Habitec reaches milestone with acquisition

TOLEDO, Ohio—With the Sept. 3 acquisition of Bigelow Security, full service security company Habitec Security reached an important milestone, $500,000 in RMR, John Smythe, Habitec president told Security Systems News.

The tuck-in acquisition brought in 500 accounts, 90 percent of which are residential, Smythe said. Bigelow Security was based in nearby Sylvania, Ohio, and has been a friendly competitor of Habitec for more than 20 years. Company founder Jim Bigelow will join Habitec as an independent security consultant. A former Bigelow sales representative will also join Habitec.

Founded in 1972, Habitec is privately held. In 2014 it had sales revenue of $9.7 million. In addition to its headquarters here, Habitec has branch offices in Columbus, Ohio, and Charlevoix, Mich. Its UL-listed central station monitors 17,000 customers. Habitec's customers are half residential and half commercial. The company is "always looking" for acquisitions, Smythe said.

Habitec recently hired six sales people to increase residential and small business sales through a door-knocking effort, as well as phone calls and referrals. The goal, Smythe said, is to add "10 to 15 units per month per sales rep." Smythe is encouraged by the initial results of the initiative, which was launched four months ago. "It's going well. We've had early success," he said.

Habitec has had success with hosted access and is has plans to launch hosted video. He is currently assessing several providers of hosted video.  

Smythe, a Security Systems News “20 under 40” honoree Class of 2014, has served as president of the company since 2005.