When storms, fires, floods, and other disasters strike, we are at our most vulnerable. After first responders leave, property owners are left to deal with chaos, often unsure about what to do next. This is where the dedicated Jenkins Restorations team steps up.
For Jenkins Restorations, restoring a home or commercial property is just one part of the business. The other side is navigating raw emotions, as owners have to deal with not only damage but also the loss of family heirlooms, photos, documents, clothing, and other belongings. And while no one company can bring those items back, a good team can reassure customers everything will get better.
“We are out helping at the point of loss, particularly larger losses, where there is hurricane or fire damage,” explains Chief Executive Officer Andrew Fetterolf. Owners of devastated properties are often overwhelmed, trying to figure out their next move, and dealing with the reality of the situation including security concerns to ensure no one enters and is injured. In that case, Jenkins secures the property and protects it from further damage. “While security is often the immediate task, talking the owner through the next steps in the process is often the way we can really help,” says Fetterolf.
More than renovations
When Russ Jenkins, Jr. and sons Warren and Russ Jenkins, III founded the company in 1975, it became apparent employees not only needed to be skilled tradespeople, but possess other qualities, including empathy and a genuine belief in helping others in challenging times. An architect and Navy veteran, Russ started in the design-build field, taking on church construction and school rehabilitation in the Washington, DC area. In a short time, the company became known for its outstanding work, buoyed by compassion for others.
As fate would have it, Fetterolf also had a military background. After seven years of service in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer, including in the first Gulf War, he had the desire to start his own construction company. During a mission trip to Honduras, he met and befriended Warren Jenkins. This led to his joining the company in 2002 as a Project Manager, handling large losses in the DC area. And as the team likes to say, “We live our values every day and are looking for others who are excellent at what they do and also have hearts of a servant.” This mindset is integral to the company’s mission and values.
“There’s a lot of emotion that goes into what we do,” says Fetterolf. Unlike typical additions or new builds budgeted and planned far in advance, there is no emotional preparedness for property owners dealing with sudden disaster. “With insurance-related loss, what was fine the day before has suddenly, totally changed, whether it’s soaking wet or burnt. Now you’ve got to deal with your emotions, that nothing is the same as it was just a few hours before. You’re wondering what’s going on, and part of our job is to help with that emotional transference and getting people to the point where they can see things will be alright. We are there to help them do that. We’ve done this before, and we can help them navigate what it is going to look like for them.”
Building relationships
Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, Jenkins Restorations are experts in reconstruction and repairing properties damaged by wind, water, fire, and even burglary and vandalism. Realizing emergency situations never take a break, the company provides 24/7 emergency residential and commercial services via strategic locations in two dozen locations nationwide.
In business for 50 years, the company is well-known, respected, and trusted, earning plenty of word-of-mouth business. Sometimes, the company seeks clients; other times, insurance companies refer clients to Jenkins. The company works with all well-known carriers, small and large. “This is really a relationship industry, and people need to know there’s somebody they can trust who has been there before,” says Fetterolf.
Indeed, much of Jenkins’ success comes not only from hiring experienced people, but by attracting staff members with strong emotional intelligence, empathy, and shared values. This includes a can-do attitude, which is critical when dealing with customers in need. “Losing your home and all the things inside that you cherish is very stressful,” emphasizes Fetterolf. “Even though we’ve been doing this for years, you’ve got to approach each job as if it’s the first one. For the people experiencing it, it typically is their first—and hopefully it will be the last.”
Some situations require not only extra-special care, but sensitivity. The Jenkins Environmental Services Group often deals with cases where someone has passed away, with crew members arriving on site as the fire company is leaving. “That’s a very challenging time, and there are high emotions with that, and we treat it with kid gloves,” he says. “And I—as the CEO—and our managers have to be sensitive to our people who were going out there to deal with that, because it can really take a toll on you. But if you approach it the right way, it means there is somebody there who can help the people in need and start them in the process. Even though we can’t always restore the sentimental value of what they have lost, we can let them know there’s a path forward.”
Recently, the company was on scene where someone took their own life. The Jenkins team member hugged the parents and even prayed with them. “To be able to do that and help people in that way when they are in that time of need—the first thought wasn’t to get in there and clean it up. [There’s a mindset of] ‘we’ll get this taken care of, but what can we do to help you? There’s nothing we can really do to fix this, but we feel for you.’”
Along with its Environmental Services Group, Jenkins has an experienced National Response Team working across much of America. One of the company’s recent efforts was sending response crews to Asheville to deal with hurricane aftermath. “That was a really tough time for people there, and we were able to come in and get places cleaned up and ready to be rebuilt at a rapid manner,” Fetterolf shares.
Valuing clients and staff alike, Jenkins Restorations is working toward a 100 percent Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Unique for a company its size, this will see Jenkins staff (a team of about 370) have ownership stake in the company. This way, its many project managers, managing subcontractors, environmental workers, water mitigation specialists, and other team members will further their own future success and that of the business.
Facing challenges
Over the past half-century, Jenkins has worked on restoration and renovation projects of all sizes, from $2,000 in value to $20 million or more. Fetterolf uses the example of a child stuffing a ball into a toilet, causing a flood. “Now the wet drywall in your kitchen is all over the countertops,” he says. “That’s kind of small to us, but it’s not small to you, because it just totally disrupted everything. So it could be something as small as that up to entire homes or businesses. Sometimes it’s the structure that brings challenges; other times, it’s the people that bring challenges.”
Taking on thousands of restoration and renovation projects, Fetterolf says one of the most unusual was when the company received a referral call from a custom builder who said, “Call Jenkins” about a house near historic Middleburg, Virginia. The home was truly unusual. Originally built as a one-room stone cabin in the 1700s, the house saw additions in the 1800s, 1900s, and the 2000s.
“When you think of it, there was basically 400 years of building there,” he says. A fire in the 2000s impacted the whole structure and required Jenkins to work with hundreds of years of history, including stone walls two and a half feet thick, old rough cut lumber, new wood, lots of handmade recessed panels, and more. “It was a lot of fun, a challenging and rewarding thing to put back together,” Fetterolf says. To ensure authenticity, the company brought in specialists in historic structures. The entire process took about 12 months from the point of loss to completion.
Now, as the company welcomes the next chapter of its history, Jenkins Restorations plans to keep doing what it does best: assisting others in times of need. “There are plenty of opportunities in this industry; this is a multi-billion dollar industry,” says Fetterolf. “People are always in need of help. We like to say that if you have to call your insurance company, we hope we are the next call. So there is plenty of opportunity here, and us getting to 100 percent ESOP and giving back to our great employees who have helped us build this company, is really where we want to be.”
