S P EC I A L A DV E R TI S I N G S EC T I O N
[ GUARANTEE RESTORATION SERVICES ]
With a focus on humility and understanding, Guarantee Restoration has your back DISASTERS NEVER SLEEP, and neither does Guarantee Restoration Services. The company is on a mission to ensure the continuity of the clients they serve, no matter the emergency—fire, water, mold, hazardous substances, or winds, among others. Operating out of five strategically located facilities in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans, Biloxi and Jackson, the company’s nationally recognized and industry-certified disaster recovery team has the experience and confidence to quickly assess property-related damages and mobilize the equipment and manpower needed to get you up and running. Guarantee Restoration also specializes in reconstruction of commercial buildings, schools and homes from water, fire, wind, tree and vehicle impact damage. Its project managers can plan every job from start to finish before it ever begins. By no means is this company a newcomer. CEO Shawn Folks’ Alabamanative parents began the business as a carpet cleaning franchise almost 48 years ago. At the time, they lived in a one-bedroom apartment on College Drive in Baton Rouge. “They had the equipment to vacuum water, so they’d get calls all of the time for water-related issues in the area when a pipe
broke,” Folks says. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the company gradually focused more on fire and water damage and less on carpet cleaning. Folks was indoctrinated into the business at an early age. One of his most vivid memories is running buckets of water out of the old Montgomery Wards department store at Bon Marche Mall after a pipe burst following a hard freeze. “I was 11 at the time, and it was Christmas break, so I was running water out there all day long.” Folks continued to work with the
company through high school and college. He took over as a project manager after graduating from LSU with a degree in business. Not long after his parents retired, he became CEO in 2013. GROWING AND IMPROVING OUT OF NECESSITY Mother Nature has played a major role in Guarantee Restoration’s transformation over the years. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the company began evolving from a small “mom and pop” to a medium-size res-
toration company. After the hurricane, they expanded into the New Orleans market to meet the needs there. But it was the Great Flood of 2016 that kicked their growth into hyperdrive. “We had the opportunity to work in 26 schools in Livingston Parish,” Folks says. “That took us to an entirely new level. We completed all of the schools and had them reopened in just 21 days.” Just a few months before this weather event, the GRS team had undergone training for handling large loss projects. “Fortunately, we had already established relationships with companies in other areas, so we were able to bring them in as subcontractors to help,” he says. “It was a successful project by any measure.” Their growth continued in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura in 2020 as they worked to restore some 42 schools in the Lake Charles area. Then, following Hurricane Ida in 2021, the company landed emergency contracts for an unprecedented 150 schools across Jefferson, Orleans, and Livingston parishes. All of the schools were reopened in 30 days. Guarantee Restoration can handle virtually anything that comes its way, whether it is a school system or large commercial or governmental project.
CONNECT WITH US TOP EXECUTIVES: Shawn Folks, CEO; Bill Boeneke, CFO; Zack Klein, Director of Marketing and Business Development; Marcie Richardson, Director of Human Resources ADDRESS: 16248 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge 70810 • PHONE: 225.753.8682 • WEBSITE: guaranteerestoration.com 38
ANNUAL REPORT 2022 | AnnualReportBR.com
