Bahen SERVPRO
Help When You Need It Most
Growing up in the family SERVPRO cleanup and restoration business, Thomas Bahen and his brothers spent their summers off in high school working hard. “We would work on the trucks over the summer dealing with water damage and fire damage. It can be very difficult work. You could be in an attic or a completely burned-out house in the middle of the summer heat. Some of the dirtier jobs involved sewer damage and back-up. Seeing that from an early age was interesting and prepared us for what was to come.”
Thomas continues, “My dad Andy Bahen worked for SERVPRO Richmond out of high school as a technician and was promoted to crew chief. He later established the SERVPRO Chesterfield franchise out of our house, and things really took off when he bought SERVPRO Richmond.”
Today, the Bahen SERVPRO franchise network stretches beyond Central Virginia to Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News. Highly trained teams are available 24/7 to respond to emergency calls with state-of-the-art equipment and resources to limit property damage.
“Andy and Theresa Bahen have been in the SERVPRO franchise business for almost 40 years,” says Alec Schleicher, vice president and commercial banker for TowneBank. “They have grown their franchise from Richmond to Hampton Roads and into Northern Virginia in recent years. They consistently operate as one of the top 10 franchises in the SERVPRO network year after year and are well-known leaders in the community. Andy and Theresa are in the process of transitioning management of the business to sons Thomas and Drew. I have enjoyed getting to know the whole family personally and professionally over the last several years and have developed great friendships with Thomas and Drew.”
The highly trained team at SERVPRO is ready 24/7 to respond to calls with state-of-the-art equipment and resources to help limit property damage.
Thomas appreciates that friendship. “It's great to have someone like Alec who we can call for advice or even just a pulse check on how our situation looks. It’s key to get our banker’s perspective on business decisions, and Alec is always available. I can text or call as questions pop up. In our line of work, we can’t always wait until Monday morning for an answer. We switched to Towne Insurance last year, too. Risk advisor Kevin Lackey is our broker, and he’s been a great partner.”
Together, the Bahen SERVPRO franchises employ approximately 220 full-time employees and anywhere from 20-30 temporary, flexible employees. “If a big job comes in, we may need to hire 100 temp laborers for a month,” explains Thomas. They are part of the SERVPRO Large Loss Division and Disaster Recovery Team, which responds to significant disasters nationwide, working side-by-side with other SERVPRO franchises as needed.
“We’ve been to pretty much every major hurricane or flood over the last 10 years,” says Thomas. “We go to storm-damaged parts of Florida, wildfires in California, a big warehouse fire in Massachusetts, and, memorably, a devastating auto retailer fire in Roanoke.”
One of the big challenges is that SERVPRO team members are working to restore a customer’s valuables at a time when they have endured a major hardship and are vulnerable. “From day one, we learn that we’re helping people who have not been through something like this before. You don’t know what a hot button could be for a specific person because everyone’s different. You have to be really careful about handling people’s belongings. We’re taught to treat everything as if it’s valuable.”
“We help customers in their greatest moment of need,” concludes Thomas. “We try to make it as easy as we can on them.”
For more information, visit SERVPRO.com.