Celebrating SERVEPRO | Business & Finance - Citizentribune

The office of SERVEPRO of Hamblen County was the scene of a recent celebration, complete with a catered BBQ meal and tours of the facility located in Talbott.

Ambassadors from the Morristown Area Chamber of Commerce were invited to participate in the event, which included a traditional ribbon cutting.

Manager Austin Neidig said there are seven staff members who work out of the location.

“They go wherever the job is,” he said. “They do go to Sevier and Jefferson counties.”

Neidig has returned to area after working in the Northeast.

“I grew up in Pennsylvania; my parents retired to Tennessee, so I moved here after college. I lived here for three years and worked with water and fire damage here. I moved to Illinois and did it for 10 years and then recently moved back to the area.

“We do large and small jobs, whatever the call is: fire restoration, auto restoration, mold, cleanup and, if necessary, biohazard cleanup (an unattended death or suicide), public cleaning, post-construction cleaning for contractors, office buildings or whatever,” Neidig said.

His cohort, Daire Workman, has even more experience in the industry.

“I’ve been doing it for about 25 years,” Workman said.

The largest local job that Workman remembers working with SERVEPRO was a church. The largest ever consisted of 13 buildings located at Windmere in Sevier County, after the 2016 Smoky Mountain wildfires.

“It took a couple of months; we cleaned up after the reconstruction,” he said.

The work, no matter the scale, requires certification in fire, water and biohazard cleanup.

“You have to understand how to clean specific things and, with biohazard, how to protect yourself,” Workman said.

The tour of the Talbott facility included a climate-controlled room where customer furniture can be temporarily placed while an area is being cleaned.

“We appreciate your investment in Hamblen County,” Chamber Chair Keith Andrews said.

SERVPRO of Hamblen County provides 24-hour emergency service, utilizing highly-trained technicians who can respond immediately to residential or commercial emergencies.

The SERVEPRO staff is trained in property damage restoration, including the initial and ongoing training at the company’s corporate training facility and regular Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification. The IICRC sets the standards for the cleaning and restoration industries in water restoration, fire restoration, mold remediation, carpet and upholstery cleaning, and other cleaning and restoration courses.

Training also includes employee certification, a voluntary, self-paced program specifically designed for SERVEPRO that includes crew training, fire restoration, water restoration, carpet and upholstery cleaning and initial franchise training (a 15-day hands-on course that covers many restoration topics, including mold mitigation).

The staff also has access to web-based training. The voluntary program is designed to be an ongoing, self-paced coaching series for a franchise’s employees. Video presentations and support materials are followed by a knowledge test at the end of each module and keeps technicians and office staff up to speed on industry standards and the professional quality expected by customers.

SERVPRO of Hamblen County offers both credit and noncredit courses for insurance agents, insurance adjusters, real estate professionals, and franchise staff. These programs are designed to improve knowledge of emergency mitigation. Courses include:

Water Damage Restoration, Fire Damage Restoration, Understanding Mold in the Restoration Industry, Restorative Drying for Loss Control and the Mitigation Awareness Response Seminar (non-credit course).

SERVEPRO is a franchisor of fire and water cleanup and restoration franchises in the United States and Canada. The franchise system provides localized services as well as large scale disaster recovery. It is headquartered in Gallatin.

The Talbott facility is located at 210 Shaver Dr, just off West Andrew Johnson Highwy. For more information, call 423-318-6733.

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