It started with $1,000, a tiny office space, a few ads in the Pennysaver and half a dozen housekeepers, but Maureen Gray, president and founder of what would become KBM Facility Solutions, wasn't about to let odds get in her way.

Gray, just 20 years old at the company's founding in 1981, now has a multimillion-dollar, multi-faceted company with about 500 employees and 450 vendor partners.

Along with janitorial, the firm has a tenant improvement division, a maintenance division and an array of other functions, and Gray continues to grow her company with additions and acquisitions.

The company, originally known as KBM Building Services, posted $28.8 million in sales last year and is projecting more than $30 million in sales in 2010.

"Despite the weak economy and an overall increase in competition, KBM has seen tremendous growth during the past two years, primarily as a result of the focus of our dedicated management team," Gray said. "While our pricing remains highly competitive, we have expanded our list of value-added services to ensure that our clients are receiving the best possible value for their dollar."

In 1997, KBM added a full-service floor division, which offers maintenance, restoration and installation for all kinds of flooring. In 2001, KBM opened its tenant improvement and construction division.

Two years ago, KBM acquired two janitorial providers: Knightly Building Services for its hotel accounts, and Moore Maintenance & Janitorial Services. That merger doubled the number of KBM's employees.

"By streamlining costs and leveraging economies of scale, KBM is extremely competitive in the national arena and has welcomed several large accounts in 2009 and 2010," Gray added.

In 2009 KBM achieved success in green certifying four of its accounts -- Gen-Probe (Nasdaq: GPRO), Biogen IDEC (Nasdaq: BIIB), Takeda and Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) through independent third party audits.

Last July, KBM took top honors for Best Cleaning Program at the 2010 Operating Systems One Symposium in Portland, Ore.

In short, while KBM may have started simply as a janitorial service nearly 30 years ago, it has become significantly more than that.

By sharply reducing landfill waste and limiting water consumption, Gray has made sustainable practices an integral part of the numerous components of the business. In its janitorial services, the company isn't only cleaning offices, it is showing companies how to reduce their carbon footprint, remove harmful pollutants and handling everything from window washing to graffiti removal to carting off construction materials after a tenant improvement job.

As for its tenant improvement division, which Gray has called a natural outgrowth for the company, its motto has been "no job is too small."

While no job may be too small, KBM has provided services to some very large clients including the Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Northrop Grumman Space Technologies, and Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU).