By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo Courtesy of Restore Wizard

When disaster strikes, it can become a living nightmare. From managing insurance battles to trying to rebuild, it’s a situation no one wants to find themselves in. Luckily, in Castle Country, there is Restore Wizard, a company whose restorations are nothing short of magical.

Sheila Baker, Tsamanda Bettis and Shikara Eyre from the Restore Wizard team joined the KOAL newsroom to discuss the business and the company’s upcoming rebrand party on April 10.

Operating under a corporate banner for several years, Baker discussed what inspired the company to go independent. “We were with a franchise, and when we got to the end of our contract with them, we decided that we didn’t want to be part of a franchise anymore. Franchises are very expensive; they require many unnecessary things, especially those that don’t work in a more rural community like here. So we decided it would be in our best interest to go on our own.”

As for the name Restore Wizard, Baker explained that it was an employee decision,” to be honest, it was Shikara (Eyre) who came up with the name. We took it before our employees and had everybody come up with names. We did some brainstorming, and she said, ‘How about Restoration Wizard or Restore Wizard,’ and everybody voted, and that was the name we voted on.” She added,” We felt like what we do is we work magic, and so it was fitting.”

Restore Wizard’s services range from simple cleanups to extreme operations. “We do fire and water damage restoration and mold remediation. We also do major cleanup. We’ll go in and clean hoarding houses, we’ll go in and clean up trash and garbage and haul it away. We do carpet cleaning, duct cleaning and trauma cleanup.” 

One aspect of Restore Wizards that stands out compared to big brands is the willingness to battle with insurance companies to aid their customers. “What happens is the insurance company requires a detailed estimate of what’s been done before they’ll pay,” said Baker. “We had a lady that, there was a company up north that came down, she had massive water damage. And her insurance company was offering her $50,000 to just cash out and walk away. She called us, and I said, ‘No, let me put in a full claim estimate for your insurance company, and we’ll get you what you have coming.’ And so we did that. And it went from a $50,000 claim to a $100,000 claim, which her insurance paid, and she was able to get everything done.”

Moving to the employees, Eyre explained what she enjoys most about working for Restore Wizard. “My favorite thing is going into a job like fire, water, mold, or anything like that. And just how you can see how upset the customer is. And you just reassure them like, ‘Hey, we’ve got this. We’ll take care of everything.’ And just to see that stress lift off of them and then see how grateful they are. And then you see them in public after and they will stop and talk to you and tell you how appreciative they are and how wonderful we have all been.”

Eyre continued,” I absolutely love this community. I love the people. And for me, it’s just rewarding to know that we did something to help them. And that time that was for them, probably the most stressful point. And just to come in and take that and let them know it’s OK; that, for me, is so rewarding.

Bettis echoed this sentiment: ” Some of my favorite things about what we do are seeing how satisfied our customers are and being able to offer them more than they even wanted in the first place.”

To celebrate the rebrand and change to independence, Restore Wizard will be hosting a rebrand party on Thursday, April 10, from noon to 2 p.m. Bettis covered what attendees can expect from this affair:” Amazing food, pulled pork, party ribs, coleslaw, loaded baked potato salad, barbecue beans, rolls. Everything will be prepped and made either the day of or the day before. Jed Baker is also one of the owners, and he is a fantastic cook. He’ll be barbecuing and getting everything ready.”

This party will be held at 394 East 400 South in Price.

Restore Wizard can be contacted in several ways. You can visit the company’s Facebook page, restorewizards.com, or email jed@restorewizards.com. 24/7 emergency phone service is available by calling 435-637-9165.