It was 3 pm on a beautiful February afternoon a week after gentle snow had fallen in Starkville, Mississippi. Homeowner Jeanette Allen, enjoying the sun in her yard, didn’t know that her life was about to change. Stepping inside, she smelled something odd. Looking up, she watched the attic door drop, exposing an attic engulfed in flames.
She yelled to her husband, who told her to call 911. “I could not remember how to dial, just three numbers,” Allen marvels. “Flames shot out the end, the neighbors saw them. When the fire department came, they had to get me out of the house. They said the ceiling could fall, which it did.
“I remember telling my daughter, I said we were homeless…she said, ‘Mama, you’re not homeless, you have still got your house, you’re just displaced. We didn’t know who to call but my daughter said what about Paul Davis? We called them.”
Abby Thompson, from Paul Davis of the Golden Triangle, met Ms. Allen. “She was a lifesaver, Allen recalls, “She was just as sweet and just as kind. She walked me through it and she had good people working for her.”
Thompson and her colleagues helmed a project that stretched seven months and restored nearly the entire structure. Teams stripped away burned materials, taking the home’s interior surfaces down to the studs and reconstructing rooms. They almost completely replaced the outer building envelope: roof, brickwork, paint and gutters. Technicians disposed of all items that were not salvageable but carefully packed up, removed and restored many belongings that were reparable. “Their people counted all this stuff. You don’t realize how much stuff you have!” says Ms. Allen.
“Our technicians have trained extensively in how to package fragile contents, remove soot and smoke odor with advanced products and techniques and return many items to better than new condition,” Thompson comments, adding that impacts include not only fire residue but water damage as well.
Thompson is a Paul Davis Difference Maker™, making life-changing differences for people needing an extra hand. Her team members are, too. Their actions aren’t confined to work hours or limited by contracts. They aren’t codified in a manual or completed according to rote instructions. Their actions spring from a compelling drive to assist, to support, to create new ways to heal people experiencing the worst times in their lives. The bonds they and Jeannette Allen built will be enduring.
“This project exemplifies why we do what we do and why we got into restoration,” says Brent Thompson, President of Paul Davis of Golden Triangle. “It’s a privilege and an honor to help people not only get through the worst times in their lives but also to be a steady source of positivity: to strengthen relationships, create comforting memories and affirm hope.”
Are you a Difference Maker? We invite you to grow with our company. Contact us today online or at 1-800-661-5975 to learn more about how a career with Paul Davis.
