Missouri Contracting & Cleaning solves disasters for home and business owners

Missouri Contracting and Cleaning was recently featured in the business section of the Kansas City Star. Below is the article's highlights:

Missouri Contracting & Cleaning Inc.
BUSINESS PROFILE

Business rebuilds comfort, security

By TONI CARDARELLA
Special to The Star

When a customer reports serious fire or water damage to their home, Farmers insurance agent Brian Mullies often will turn first to Missouri Contracting & Cleaning Inc.

"They have this ability to provide a sense of comfort and security to my customers," said the Blue Springs agent. "They go in, in a very sensitive way, and help them minimize further damage and guide them through the claims process before the adjusters can get there."

Missouri Contracting & Cleaning in Independence specializes in cleaning up and restoring properties, mostly residential, damaged by water, fire and/or smoke. Since 1985, the company has been owned by Steve and Judy King and Bruce and Amy Storts. The couples also own AAS Cleaning Systems, a related Blue Springs firm. AAS focuses on the cleaning of contents such as furniture and linens.

Missouri Contracting & Cleaning, which has 20 employees, projects $3.5 million in revenues for 2005, slightly lower than 2004 revenues, according to Mary Martin, the company's marketing manager. AAS Cleaning, which has 11 employees, projects 2005 revenues of $900,000.

The biggest chunk of business for both companies comes from water and mold damage, which makes up about 31 percent of the combined work, Martin said. Next is rug and upholstery cleaning, at 20 percent, fire damage at 19 percent, and private remodeling, at 7 percent.

Most of Missouri Contracting's business comes through relationships with insurance companies. "The owners are from a small town, so they kind of have that hard-working, by-word-of-mouth reputation and they understand everything they do in the company is their reputation and that's how they're going make a name for themselves," Martin said.

Mullies, who has been an insurance agent for 22 years, said he first used Missouri Contracting's services in 1986. One of his customers had sustained a major fire at his business.

"They were able to go down there and board up and haul out of all of his salvable equipment and put him back in order," Mullies said. From an insurer's point of view, Missouri Contracting does a good job of getting to the site and minimizing further damage, Mullies said.

For example, the company boards up windows knocked out by firefighters and repairs the roof damaged by fire, precluding weather damage as well as securing the property from potential theft.

In June, the companies launched a pack-out inventory system, which can record a property owner's contents and provide the insurance adjuster with a detailed list of contents, their condition and location. The system also interacts with a database to give insurers replacement costs and cleaning costs. Not only does the system help the insurance company, it can be used to help homeowners locate a needed personal item.

Steve King, one of the owners, said Missouri Contracting often has two parties to please. "We work directly for the policy holder or the insured, but also under the direction of the insurance company, so we have to make both people happy," said King. "And I think we go the extra mile to make sure we do."

Denny Lawson of Kansas City said Missouri Contracting worked at his Northland house in 2002 after he discovered extensive water damage - all the windows of the two-year-old stucco and brick home apparently had been installed incorrectly. State Farm recommended the company for the job, which included cleanup, contents packing, and all new paint and wallpaper, as well as cabinetry work and other repairs, at a cost Lawson estimated at $30,000 to $40,000 He liked Missouri Contracting so much he called on the firm for remodeling work last summer, unrelated to any insurance claim.

"It was just a few thousand dollars (of work), but the quality, responsiveness and the on-site supervision was in the same class," Lawson said.

Commercial Services | Residential Services