The 2024 Restoration Industry Leaders Review: Thomasville Restoration
There are many successful restoration companies in today’s competitive marketplace. How they operate, what they do to succeed, and their strategies are worth analyzing and imitating.
One example of a restoration company like that is Thomasville Restoration, a full-service restoration company located in Baltimore that services the Mid-Atlantic region.
History and inspiration
Alexus Neidert
Prior to being in restoration, Thomas Neidert was a new home builder for about 20 years. It began because he loved building his own dream home so much that he started building homes for others to enjoy.
The company transitioned into the restoration industry around the time the market crashed. Inspired by the joy of rebuilding a friend’s home after a fire, Thomas Neidert embraced restoration as a way to assist people during challenging times. He realized that restoration was an industry where the company could help people, be a part of some of the worst moments in their lives, and contribute to making them better. He wanted and enjoyed having the opportunity to help.
Out of curiosity, Cleanfax asked where the name Thomasville came from. Alexus Neidert, the company’s Head of Brand and Culture, who sat down with Cleanfax for this interview, laughed as she told the story. The company’s name pays homage to her father’s (Thomas’) admiration for the rapper Nelly, with a playful nod to his album “Nellyville.” With that play on words, the name Thomasville was adopted.”
Leadership and culture
Neidert emphasized the importance of creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and motivated. She works hard to foster a culture of happiness and fulfillment among employees, a vision she never anticipated when joining her father’s company.
Her passion is creating a place everybody wants to work for, with a culture where people feel loved, heard, valued, and cared for. “That’s what my role as Head of Brand and Culture and my department focuses on,” she said.
At Thomasville Restoration, all of the leadership team, except the CFO and the general manager, have “Head of…” titles because they want to create a culture of leadership. “In leadership, you are in the front, willing to work as hard as the rest of your team,” explained Neidert. “We didn’t want to create this dichotomy of the chief as opposed to the head. You are the person who is leading your department. The terminology we use, even something as slight as that, is intentional to create a team-style environment. The title Head of Brand and Culture came about because we had teetered back and forth with the name of Brand Ambassador. However, I felt as though my role encompassed so much more than just the brand because the brand was driving our culture, and the culture was driving our brand. I have this unique opportunity to be able to focus on both of those things.”
Values are key
Thomasville Restoration’s company values are family first, compassion, and communication. “They are intentionally in that order,” Neidert revealed, “because our number one focus is creating a place where your family is put first, our family is put first, and our customers’ families are put first.”
The company exemplifies its core values of prioritizing family and compassionate service through its commitment to the “Thomasville Touch.”
“The Thomasville Touch is this white glove service of an incredible experience from the first notice of loss until we hand the owner’s keys back after the reconstruction,” clarified Neidert. “It’s about providing the Thomasville Touch every step of the way. It embodies our company values and mission, ‘Helping Families Put Their Homes and Lives Back Together.’ Our Thomasville Touch is a verb. It’s an action we take to each other, for each other, and for our customers. So that’s one of the things that our team wears as a badge of honor. We get to say, ‘I got to provide the Thomasville Touch.’”
Overcoming challenges
Thomasville faced significant challenges during a transitional period when key team members departed to start a competing venture. “At that time, my dad had separated from his previous partner and was operating the organization on his own,” Neidert said. “He needed help.” Through resilience and strategic partnerships, including the addition of herself and CEO/co-owner Andy Amrhein, the company navigated this period of uncertainty and experienced exponential growth.
They had about 30 employees at the time when Amrhein joined them four years ago and have around 130 now. So, Thomasville has grown exponentially from that point. “But that’s because of Andy’s brilliant leadership and my Dad’s brilliant mind, and they are combining and coming together to create this beautiful organization,” Neidert proudly shares. “We just did whatever it took. We never take for granted the growth we’ve had or the opportunities we’ve had. We constantly stay focused on gratitude and being grateful for every opportunity that we have. It’s allowed us to grow and become the organization we are today.”
Unique strategies for success
Beyond leadership, Thomasville’s success hinges on creating an exceptional workplace environment. What are some business strategies they have embraced to succeed?
“One of the things that we focused on,” Neidert shared, “was creating a place that everybody wanted to work for. And that is kind of a buzzword that we use around here, but it’s so much bigger than just that aspect. It’s about loving and caring for our team as much as possible.”
Also, they found that regular performance reviews, team-building events, and transparent communication foster a sense of ownership and pride among employees, driving both personal and organizational growth.
Thomasville has also leveraged social media to showcase its authentic culture and engage with potential customers. By providing a glimpse into daily operations and team camaraderie, social media attracts like-minded individuals and builds trust within the community. It is a powerful tool for recruitment, branding, and customer engagement.
“Our team has actually been the drivers of that content. I don’t go out and get these inauthentic pictures. My team sends them to me because they love the brand. They love what we’ve created here, and they love the opportunity to say, I was a part of something special,” said Neidert.
Thomasville Restoration recently started a business development department. “We hadn’t done any property manager or facilities maintenance manager marketing before,” Neidert revealed, “but within the last two years, because of the groundwork that we’ve laid for our brand, once we did turn that switch on, the flywheel just started turning. We are two years into this and getting a ton of work. It’s been great to see how the brand has impacted people as they’ve seen and been exposed to it. They know the name Thomasville because they see our 80-truck fleet on the road and our beautiful wraps with their bright branding.”
Loading ...