CS Hudson is a leading management firm that supports facilities, capital projects and immersive retail activations nationwide. Pulse 2.0 interviewed CS Hudson co-founder and co-CEO Joe Scaretta to learn more about the company.
Joe Scaretta’s Background
What is Scaretta’s background? Scaretta said:
“All my life, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, so as soon as I had an opportunity to start working, I dove in headfirst. Growing up, I helped out in my father’s shop by sweeping his warehouse for $5 per hour. My next foray into the workforce was in helping out Tommy, the local butcher. I made a little bit more than what my dad paid me, but more importantly, I learned the value of showing up and the consequences of not doing so.”
“My first official job was as a stock associate at Old Navy, where I cultivated three key business values that I’m still extremely passionate about today – customer service excellence, retail, and a strong work ethic. From there, I embraced a handful of diverse job opportunities that had a formative role in my professional development, until finally accepting a position with a small retail facilities and construction firm that would ultimately shape my entire career path and future.”
“My time at that company allowed me to quickly learn the ins and outs of business in the facilities management sector, set me on the entrepreneurial path I had always envisioned for myself, and most importantly, led me to my best friend, brother, and eventual partner and co-CEO of CS Hudson, Moses Carrasco.
Primary Responsibilities
What are the primary responsibilities of the co-CEOs? Scaretta replied:
“There is some crossover; however, my partner and I have distinct roles within the organization. Moses is primarily focused on operational and sustainable infrastructure management of all key service deliverables, while my main responsibilities include:
- Strategic growth and vision of the company, such as keeping CS Hudson at the forefront of facilities.
- Finding new avenues of revenue growth through high-level client relationships and new service offerings that enhance value for our clients.
- Direct oversight of all development functions of the company.
Collectively, we share operational, developmental, and financial management responsibilities.”
Vision For CS Hudson
How did the vision for CS Hudson come together? What are your primary responsibilities? Scaretta shared:
“Like anything else, the vision for what is now CS Hudson stemmed from a personal desire paired with the need to fill an important gap in our industry. The former became apparent after our first acquisition with a private equity sponsor, which completely upended the entire organizational structure and vision of our first business venture. Our company became margin-focused versus people-focused, and as a result, service levels began to tumble. We spent five years post-transaction trying to protect our team, our customers and every business relationship we had cultivated and fostered over the years—but eventually, after trying every hand to salvage all that we had built, we decided it was time to start again.”
“Ready to take on our next entrepreneurial adventure, Moses and I went back to the drawing board and uncovered a new and improved vision for CS Hudson. We noticed a problematic gap in the facilities management industry: Major organizations weren’t delivering a high level of scope expertise while vendors weren’t leveraging a technology, data and KPI-centric approach. Beyond this, there were many emerging under-served and less mature markets outside of retail that we felt confident about centralizing to drive enormous growth.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory since launching CS Hudson? Scaretta reflected:
“My most memorable and favorite moment was our first executive meeting at our new office. We were sitting in this beautiful conference room alongside our four CS Hudson partners, with the understanding that we were starting with a day one, week one mentality—and had a huge space full of empty cubicles to fill. I remember feeling both intimidated and invigorated.”
“In our first start-up, we didn’t know any better and really had nothing to compare the experience to. This time around, we were coming into a new venture from scratch—going from a healthy salary, full team and company infrastructure that we built from nothing— to reverting back to square one. It’s both humbling and scary to backtrack like that and bet on yourself to do it all over again from the ground up, but every second has been more than worth all the grit we put into building CS Hudson into what it is today.”
Core Services
What are CS Hudson’s core services or solution offerings? Anything new in the pipeline that we can discuss? Scaretta explained:
“Our core service offerings include facility management repair and maintenance, emergency services, new construction, renovations, and more. CS Hudson does everything from handyman, plumbing, electrical, and locksmith services to remodels, rebranding, projects, and rollouts through our deep scope of knowledge in the facilities management industry. Our latest expansion focuses on driving more integrated facility management programs backed in partnership with the field services divisions and verticals within Orion Services.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges/bottlenecks has Scaretta faced in his line of work? Scaretta acknowledged:
“We’ve faced limited consistency and standardization of work order platforms, which tends to bottleneck efficiency in our industry.”
Evolution Of CS Hudson’s Technology
How has CS Hudson’s technology evolved since launching? Scaretta noted:
“When we initially started CS Hudson, we focused heavily on over-servicing clients by over-managing service calls and scopes. However, as our business evolved, we’re fully embracing technology to promote organizational efficiency, make more data-driven and well-informed decisions, and increase our customer service delivery output by leveraging trends.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of CS Hudson’s most significant milestones? Scaretta cited:
“Our two most recent and exciting milestones have been our recent partnership with Orion Services this past May followed by our first company integration under the Orion Group, wherein we incorporated American Project & Repair and their clients, vendors and employees under the CS Hudson umbrella.”
“Additionally, I’d say the other key wins for us have been:
- Executing our first experiential activation under CS Hudson
- Completing our first project for WB
- Surpassing $1 million in revenue in our first year
- Completing a large rollout initiative and full turnkey, single source closure program for Godiva Chocolatier.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Scaretta about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“Our team played a pivotal role during a challenging retail period, successfully managing the complete closure of over 125 Godiva stores nationwide. This included the removal of all equipment, fixtures and branding within an ambitious 30-day timeframe, a testament to our effective project execution and operational excellence.”
“Additionally, we demonstrated our versatility and strategic planning capabilities with Tailored Brands. We developed and implemented a pilot program for the Joseph Abboud custom tailor shop, seamlessly integrating it within the retailer’s existing operations. Our contribution extended beyond construction, delivering comprehensive training resources and implementing strategic material changes to ensure a cost-effective expansion.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Scaretta about the company’s funding/revenue details, he revealed:
“CS Hudson is privately funded and only used as a credit facility to operate through our business. The line of credit was primarily used to cover seasonality in the business and ensure we held to our payment terms with vendors in light of certain clients payment cycles. We made it our mission to never delay pay to vendors—even when we didn’t receive prompt payment from clients. Today, we are backed by our partner, Orion Services, through our recent partnership.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is CS Hudson pursuing? Scaretta assessed:
“Determining the exact total addressable market (TAM) in the U.S. facilities management industry can be challenging as it involves various sectors and services. The facilities management industry encompasses a wide range of services, including building maintenance, cleaning, security, landscaping, energy management and more.”
“According to a report by Grand View Research, the global facilities management market size was valued at around $1.2 trillion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.8% from 2021 to 2028. While this figure represents the global market, it provides a general idea of the industry’s potential.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates CS Hudson from the competition? Scaretta affirmed:
“CS Hudson is differentiated from competitors in five key areas:
- Deep scope knowledge and development.
- Long-term experience in multi-scope/trade work.
- In-house site superintendents offering co-delivery support services.
- Best-in-class service excellence, including in-house and after-hours emergency support.
- Data-centric and KPI-driven strategic approach.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of CS Hudson’s future company goals? Scaretta concluded:
“Our main goal for the upcoming year is to continue to invest in our staff and build a company of leaders through enhanced technical and leadership training to take CS Hudson to the next level.”
“We also want to continue to grow and enhance our service offerings based on the current and future market needs.”
Additional Thoughts
Are there any other topics or areas you’d like to discuss? Scaretta concluded:
“Our leadership team is passionate about industry non-competes. We believe they are an age-old way to bully employees into staying in a company or boxing someone out of an industry or opportunity. In this day and age, blocking someone from working in their key service trade or taking away their right to work should be frowned upon and in our opinion, requires actionable change. CS Hudson is raising the bar by not using non-compete agreements and firmly believes that others within our industry should follow suit. We are actively campaigning to fully remove non-competes in the facilities management sector and are committed to paving the way for future industry leaders.”
