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The Company: Calecon
Headquarters: San Fernando, California
Number of Employees:
Website: Click here
Email: Click here
Phone: (866) 442-0088
Caldecon, Inc. began in 2005 and officially incorporated in July of 2006. Caldecon is also a 100% Native American woman owned business located in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California.
Ms. Freebird lives in Van Nuys, California with her 4 young children, 11, 10, 7 and 5. Formerly, Ms. Freebird worked in the social services technology sector (computers) and has extensive personal experience and knowledge of the "human interest" side of life.
When not working on a cleanup site or marketing the business, Ms. Freebird and her children enjoy going to pow wows.
Caldecon is a crime and trauma scene cleaning company located in Southern California, Los Angeles metro.
We specialize in helping people and businesses clean up the ugly aftermath of crime and trauma scenes, death, gross filth situations and the scenes of unhealthy living. We are professional, discreet and empathetic to anyone's cleanup needs whether it be a suicide, unattended death, difficult or psychologically disturbed tenant, we are able to disinfect, remove odors and restore your property to a healthy livable area.
We are a crime and trauma scene cleaning company that offers: (Click to view)
Suicide Cleanup
Homicide Cleanup
Death Scene / Human Decomposition Cleaning
Blood Cleanup
Hoarding Cleanup
Accident Cleaning
Gross Filth Cleaning
Death Odor Removal
Tear Gas Cleaning
Biohazardous Waste Cleanup Services
We use EPA safe solutions and disinfectants as well as industrial ozone machines and are concerned about the health of your tenants, employees, nieghbors and family members. We also work extensively with commercial property owners, management companies, law enforcement agencies and private customers.
Removing biohazardous waste or biohazard must be done by a licensed trauma scene cleaning company in the state of California. Caldecon has been professionally trained to clean, remove and disinfect all blood, biohazard, body fluids, gross filth and human remains by a internationally renown decontamination school located in Dallas, Texas and is also a deeply committed participant in the crime and trauma scene cleaning industry population.
Most of our services are covered by homeowners, business and auto insurance. We are able to help you with your insurance claim if you need assistance with a claim or have questions regarding your coverage. We are located in the Los Angeles area, San Fernando Valley, California. Please call on us for your needs, we will respond immediately.
We believe that the experience of having a death or a traumatic injury on your property is an emotional and catastrophic experience and that cleaning up a traumatic scene / crime scene can be difficult for victims, family members and grieving loved ones. Traumatic cleaning jobs should not be done by an untrained or unlicensed person or company. Cleaning a crime scene or a place where a traumatic injury happened can further the trauma experienced by survivors or family members and friends, let alone the typical maintenance man. We are experience professionals that have been trained by the best and whose main body of business is cleaning and sanitizing areas where biohazard / biohazardous.
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PAST ENTREPRENUERS |
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September 08 Elizabeth Freebird
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Interview By: Larry Knudsen |
Tell us about yourself?
I am Chippewa, my mom is from White Earth, Cass Lake and my dad is Bad River, Wisconsin, Chippewa. I’m one of those Indians that got lost shortly after birth and ended up being raised non-indian, apart from my biological mother, sister and brothers. I had the opportunity to hunt them down, to find out that they were alive and re-unite with them after 23 years. Even though I was not raised in Minneapolis with them, I’ve been the full route of life and have discovered that staying sober is the only way I can make something positive for my own children.
Tell us about Caldecon, Inc?
Caldecon is for California Decontamination and it something I thought of while in a desperate need to find a way to support myself and my four kids. I saw an article about “crime scene cleaning” on the internet back in 2005 and thought that it was something that I could definitely make a living at, would be able to help people and since I’ve been through the rut of life myself, it would be something that I could handle. To tell you the truth, less than 5% of the cleanup jobs I do are related to crime. Most jobs are suicides and unattended death scenes, some gross filth jobs, hoarding and basically cleaning up blood and biohazardous material.
How did you get into this line of work?
I researched decontamination schools across the country, chose one, attended and learned the business. It was difficult to break down the doors of already established companies but I’m pretty stubborn when I throw myself into something. I invested most everything I have in the business, told others I’m not going anywhere and just decided to do this.
How did you ever find out this was the type of work for you?
Like I said, I’ve been on the receiving and the giving end of a lot of life scenarios and felt that nothing could surprise me. A lot of the sites I clean, I think this could have been me, I mean, I was here at this point once upon a time. After my first decomposition job, I knew that nothing could phase me and when talking to clients, I have a lot of empathy because I know what it’s like to be almost dead or ready to give up or lost in alcoholism or just plain crazy, unable to care for myself and get into a situation I’ve seen and cleaned up.
How many employee’s do you have?
Sometimes I do jobs alone and depending on the job it could be anywhere from 3-10 people working on a site at a time. It’s a lot of physical labor, sometimes up to 700 man hours when cleaning a hoarding house or a tear gas house.
Has it benefited you to be an independently owned Native American Business?
Not yet, but I plan on filing for an SBA loan sometime if I can find the time. Maybe sometimes, my clients want to hire me because I’m a woman and everyone in California thinks it’s “cool” to be an Indian…hahaha (lol)
Your line of work must be fascinating? Do you work with the CSI team? Or are you just post scene clean up?
I do think my line of work is fascinating because I see the very intimate details and the end of people’s lives. The intimate details are who and what they leave behind, an open book they’ve been reading, and answering machine with people crying, family members in shock and distraught and the stories are just unbelievable. I see a lot of old people and what they leave behind and a lot of memories and pictures of their lives and families or I see the other side many times too, leaving this earth with no one to know or care and I see those pictures as well, usually as they’re going to the garbage bags…I think, this album must have been their best memories and here I am having to throw it away because there is absolutely no one to claim it or want it.
Where do you get schooling to work with Bio Hazards Material?
I went to school in Dallas, Texas at a place called Amdecon. At the time, it seemed to be the most serious school I could find. I was actually scared about going because they seemed so serious about teaching the industry and I wanted to do things right.
What was the biggest obstacle to starting your company?
I think the biggest obstacle was just announcing the company to other companies and people out here who do the same thing. I was met with a lot of discouragement, partly due to competitiveness and was told that I wouldn’t get more than 4 jobs my first year. I accepted that and thought to myself, okay, that’s fine but I’m staying here. Things didn’t work out that way, I had already 4 jobs my first month and a half.
What are the certificates needed to work for Caldecon?
The State of California is one of only two states in the nation that have regulated laws about biohazardous waste, what you can do with it, who can transport it, who can clean it and where you can take it and the companies out here have to be licensed yearly to do this. We have to be contracted with a biohazardous waste facility as well. I personally do not work a biohazard scene without certified technician’s and this is mostly due to safety and my belief in keeping the business at a professional level. Would you really want someone cleaning up potentially infectious fluids exposing themselves or anyone else to disease? There are a few number of schools across the nation, I can think of only 3-4 that offer credible certification for biohazard cleanup.
Tell us about your staff?
I have three certified staff members on call at any given time. Edi and Matilda went through Amdecon back in 2006 and Edi is particularly good with blood, never have to worry about him. He is 25 years old and we have similar lives sometimes, except he’s young but I never have to worry about him at a scene. Matthew is certified by the American Bio-Recovery Association, another certification establishment that I highly respect and also would do anything for me and my kids as friends. Both of those guys really like to cleanup scenes, like me, nothing can phase them.
You have a nice website, tell us about it?
Oh, I came from the computer industry, in fact I still do websites sometimes, can fix a computer, take it apart, build them, support them, you name it, but the thing about getting into this field is that now I can work with a clear conscience. I used to fix computers a lot, take 6-7 hours, reformatting drives, installing parts, installing and saving data, scanning for viruses and I didn’t like the feeling of having to charge $250 for a $300 computer. I still love computers, save a ton of money by doing the computer thing myself. I recently got into Joomla, the content management system and love the look and feel of making these sites.
Who were your mentors while you were growing up?
My mentor and my savior was Bill Hovsepian, a doctor that helped me out for a few years when I was a kid. I had a sick childhood and he helped me get through that and look forward to a new day for a few years. I had a very traumatic childhood but do not see the past as a “poor me” type of thing.
Are your hobbies as extreme as your work?
Yes, my 4 kids, Raven, 11, River, 10, Jack, 7 and Simon, 5 are my hobbies these days. I have the best of times with them. Our favorite thing to do is to go to pow wows. We are a pretty crazy set and I’m a real liberal mom. They know things that they probably shouldn’t know at their age but we have the best times together.
What is your favorite Annual Powwow?
Well, the pow wows out here are very commercial, but I think the last best one we went to was in Ojai, almost like real camping and not so many vendors. I would love to be able to take them to the white earth pow wow, now that’s a real pow wow.
What is the best advice to give to someone just starting their own business?
Be prepared to work your butt off, day and night. Don’t let your ego get the best of you when trying to be the boss and don’t ask anyone to do anything that you wouldn’t do yourself if you had to, because there will be a time when you will have to, to keep your business up and running. It’s definitely not easy and it will fill up your life!
What personal or business beliefs have changed since you started your business?
I don’t believe in the yellow pages anymore, it’s like am radio or something. I believe in making a will now and believe you should transfer everything to your kids at least three years before you think you’re going to die or the state or the government will get most of it. I believe we will never go hungry.
What is your greatest wish for the future of Native business?
I would like to see more solidarity and prosperity for those of out here in the new “indian country”, those of us away from our traditional homes near the reservations or the cities dense with Indians. I see too many small websites, native associations with too few members and wonder exactly what they do with those $500 yearly fees. I think using other native businesses, as a Native business owner is the best thing to do right now. Support other native businesses. |
