From “restaurant to restoration” describes the career path of LaGrangeville”™s Michael Hogan, owner of First Call Restoration. The firm specializes in disaster restoration from fire, flood, mold damage and even cleanup after a crime scene.
After high school graduation, Hogan became a meat market manager. At age 27 he became a bartender, later working in a Manhattan restaurant and ultimately, with his brother as co-owner of Casa-Miguel Restaurant in Mount Kisco, since sold.
While in the restaurant business, Hogan shopped for a second enterprise and went into carpet cleaning. “I got calls to do flood work, extracting water, so I took classes in that through the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration, which also issues the IICRC certifications in various categories of disaster restoration.”
His is a crisis-driven enterprise. “It never rains; it monsoons,” the old expression goes. In one memorable critical day, it wasn”™t rain, but two fires within one hour, in addition to a major sewage pipe burst that brought sewage into office quarters.
“We ran all over finding people and equipment,” Hogan said. “Friendly competitors came through and we borrowed some of their manpower. We had a list of volunteer firemen that we got on their day off who are hazardous materials-trained and more sensitive then a general demolition worker. Everything was stabilized in 12 hours, including work with the Red Cross to help an elderly displaced couple that didn”™t even have a credit card.”
Trauma cleanup can be especially sensitive, Hogan said. He tells of a woman who had two sons in separate gangs. “They went after each other with knives, leaving a bloody cleanup job. We came in, and she later volunteered a testimonial thanking us ”˜for washing away bad memories.”™
“We and our workers must be part psychologist, because we are seeing people at the lowest moment of their lives. The psychological toll that it takes can be devastating,” noting that it”™s not just property, but sometimes a pet killed by smoke or, tragically, in one instance in which he was involved, the loss of an 8-month-old child. He sends employees to a class called VAST (Value Added Service of Technicians) run by Jon Don, a national educational organization serving the industry whose classes include one in customer relations. “It teaches employees to look at the loss through the customer”™s eyeglasses.”
Hogan is a member of the American Bio Recovery Association. He holds nine certifications, including those issued by IICRC, the Professional Mold Inspection Institute, the WRT and the North American Meat Processors Association, which has its own mold certifications.
“More sophisticated medical testing techniques on people with asthma, hay fever and those with impeded immune systems can determine if mold is a contributing factor,” Hogan said about the increased public concern about mold.
First Call Restoration is a family endeavor. The office work is done by Hogan”™s wife, Janice, his childhood sweetheart. “Two of our three children are involved in the business. My son Michael is the project manager. My daughter Jamie is sales representative. She had had two operations involving a benign brain tumor, and we brought her in in a small way as therapy.” As it turned out, Jamie was therapy for the business. “With her personality and perseverance, our sales exploded.”
Younger daughter Jillian is a nurse. The Hogans don”™t take vacations. “I want to be present for every call.”
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net
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