Category news: Press Releases

 

A house is not only a home or dwelling but it is a real and valuable asset to protect at all costs.

Chicago-based disaster restoration experts and President and Managing Director of Restoration By Simons Nasutsa Mabwa and Sam Simon know this concept all too well as they helped homeowners deal with a variety of property damage situations. Compiling their expansive knowledge and expertise, the husband and wife duo wrote a new book called “RESTORE: A complete guide to protecting your home as your most valuable asset from water and fire disasters.”

The book is available now at Amazon.

Restoration By Simons is a minority business enterprise (MBE) and a woman business enterprise (WBE) certified firm and family-run company serving Chicago and the Chicagoland suburbs of Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore area.

“Over the years, Nasutsa and I have fielded thousands of calls from customers searching for information on how to effectively clean and/or mitigate small water damages, remediate minor smoke/odor damages, and handle a wide variety of specialty cleaning,” Simon said. “We’re happy to pass on as much information as we can. Sometimes, after we’ve explained to our information seekers, the process involved with cleaning and restoring, they opt to have it handled professionally. First and foremost, we feel that it is our duty to educate our consumers so that they understand the process and also to protect them from being taken advantage of by other companies.”

The book gives readers useful information on preventing household disasters and insight into what is needed physically and mentally to restore a home, if they choose to tackle these situations on their own. Simon explained that some common restoration problems include ridding a household of smoke odor after a cooking mishap or cleaning up water after a dishwasher leak. Other instances include handling a sewer backup, discovering broken pipes, preventing holiday fires, and knowing how to properly use a fire extinguisher.

It was a long journey for the couple to get where they are today. They first met as social workers in the mid-1990s in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Mabwa later became an executive in commercial real estate and Simon worked in national television production. Both careers meant working long hours and they wanted to spend more time with their children. They thought about opening their own business.

When they were planning to open a restaurant, a meeting with a restoration franchise owner changed their plans forever. He explained to them his successes and happiness in his personal and professional life as a restoration owner. They became intrigued and that one meeting set them off to pursue a franchise of their own. Aiding them in this path were the communication skills they cultivated when they were social workers.

“We want our readers to know that this book is written to help homeowners,” Mabwa said. “Our business is rooted in our beginnings as social workers and our desire to help people, specifically homeowners.”

About Restoration By Simons
As an Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IIRC) Certified Firm, Restoration By Simons follows IICRC S500 Standards for professional water damage restoration. Our IICRC certified technicians will assess the water damage on-site and determine the best course of action to restore your damaged property. For example, clean water damage from a faulty waterline pipe on your property is considerably different from water damage from a sewer backup. As leading experts in the field, we will quickly determine the best course of action so your family or business can get back to normal as soon as possible. Professional restoration companies such as Restoration By Simons have IICRC trained technicians, appropriate equipment and the experience necessary for a quick and efficient intervention.

Restoration By Simons MBE/WBE certified firm and family-run company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest and the North Shore. Recently, the company was awarded a variety of honors, including is a SB100 Best of Small Business Award Winner 2021, Bronze Stevie® Award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, recipient of the 2020 Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics, and recipient of the 2020 Skokie Business of the Year Award, Honorable Mention Category.

Restoration By Simons provides disaster restoration services including water and flood damage restoration, fire and smoke damage restoration, mold remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning, including hoarder and clutter cleaning, post-construction cleaning, carpet cleaning and upholstery cleaning to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park-River Forest and the North Shore.

For more information, visit http://www.restorationbysimons.com.

 

CHICAGO (PRWEB) DECEMBER 14, 2020

ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, a Chicago-based disaster restoration services business, received a 2020 Chicago Torch Better Business Bureau (BBB) Award in the Minority-Owned & Operated Category recognizing excellence in ethical standards during a virtual ceremony on Dec. 10. The ceremony can be watched on this link.

The Annual Chicago Better Business Bureau Torch Awards recognizes and honors organizations in Chicago and surrounding suburbs that embody the ethical business practices and tenets of trust that the BBB strives to uphold in our city and across the nation. The organization’s Firestarter and Torch award recipients are recognized for the effort and importance they place on conducting business with honesty and integrity. These are our most prestigious awards and votes of confidence. Earning these awards demonstrates that a business not only embraces the high standards promoted by the BBB, but also consistently integrates and embodies those standards in its daily operations.

Nasutsa Mabwa, president of ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, graciously accepted the honor and commended her staff and technicians, especially for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our team has worked very hard this year by pivoting and adding a new service line – offering our customer base IICRC certified & CDC recommended COVID-19 cleaning & disinfection services in addition to our water, fire & smoke and mold restoration services,” she said. “It is our technicians and office staff that I celebrate for this award. Their commitment to providing consistent high-quality services and customer support is unparalleled. The technicians have put in long, difficult hours of strenuous work and the office staff has handled hundreds and hundreds of phone calls since April of this year.”

Since 2012, Mabwa and Managing Director Sam Simon have overseen operations at the women–owned and family-run company that serves Chicago, Oak Park, and the North Shore. The business provides disaster restoration services for damages caused by water, fire, flooding, mold remediation, and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning (hoarder/clutter, post-construction, duct, carpet & upholstery, general) to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park and the North Shore.

For more information about ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, visit https://servicemaster-restorationbysimons.com/.

About ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons:
ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, the 2020 recipient of the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics, is MBE/WBE certified, and family-operated. We are an IICRC Certified and OSHA Certified company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore. ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons provides commercial disaster restoration services including Water & Flood Damage Restoration, Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration, Mold Remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning including COVID-19 Cleaning Services, Hoarder & Clutter Cleaning, Post-Construction Cleaning, Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning to residential and commercial customers. For more information, call 773-376-1110 or visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com. ###

The rise in COVID-19 cases are prompting Chicago and other suburbs to revisit some of the regulations given to schools, restaurants and other businesses in their operations. Business owners are always looking to protect their staff and customers by stopping a potential COVID-19 spread, and ServiceMaster Restoration by Simons can help. Read the full press release below.

 

SKOKIE, ILL. (PRWEB) JULY 24, 2020

The rise in COVID-19 cases are prompting Chicago and other suburbs to revisit some of the regulations given to schools, restaurants and other businesses in their operations. Business owners are always looking to protect their staff and customers by stopping a potential COVID-19 spread.

ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, a leading provider of essential cleaning and disinfecting services in the Chicagoland area, is introducing a new antiseptic and antimicrobial service that can actively kill microorganisms on surfaces for up to 90 days.

ServiceMaster Brands, based in Memphis, Tenn., recently entered into an exclusive agreement with Goldshield Technologies, developer of proprietary antimicrobial products which are EPA- approved for a wide variety of applications, including hospitals, daycares, schools, senior living facilities, gyms, salons and restaurants. When combined with ServiceMaster By Simon’s expert cleaning and sanitizing protocols, the new antimicrobial protection takes infection prevention beyond disinfection, helping to keep facilities free from dangerous microbes for weeks.

“This new service has significant benefits for businesses that have high volumes of human traffic,” said Sam Simon, owner & managing director of ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons. “With our current protocol, we can thoroughly clean and disinfect a space, but it can potentially be reinfected when people come in. Goldshield antimicrobial protection prevents most bacteria from reinfecting a surface for weeks. It provides a significant additional level of protection.”

Goldshield products can be applied via a commercial pressure sprayer or pump-sprayer to most surfaces including countertops, fabrics and carpet. It forms a strong chemical bond that will not leach off, and it remains on the surface even through subsequent cleanings. The water-based formulation poses no respiratory or contact risk.

Goldshield products have been the subjects of more than 40 evidence-based studies conducted by independent laboratories, including three peer-reviewed studies in the American Journal of Infection Control. In a 2017 article in AJIC, it stated, “Sustained reductions of bioburden with the monthly application of (Goldshield) may be associated with significant reductions in the risk of health care associated infections.”1. It has been proven to kill 99.9%-99.99% of disease-causing organisms.

“By offering this new service, our goal is to help business owners, educators, restaurateurs and medical professionals among others to prevent recontamination of their environments,” Simons said. “Now more than ever, having a solid and effective cleaning plan that protects people should be first and foremost in the mind of any owner.”

For more information, visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com.

About ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons: ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is an MBE/WBE certified firm, women-owned and family-run IICRC certified, OSHA 30 certified company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore. ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons provides commercial disaster restoration services including Water & Flood Damage Restoration, Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration, Mold Remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning including COVID-19 Cleaning Services, Hoarder & Clutter Cleaning, Post-Construction Cleaning, Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park-River Forest, and the North Shore. For more information, call 773-376-1110 or visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com.

 

CHICAGO/May 21, 2020

In their seven years of running ServiceMaster Restoration by Simons in Chicago, husband and wife owners Sam Simon and Nasutsa Mabwa know the severe damage that fires and floods can cause to property and to their clients’ peace of mind.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Chicagoland, they didn’t realize how potentially deadly the virus would be and how it would affect their professional and personal lives. In March, many small businesses temporarily shut their doors due to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency shelter in place order. It was at that time, Simon recalled, that calls for any services stopped.

“We attributed it to the public shock and confusion and the fear that the people had about coming into contact with others,” said Simon, managing director of ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons. “People were scared to let us in their homes. As business owners, we were sad to see our business declining after all the hard work we put in for the past seven years.”

The couple learned that other ServiceMaster franchises were offering COVID-19 cleaning services around the country, but safety—for their staff and family—was a major concern.

Things began to turn around in April when the couple’s clientele contacted their business for COVID-19 cleaning and disinfecting services. Additionally, Simon said ServiceMaster Corporate started releasing information to franchisees about COVID-19 Cleaning and Safety Standards—a big help to owners to help them pivot to offering these new services. This combination of events led Simon to create a COVID-19 Cleaning Service page on their business’ website and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

Reflecting on Simon and Mabwa’s prior work as Illinois-state based social workers, Simon realized the need to help people in dire circumstances was first and foremost.

“With Nasutsa’s and my background in social work and child-welfare we knew we had to help people,” Simon said. “We wanted to get involved. We already had the infrastructure in place since we had the disaster and catastrophe training, OSHA and Safety Training, biohazard training, and the fogging and spraying equipment necessary to begin decontamination services. Since the web page was put in place, we’ve fielded hundreds of calls, and the calls are still coming in daily.”

Their experience as social workers has also been invaluable while implementing request screening procedures with staff and being an empathetic line of communication with their clientele.

“That aspect of our experience kicked in as I found myself counseling people amidst the fear and confusion while trying to schedule services,” Mabwa said. “I found myself assuring and reassuring people who were scared, people who had lost loved ones, and companies who had employees affected by COVID-19. People need a clear and calm direction, and as first responders, I felt it was our responsibility to help as many people as we could.

On the frontlines are Simon and his crews who survey the damage and create solutions for the crises they encounter.

“In one case, we were called out to a distribution center that was so large, that Sam had to sit down with the property owners and go over the blueprints of the location in order to understand its sprawling layout and the customers’ priorities for cleaning and disinfection,” Mabwa said. “Sam thrives in crises.”

Daily schedules for both husband and wife are chaotic as they manage their business and raising their young family. The COVID-19 pandemic may have caught small business owners off guard early, but being flexible and creative has given this couple the opening they need to plan for positive outcomes.

“As business owners, we need to be fluid in times of crisis,” Mabwa said. “We were early to respond to the new demand for COVID-19 cleaning and disinfection in the marketplace and we were able to pivot and deliver a new service offering immediately. There may be more pivots in the future and, as a business, you need to be able to adapt to the conditions.”

For more information, visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com.

About ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons: ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is an MBE/WBE certified firm, women-owned and family-run IICRC certified, OSHA 30 certified company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore. ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons provides commercial disaster restoration services including Water & Flood Damage Restoration, Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration, Mold Remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning including COVID-19 Cleaning Services, Hoarder & Clutter Cleaning, Post-Construction Cleaning, Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park-River Forest, and the North Shore. For more information, call 773-376-1110 or visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com.

ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is providing coronavirus cleaning and disinfection services to businesses in the Chicagoland area. We are proud to announce that our owners Sam Simon and Nasutsa Mabwa were recently featured on NBC Chicago to talk about our COVID-19 disinfection process. 

As COVID-19 continues to spread and cause fatalities while the economy plans to re-open, businesses will need to ensure protection from potential contamination. The COVID-19 virus is considered a biohazard — and according to experts, it spreads quickly via surfaces which it can live on for multiple days. Complicating things is the fact that many people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, which makes the virus harder to trace and disinfect. To effectively rid businesses of viral material, professional cleaning and disinfection services are often necessary. 

“This crisis is not going to disappear anytime soon,” says Nasutsa Mabwa, our President. “That’s why routine and consistent cleaning and disinfection is essential. For many businesses, professional cleaning and disinfection will be the difference between a contained infection and a full-blown outbreak.”

ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is working with business owners to ensure the health and safety of tenants and employees. Our experts are performing cleaning services at a wide range of building sizes — from 1,000 sq. feet to 500,000 sq. feet — for a wide range of business types (from animal hospitals to distribution centers). Here is more information about the coronavirus cleaning services we are providing: 

ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons performs re-entry cleaning & decontamination services for businesses. We are also providing vehicle and factory equipment disinfection cleaning services for company fleets. Our cleaning and disinfecting services include fogging disinfection cleaning and wiping down high touch areas to disinfect surfaces. When the service is complete, we provide a Certificate of Disinfection to create peace of mind for residents and staff. 

To bring customers the best coronavirus cleaning services possible, we take the following approved disinfection measures. 

 

• Wearing appropriate PPE as determined by the most up-to-date CDC guidelines and taking customer’s privacy into consideration when it comes to donning and doffing PPE.

• Using EPA registered and approved products from the EPA’s List N, which specifically meet the criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. After we clean all high-touch surfaces, we also fog with an EPA-approved disinfecting solution.  

• Cleaning before disinfecting, a step that is required for true disinfection. We apply specific cleaning techniques to reduce reapplication of soil on surfaces. Disinfecting after a proper cleaning. 

• We always apply the disinfectant following the product label protocol, including selecting the equipment to apply the product and leaving the surface wet for the required dwell time for the disinfection to be effective as specified by the EPA registered label.

• Cleaning up discarded materials and single-use PPE, sealing our soiled materials for proper disposal.

 

For more information about ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons’ COVID-19 disinfecting services, please check out our services page or contact us at (773) 376-1110.

About ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons: ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is an MBE/WBE certified firm, women-owned and family-run IICRC certified, OSHA 30 certified company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore. ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons provides commercial disaster restoration services including Water & Flood Damage Restoration, Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration, Mold Remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning including Hoarder & Clutter Cleaning, Post-Construction Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning and Upholstery Cleaning to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park-River Forest, and the North Shore. For more information, call 773-376-1110 or visit www.servicemasterbysimons.com