Crime scene company shifts to coronavirus cleanup, earns $30M in just weeks

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The crime scene cleanup business is pivoting its focus to sanitizing workplaces and the offices of Fortune 500 companies after possible exposure to the novel coronavirus.

Spaulding Decon has risen to social media stardom for showcasing its work cleaning up after grisly crime scenes and deaths across the nation. It responds to other situations, such as hoarding and meth lab clean up.

But a different service offered by the Tampa, Florida-based company has caused business to spike exponentially.

“It’s unpredictably insane. [In] a normal two week period, we probably do about $100,000, that’s an estimate, and did $30 million in two weeks” from one location, Laura Spaulding, founder and CEO of Spaulding Decon Industries Inc, told FOX Business.

Spaulding, a former law enforcement officer, said she started Spaulding Decon the company in 2006 and the business has since grown into a multimillion-dollar company that has been expanded to include 24 franchise locations nationwide. The company's Instagram page boasts about 366,000 followers.

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The crime scene cleaning business is, understandably, an unpleasant one, and the nature of the job requires that its employees be licensed and follow strict Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

Companies in the industry must also have ample personal protection equipment and powerful cleaning supplies – both of which are necessary for disinfecting spaces and surfaces exposed to COVID-19.

As the virus threat grew and COVID-19 spread to the point of being classified as a global pandemic, bosses and business leaders quickly realized they’d need to be prepared.

“Everyone just panicked,” Spaulding said. Bosses “were calling, and they were like, ‘It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when – we know we're going to have an exposure. We're going to close down. And when we open up, we need to make sure that we don't restart the whole cycle.’”

Spaulding Decon has since responded to businesses and workplaces ranging from manufacturing facilities, call centers, police departments and even Fortune 500 companies.

The need for their service nationwide has required Spaulding Decon to travel for jobs not within range of any of its franchise locations, and is in such high demand the company is hiring, Spaulding said.

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“Our normal jobs are still normal – our variety is the same. But then we've got this,” Spaulding said. “So, we’ve got teams that haven't had a day off in over a month … we just went to Chicago. We were in Louisville, Kentucky. We've been to Ohio a couple times. It's just it's everywhere.”

As of Friday morning, at least 671,425 COVID19 cases were confirmed in the U.S., and 2,167,955 reported worldwide, data shows.

But as many are staying inside, and away from others, Spaulding urged the public to be sure to check on neighbors, loved ones and people who might not have anyone to do so.

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She pointed a case recently handled by Spaulding Decon’s Plano, Texas location, where a man was found days after bleeding out and dying.

Spaulding also emphasized the need for businesses to be proactive in having their workspaces properly sanitized before government officials give the green light for people to return to the office. She warned those who don’t could be faced with the inevitable service delays resulting from the overwhelming influx companies will likely face when that time comes.

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“We’re trying to kind of push for more of a preventative maintenance-type thing, maybe go in quarterly and disinfect, so that way we're a little bit ahead of the game,” Spaulding said. “A lot of [companies] are sitting and waiting until the government says you can reopen … those that are sitting and waiting are going to expect us to be able to accommodate all of them at the same time. And it's just not possible.”