| Sometimes,
it’s an ill wind that blows customers Keith Desserich’s way.
Other times, it’s a flood or a fire.
His
company, RestorAid, provides 24-hour emergency response to a variety of
disasters. Whether the
event is a burst pipe, a flood or a fire, RestorAid employees have
learned that the person on the telephone needs comfort – and a prompt,
professional response.
“A
project manager goes out and sees the job, walks through the job site
and figures out what needs to be done,” said Keith Desserich, who
heads RestorAid. “We do
anything and everything for the customer.”
“Anything”
includes a full range of professional services as well as more personal
ones, like searching the neighborhood for lost pets.
“It’s
a very traumatic experience,” said Dennis Desserich, Keith’s father
and a founder of the business. “There’s
a human side to every disaster. You
need someone who’s going to help you through it.”
That’s
not to say that RestorAid doesn’t emphasize its expertise.
Multiple crews enable the company to respond to several calls at
the same time, as happened during a tornado that struck Blue Ash and
Montgomery in April 1999. Each
team immediately packs up the contents of the affected property and
brings the items to the company’s 30,000-square-foot center in
Woodlawn.
If
a customer’s home has been damaged by fire and smoke, the restoration
process begins by immediately wiping down every item to prevent further
smoke damage.
“Smoke
is acidic,” Keith Desserich said.
“If left on, the smoke eats into things.”
After
giving everything a quick cleaning, RestorAid staffers go back and clean
thoroughly. In one case,
this meant wiping the surfaces of each photographic slide in a
customer’s 10-year collection.
RestorAid’s
staging area contains a variety of equipment for treating damaged
furnishings and personal goods. There’s
an ultrasonic cleaner, a giant version of that used for dipping jewelry.
“We
can do wonders with this,” Keith said.
“It’s good for china and crystal.”
There’s
an ozone chamber that decays the smoke particles, removing the tell-tale
odor from fabrics. On-site
laundry equipment is used for washable goods.
The cleaning of drapes, upholstery and rugs is often
subcontracted to RestorAid’s sister company, Coit Services, which
shares the building.
After
everything is cleaned, dried and restored, it is tagged and stored until
the customer is ready for it.
“This
business boils down to who has the right equipment, who has the right
knowledge and who has given proper attention to the customer,"
Keith said. "You have to have all three. If not, you're not going to be successful."
The
cleaning and water extraction expertise of Coit Services provided the
basis for RestorAid, which was established in 1997 by the Desserich
family. But the family did not want its new enterprise to be limited
to a clean-up company. They
hired carpenters and made sure that their employees and subcontractors
could replace a building from the ground up.
Several
rooms in RestorAid's center are devoted to training.
For instance, the company's employees learn how to extract water
from every conceivable type of carpet.
On a scale-model structure called the "dog house," they
practice inserting heavy plastic in and around shingles to shore up
damaged roofs and protect homes from further weather incursions.
They pride themselves on getting artwork restored, replacing
discontinued items and matching new building materials to old.
So
much for the right equipment and knowledge.
Those two elements are essential, Keith said, but attention to
the customers is the company's sine
qua non.
“The
biggest thing you learn in business is you listen to your
customers," he said. "If
you don't listen, then get out of the business."
The
company is always sensitive to the fact that its customers are in
crisis. It's RestorAid's
job to minimize stress, to instill confidence, to make things as easy as
possible.
So
continuity is important.
“We
keep the same project manager and lead carpenter on the job if at all
possible," Keith said. 'We
want to maintain consistency with the customer.
Our customers also want employees with RestorAid uniforms, not
subcontractors. So we use
our own people on the job site whenever possible, keeping subcontractors
to a minimum."
Employees
insist that rebuilding their customers' lives is just as important as
rebuilding their homes.
“We
see this as more of a people business," Dennis said.
'We provide support and understanding."
Keith
agreed. "This is as
close as it comes to heroic entrepreneurism," he said.
"Our employees value what they do on a daily basis.
It's very much a passion now."
|
