It’s 2 a.m. and you’re standing at the smoldering ruins of your kitchen.  As the chief prepares to send his crew back to the station, your family looks to you for answers, but all you have is one still-burning question: What now?
           There will be the call to your insurance company.  And you’ll have to arrange for temporary accomodations.  But what about your home?  You can’t just leave it open to the elements (human and otherwise).  And who’s going to turn that pile of soot back into a kitchen?
           More and more people who have experienced a home disaster are looking to a Chattanooga company called RESTORAMERICA to provide the answers to these and other questions.  
           And owner John Haustein is the one of the first faces they see next.  “We’re a full-service restoration provider.  [This] means we’ll take you from the fire all the way back to where you were before.  We’ll board up your house for security and liability purposes, dry out the water, do the demolition and reconstruction and restore your furniture and clothing.”
            Whether busted pipes unleashed hundreds of gallons of water in your home or high winds ripped off the roof over your bedroom, Haustein and his crew have reversed enough home disasters that they can walk you through the initial aftershock.  “When you’re standing there not knowing what to do, we start asking questions: ‘Do you have your family photos?  Did you take off your diamond ring and leave it on your nightstand?  Where can we find some clothes?  We’ll wash them tonight and bring them to you tomorrow.’  We help you through the first few steps,” Haustein says.
             RESTORAMERICA then dips into its bag of tricks to return you to your normal daily life.  One of the biggest obstacles they’ve learned to overcome is the pungent odor that permeates furniture and clothing during a fire.
             “You have to restore furniture one way for a protein fire and another way for a carbon fire,” says Haustein.  “And if you burned Tupperware on your stove, everything is going to have a petroleum feel to it, so we’ll have to clean it differently that if your carpet caught fire.”
             The same goes with your overall home.  RESTORAMERICA is currently working on a house that caught fire when a pot of beans overheated after the company providing electricity to the residence reinstated service once an overdue bill was paid.  While walking through the house, every inch of which appears to be covered in a powdery substance, Haustein points out of the miraculous lack of odor.  “If fire restoration isn’t done properly, you’re going to encounter odor later on, which could mean more reconstruction or diminished resale value,” Haustein says.
              RESTORAMERICA can also scientifically prove your house or business is dry.  “Ten years ago we used the hand check.  If your hand was wet, the wood was still wet; if your hand was dry, the wood was dry.  But now we use highly scientific equipment.  It helps us get the job done right,” says Huastein.
              The Chattanooga branch of RESTORAMERICA consists of a crew of five.  To address the many different challenges they encounter, they’ve established close working relationships with a number of subcontractors.  Currently, they’re working with one of the top plaster subcontractors in Chattanooga to refurbish a church that suffered damage when a roofing crew ignited a wasp nest and started a blaze that forced the fire department to douse a portion of the sanctuary with water.  “Everyone we bring in is licensed and insured.  And like us, they’ve been trained and earned the necessary certifications,” Haustein says.
               Quality work could be one the reasons RESTORAMERICA has generated enough positive word of mouth to attract about 200 jobs a year.  While the tasks range from $300 dry wall patches to more extensive work, Haustein has received calls from a number of well-heeled clients, including former Vols quarterback and Superbowl winner Peyton Manning’s vacation home on Highway 58 earlier this year,” says Haustein.  “The prior builder had installed plumbing above the insulation in the attic.  And so Peyton suffered severe water damage when those pipes froze and then burst.  We worked 24 hours straight the first day.”  
                Since home and business repairs can be an expensive proposition, RESTORAMERICA works almost exclusively with clients whose insurance company will be footing the bill.  In fact, Haustein receives most of his referrals from insurance agents.  “Ultimately, we work for the property owner,” he says.  “We act as a mediator between them and their insurance provider.”
                Haustein isn’t the original owner of RESTORAMERICA.  Two men founded the company in 1994 with branches in Nashville and Chattanooga.  Haustein went to work for them five years later, earned promotions that brought him to the Scenic City and then purchased the local office in 2003.  He’s grown the business slowly, opening up an office in Memphis but refusing to chase the storms that have devastated large portions of Florida, Texas and other regions of the country.  “We’ve got a good client base here and don’t want to deny those people our services, so we’re not looking at expanding.”
                RESTORAMERICA’s small size could be one the factors in its success.  People deal with large, impersonal companies almost every day, so they might appreciate being able to turn to someone more down to earth that still excels at what they do.  “Our number one job is restoring a client’s peace of mind.  Since we’re dealing with his biggest investment, we want to do the job right.  We also want to share our losses with him and let him know everything will be OK.  And as we take him from beginning to end, we enjoy watching his confidence build as he realizes he doesn’t smell smoke and his home is dry.  Big jobs aren’t an overnight process, but they’re worth the hard work every time.”

For more information about RESTORAMERICA and the company’s 1-800-BOARDUP program, visit www.restoramerica.com