The Restoration Experts You Can Trust Are at SERVPRO | SERVPRO® of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County

6/17/2022 (Permalink)

No matter the damage sustained, SERVPRO of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall has the tools and team to help your home return to a normal state quickly.

SERVPRO may be known for general cleanup, restoration and construction services, but there is so much more to who we are. We’re ready to take care of you through even the worst disaster, natural or manmade.

We know Alabama weather can be quite unpredictable and bring us a variety of disasters. SERVPRO has services to cover anything that can happen here.

Beyond Clean—Experience the SERVPRO Difference | SERVPRO® of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County

6/18/2021 (Permalink)

If you’re business has sanitation and cleaning needs, get in touch with the SERVPRO of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall team.

Throughout the country, as well as in Alabama, all areas are experiencing decreasing cases of COVID-19. Consumers are returning to outdoor activities, eating out, shopping in person, and kids are getting back to school.

As we begin this return to some sense of normalcy, there are some new considerations for businesses.

Customers have choices when it comes to shopping! They are paying attention to the mitigation strategies of businesses and watching to make sure business are providing a clean environment to shop or eat in.

Your customers deserve a sanitized shopping experience and it’s important to offer them that piece of mind. Is your business Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned?

The Process of Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned

To get that extra level of clean, your business needs to experience our certified cleaning program. After your business achieves this elite designation, customers and employees can rest easy that they are entering a sanitized establishment.

Advanced biohazard cleaning processes are utilized to provide your business with a clean and safe environment, going well beyond a basic clean.

Here’s how the program works:

Consult. We’ll customize a plan that fits your business. Because our business is locally owned and operated, we are familiar with the uniqueness of the area. But we’ll also sit down to talk with you about the things that make your business unique, including the size of the facility, the type of work you do, and the people who are in your building often.

Clean. Now that we have a plan, it’s time for the cleaning to begin. The custom, hospital-grade cleaning solutions we use are unique to SERVPRO. Your business will receive a level of cleanliness that is unparalleled among our competitors. CDC standards are always followed or exceeded, and help protect your employees and customers from many viruses and bacteria, not simply COVID-19.

Certify. Display the Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned shield in your business and on your front door. We will also provide you a digital shield to be used online so when customers visit your website or social media profiles, they know your business has been professionally cleaned.

If you’re ready to get serious about sanitation and have your business Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned, get in touch today to get the best team in cleanup and restoration on your side.

Etowah County Expo

8/27/2018 (Permalink)

Lorin Sauls, Casey Griep and Theresa Smith at the Gadsden/Etowah Business Expo 2018

Our marketing team loves to participate in events like the Gadsden/ Etowah County Business Expo. It’s a great opportunity to interact with the local community and meet many other businesses who also attend. This time around we rented booth space and set up our SERVPRO of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County tent at the Expo. A little cornhole competition, some excellent SERVPRO swag, and a Callaway Rogue Driver raffle and we were in business! An event like this is always a great way to get our name out and tell both current and future customers about our services like fire, water and mold clean-up as well as general cleaning and duct cleaning. We will let you know on our Facebook page when we have a booth at upcoming events like this. So be sure to check out our Facebook page for what we have scheduled so that you can stop by and say hello! We are always HERE TO HELP!

Hot Pursuit 2018

8/27/2018 (Permalink)

This group had lots of fun at the Hot Pursuit 2018 Glow Run.

Recently SERVPRO Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County had the pleasure of participating in the Hot Pursuit 5K GlowRun and 1 Mile Fun Run at the Gadsden Mall. The Hot Pursuit GlowRun benefits The James M Barrie Center for Children which is a local child advocacy center. We had a great time with some of our SERVPRO team and their family members “glowing” in our SERVPRO green shirts for this event, benefiting a great cause and getting a little exercise too! At SERVPRO Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County, we love our community and always jump at the opportunity to participate in local events like this! Giving back is important to us, so look for us soon at upcoming local events benefiting various charities! And if you ever want to participate with us, let us know! We’ve got lots of SERVPRO green shirts available!

A Happy Customer

6/1/2018 (Permalink)

Look at this carpet before and after cleaning!

Our motto at SERVPRO is “Like it never even happened.”  That’s always our goal: to make things look like they did before the loss occurred.  In reality, though, it is difficult to make that happen every time.  But at the very minimum, we want to please our customer and make it look better than it did when we when we got there.  We extract the water, remove the drywall, clean off the soot, scrub the carpet stain, tarp the roof, board up the door, tear out the ceiling, haul debris, pack the boxes, move items to storage, mop the floor, and so on.  We do our best to make the situation better for our customers and exceed their expectations.  Today, our crew was out doing a carpet cleaning.  The homeowner walked into the room where we were cleaning the carpets and gasped at the difference between the before and after.  She gave the crew the biggest smile and commented that she didn’t even remember the carpets being that color, referring to the original color that was revealed at the “cleaned” section! That is what we strive for! A happy customer!

Everyday is Gameday

9/14/2017 (Permalink)

Our owners Chris and Jenny Lamey at the 2017 National Convention

In June, our owners Chris and Jenny Lamey attended their first SERVPRO National Convention in Seattle. This annual meeting attended by over 1700 franchise owners is a great opportunity for SERVPRO corporate to communicate the plans, strategies and opportunities for this next year. It was a great time to come together with other franchise owners and share best practices in business operations.  Chris and Jenny attended over 20 workshops combined during their time at convention that ranged from training on internal systems used for enhanced workflow like DryBook and Workcenter to marketing workshops that focused on brand image and presenting a consistent brand to our marketplace. Being with franchise veterans of 50 years and with new franchise owners alike was an experience that excited them even more going into this next year of business.

The theme of the convention EVERYDAY IS GAMEDAY couldn't be more appropriate for our business. To use the sports reference, we know that sports teams must train and strategize and condition and plan to be effective on the field or court during game time. Showing up to a game without the proper preparation can and will be a disaster. So too with what we do everyday. We must train our staff to properly execute the processes and procedures needed to meet our customers' expectations. We must strategize constantly on what we can do to improve the way we conduct our business. We must plan ahead in order to be most effective.  If we do this, during "game time", we will be at our best!

Down...set....hike!! Let's do this!!!

As featured in PrimePay's Blog

6/16/2017 (Permalink)

Our owner, Chris Lamey, was featured in PrimePay's blog

"What started out as a typical trip to the gym for Chris Lamey, ended in a life-changing encounter. Boasting a 20-plus year career in the golf industry, Lamey took a leap of faith and bought a struggling franchise location after this conversation with a peer:

“Hey I know this is totally out of the blue, we've never even talked business, but there might be a couple of franchises that may be coming for sale. Would you and your wife be interested in talking to us?"

And according to his wife and co-owner Jenny, they’ve never looked back.

If you’ve ever experienced any kind of water damage in your home after a storm, you’ve probably heard of SERVPRO.  Whether it’s fire or water damage, mold or a simple carpet cleaning, this cleanup and restoration company tackles the mess. And from what I learned in talking to Mrs. Lamey, it’s a really good franchise to be a part of.

So how do two people without true experience in owning and operating a business: “I mean I won't lie, that first couple weeks I'd get in my car and I'd drive back home, thinking about how overwhelming it all was…”

…Turn a failing location into one that’s about to outgrow its current space and surpass corporate standard sales goals?

Creativity, trust, and support.

Creativity

Though I mentioned the lack of true business ownership experience, Mr. Lamey was a sales rep for a number of years and through that, perfected the craft of establishing relationships.

“For 23 years of his career he never went into an office, so he was running his territory. You're very much a part of your own success in that situation,” explained Mrs. Lamey.

She went on to explain their approach to business is that they are a marketing company that happens to provide cleaning and restoration services. For them, it’s all about the relationships they establish with the local Alabama adjusters and insurance agents.

They’re able to creatively combine their marketing and customer service skills to really exceed in this new life adventure.

How can you leverage your variety of skills to help run your franchise as smooth as possible? Look beyond what you think might be a practical business skill and tap into those other experiences to really make your business shine.   

Trust

After undergoing six months’ worth of training that set them up with a great foundation to run the business, the Lameys were made aware of a hard-hitting reality.

“It was very overwhelming at first as each call and each job was a new experience for us. But it was a great way to hit the ground running and learn the business by doing it and not just learning about it,” Mrs. Lamey explained. 

The SERVPRO franchise bases their training on a ‘stages model.’ It's been proven time and time and time again, that if you follow the stages, you will be successful. So the Lameys trusted the corporate franchise methodology and haven’t had any need to stray the course.

There’s a good chance whatever franchise you own is in business because of the solid processes in place on the corporate level. While there is some freedom in your particular location, don’t forget this idea of placing trust in your franchisor.

Support

“Another great thing about being a part of the franchise system is the support of franchises all over,” said Mrs. Lamey.

When disaster struck in Louisiana, surrounding ‘storm teams’ (as SERVPRO calls it) packed up equipment and headed to work on helping those people out in a time of crisis. As you can imagine, that’s extremely rewarding to be able to help people get their lives back together.

With support from the community, staff members and even mentoring from I would say the late owner of SERVPRO Birmingham  and the Wilson Trainership, David Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Lamey never have to tackle any challenge alone.

Not only that, but they get support from partnering with other companies… like PrimePay. Since they cover jobs in multiple municipalities around Anniston, occupational tax filing is tricky. But by leaning on the support from their representatives here at PrimePay, the Lameys can be confident in continued success with their franchise.

“Working with PrimePay has given me the peace of mind and confidence that you care about our business and will work with us as a partner to meet our needs,” Mrs. Lamey said."

Honored to Serve

5/12/2017 (Permalink)

I'm of the sappy sort. I cry at commercials. I normally can't get through church without my eyes welling up. It's just how I am. But when it comes to business, I am able to check my emotions at the door. Usually. That is, until SERVPRO happened. I wasn't quite prepared for the emotion that owning this business would stir in me. I wasn't prepared for the deep human connections we would make with our employees and with our clients. It's just that human element that makes what we do so very important. We come to do a job, to help in a time of need, quite possibly in a situation that is devastating to the person or family or business we are serving. We have been called in for fires in a home a family has lived in for decades where they see their memories going up in flames. We've been called in for water damage to a brand new home that a family was just about to move into, a home they have designed and spent over a year planning and building. We have been called into another state to help homeowners clean up after a flood that devastated an entire city in just hours of flooding rain. We have been called in after a death of a family member where family members are experiencing enormous grief and pain. We have been called to serve our fellow man and that's what this business is all about.  We have been called and so we come.

It made me think that in our daily lives (not just in business) that each of us has a wonderful opportunity to serve those around us. Those in our families. Those whom we call friends. And those who live and work and raise their families in our communities. It's pretty amazing that at the end of the day we are just people helping people.

Because we get to do this everyday in the Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County markets and other areas we serve, we are humbled and grateful that our communities depend on us, call on us to help in a time of need.  So, while our crews may not be emotional when they show up to help (after all, they are there to get the job done), we hope that they stand out in the way they provide fast and  professional service with your best interests at heart.   I get a little emotional when I think of the people we are honored to serve! What a blessing it is for us!  

How Did This Happen?

5/12/2017 (Permalink)

"How did this happen?" That's a question we often get asked when we show up to do clean up work at a home or business. Most often we are the first one the scene after the home or business owner and are in the best position to assess the cause of the loss.  This is one of the first questions we ask also when we get the call at our office to provide emergency services. It's important that we ask it so that we arrive prepared with the proper equipment and tools to provide clean up services that exceed your expectations. It's equally important too, though, when our customer doesn't know the cause of the loss to ask us "How did this happen?"  That lets us know that we need to wear our investigative hat and not only provide the clean up services needed but also determine the cause of the damage. Was the water leak due to an old water heater line that cracked? Was a new dishwasher installed properly? Is there water coming into the home from the foundation? We want to clean up the mess today but we also do not want you to call us back in 2 days because it happened again. Finding the source of the problem is as important as restorative your home or business to the way it was before. You can be assured that we will provide you as much information as possible to prevent further damage and be in communication with your insurance agent/adjuster keeping them in the loop for a covered loss. Regardless of how the loss occurred, we will help you put everything back "like it never even happened" so you can resume life as normal. Thanks for trusting us.

It's Time to Spring Clean!

4/4/2017 (Permalink)

Use newspaper to clean your windows instead of paper towels that leave behind residue.

Spring is in the air! With the warmer weather comes he tradition of spring cleaning, a time to organize and clean the environments- home, business, office- we encounter on a daily basis. 

Perhaps you are selling a home and want to vanquish years of cigarette smoke odor that won't go away, or want to see if your ducts or HVAC system needs to be cleaned. Detailed articles on dryer vents, deodorization, and ducts are featured this month, but we always offer the following cleaning services:

• Carpet Cleaning
• Upholstery and Drapery Cleaning
• Ceiling and Wall Cleaning
• Hard Floor Cleaning
• HVAC/Duct Cleaning 

Whatever your spring cleaning needs, SERVPRO of Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County is always here to help! 

Box It Up

2/15/2017 (Permalink)

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

Boxes upon boxes upon boxes. We didn't expect how many boxes of customer possessions we would be packing when we opened up our business in June 2016. But before we knew it, our warehouse was full of them.  After all, when our customer has a water or fire event in his/her home or business, before we can start the clean up, we have to get everything else out of the way. This could mean moving couches or beds or bookshelves full of collectibles; either way, smaller items have to be boxed up and stored away safely by our packing experts. If items have to be cleaned due to damage done to them in a water or fire event, customer contents will have to be boxed initially on site, brought back to our warehouse, unboxed in order to be cleaned, and then boxed again once they have been meticulously detailed. Most days our warehouse is completely full of these boxes. Sometimes they stay stored in our warehouse for weeks and months if construction is necessary at the site of the damage after we do the initial mitigation work. My heart is happy though when we get a call from a customer saying he is ready for his boxes, furniture and other contents to be moved back in. That means that the mitigation and construction work has been completed and our customers are ready to resume life in their home as they knew it before. We are grateful to help our customers in many ways, and helping preserve, clean and store their prize possessions is something we take very seriously. So let us do the heavy lifting and the packing for you. It's what we do!