BDC Spotlight: Father/Son Team Tackle Disaster Areas

In the far corners of the Business Development Center, an organized desk sits oddly out of place in a room cluttered by stacks of papers and piles of office supplies.

Strips of tape hang limply off freshly painted walls, while a printer makes its home on the floor in this loosely assembled workspace. Though the business opened this past summer, Neil Ingram, owner of Integrity Restoration LLC, just can’t find the time to fix up his office.

Since this special contracting company moved into the BDC, the phones have been ringing off the hook and jobs have been raining in by the buckets, prompting one workspace expansion and new hires by the week. Needless to say, decorating is last on Ingram’s list of priorities.

“I didn’t expect it to grow this fast!” he laughs. “We are bidding jobs everywhere—I just can’t keep up!”

Jointly owned by Ingram and his father Rodger Ingram, Integrity Restoration specializes in residential and commercial remediation services -- or cleaning up damage caused to buildings and homes by fire, water and mold.

“After a disaster hits, we go in and prevent the elements from further deteriorating the building,” Ingram says.

So when a home in Prospect, TN, caught fire and suffered nearly $160,000 in damages, Integrity Restoration inventoried the remaining household items and then transported four truckloads of chairs, bed frames, and other salvageable goods to their offices to clean and restore them.

In the first four months since it opened, Integrity Restoration worked on disaster projects for nearly 50 area homes. With clients like State Farm Insurance, Tennessee Farm Bureau, Southern Trust and the Cato Corporation, the business is taking the remediation market by storm and extended into north Georgia in July.

Ingram, who has 12 years of experience in the industry, worked for two different restoration companies and helped build the operations for a locally-owned competitor before teaming up with his father to launch their business. The senior Ingram, who served a 44-year stint in the U.S. Army, came out of retirement nearly four years ago to try his hand at remediation. Now, says his proud son, his dad is one of the best workers he has seen in their field.

Ingram attributes the company’s mounting success to his knowledge of the industry and the quality of the staff.

“Good craftsmanship is extremely important and you have to have a passion for what you do,” Ingram says.  “My whole staff enjoys their work and we are cross-training each of them to be able to do every type of job there is so we can be diversified in our skills.”

He also said the company owes much of its growth to the BDC resources.

“We couldn’t have made it without the BDC,” he says. “The low cost of rent helps us focus on our business rather than the bills. And since all the tenants here are launching new businesses, we all have the same mindsets and can offer advice to each other. We may run different businesses, but we all have the same circumstances.”

For more information about Integrity Restoration call 423-756-8458 or email Ingram at ningram@integrityrestoration.biz. didn’t