump right from being a stockbroker into being a PMP. It took a little while. Right out of college, Jones
worked on Wall Street for five years. From there, he came back to Norfolk and was active in the insurance business. "When
I sold that business, I knew I was handy. I bought a couple of buildings and remodeled them by myself," he says. "People kept
asking me if I could do work for them and that's how I got started in the construction business."
The name of the construction company is called General Service Contracting Co.
Jones worked in the construction business for 17 years. Then in 2000, Jones and his partner Carlton Dean put their collective
heads together and decided to join forces. That's when Absolute Pest Management and General Service Contracting became sister
companies. "I wasn't in the pest management business before, but I knew I wanted to get into it," Jones says.
"We're a full service pest management company" he says. "But we're primarily a termite company, that's our focus." And, of
course, when there is termite damage work that needs to be done, along comes General Service Contracting to handle the structural
repairs. "We are the structural repair people down here; the two companies feed of each other. It works for us," he says.
"There are a lot of pest management companies down here that don't do pest control repairs, so we do a lot of this work for
other companies," he continues. General Service Contracting also does a host of other services including remodeling, room
additions and window and door installments, plus termite repairs.
Looking at his basic day, Jones says, "We do inspections, check on jobs, sell new jobs and perform on the contracts that we
have. I'm gone all day. I'm in the office in the morning, but by 9:30 a.m., I'm out. No two days are alike."
