INNOVATOR CLEANS UP TARGETING ON MOULD
TACKLING an unpleasant problem head on has proved to be a fruitful business for MouldMen owner Gerard Murtagh.
Following the devastation of the 2011 Queensland floods, Mr Murtagh launched his mould removal business, which services residential and business premises across south east Queensland.
“We had a graffiti removal business at the time, and after the floods, we were given a lot of work to pressure clean the pubs and public assets,” he said.
“Someone mentioned about the issue of mould and I began thinking how it was going to be an ongoing issue.”
Following a fact-finding trip to the US and meeting experts who had worked on the Hurricane Katrina clean-up, Mr Murtagh began MouldMen, which has been nominated as a Queensland finalist in this year’s Telstra Business Awards.
“I set up a pretty basic website and the phone just began ringing,” he said. “The first calls were from property agents about rental properties, so from there we sent out a letter to every real estate agent in southeast Queensland.”
Now MouldMen counts about 600 real estate agents as clients as well as city councils, with the company servicing everything from housing to jails, libraries and hospitals.
Mr Murtagh said business had grown 40 per cent in the past three months and 71 per cent since this time last year.
The Telstra Business Awards are supported by News Corp, publisher of the