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From chaos to comfort
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FROM CHAOS TO COMFORT By Hannah Stiff
One couple’s legacy of restoration
Coronavirus may have postponed the retirement festivities, but Ben and Gail Yanker are in good spirits. The Buffalo Restoration founders and owners handed over the proverbial keys to the kingdom this January and greeted retirement with a cruise.
After forty-something years in painting and restoration, the Yankers decided it was time to step away from business as usual and get into the business of traveling, pursuing dormant hobbies, and finding new ones.
“The only thing that concerns me these days is that I’m not concerned,” Ben says.
While the world feels uncertain, the Yankers say the business doesn’t worry them. As it shouldn’t. The couple spent years creating a succession plan for when they retired.
“We started planning our exit five years ago,” Ben says. “We talked to our employees. We called it our 2020 vision. We had to put all the pieces in place to leave. It took five years to put together a leadership team, the finances, community partnerships and get all pieces lined up. You don’t just walk in and quit one day.”
Ben and Gail’s son Christopher Yanker is now at the helm of Buffalo Restoration. Working with Christopher is a team of more than 30 technicians, supervisors, and support staff that Ben and Gail sing praises about. The employees that have put in years – decades in some cases – of hard work, will stay on and continue the Buffalo Restoration legacy of quality service.
Building that legacy started in 1976, when Ben was enrolled at Montana State University and hired Gail, his girlfriend at the time, to help him run his company – Buffalo Painting – during summer breaks. In 1981, the now
married pair hired their first employee to help them with residential and commercial painting projects. The Yankers also added three children to their roster during the 80s, two daughters and a son.
“We had a pretty young family when we branched out to restoration in 1991,” Gail says. “We were thinking we could do painting in summer and restoration in winter. We saw a need here in Bozeman for a full-service restoration company that kind of grew out of this mindset that good quality was a good thing to do well.”
With a young family and two businesses, Gail inked painting contracts from the dining room table until she hired someone to help her run the “office” in 1992. The kids’ bedroom was turned into a makeshift command central for Gail and her staff of one until the Yankers finally moved into a commercial space in 1994.
As word about the company’s character and capability spread, the Yankers realized they were becoming overextended running two businesses.
“We were riding two horses at once,” Ben recalls. “But that’s what entrepreneurs do.”
So, they hopped off the first horse. Ben decided to devote himself to getting educated about all things restoration. He became the first Certified Restorer in the state of Montana, a title that represents the highest degree of professionalism and knowledge in the field. As the business grew, so did Ben’s list of credentials. He became a Certified Water Loss Specialist, Certified Mechanical Hygienist and Certified Structural Drying Supervisor. From the Institute of Inspection, he earned titles like Master Fire and Smoke Restorer, Master Textile Cleaner and Master Water Restorer. He also earned certifications in color repair, health and safety, applied microbial remediation, carpet cleaning, reinstallation, upholstery and fabric cleaning.
Ben and Gail determined that the best way to build a reputation in Bozeman was to study, learn and apply the best techniques in the field.
“We spent a lot of time and money on education to be properly certified to confidently serve our clients,” Ben says. “We wanted to be innovative.”
Gail says the Buffalo Restoration philosophy goes something like this: “We’d rather do it right from the beginning.”
Doing the right thing, even when it’s more expensive, is what has helped cement Buffalo Restoration’s good name and earn them 5-star reviews all over the internet.
“Morally, you’ve just got to do it right every time to the best of your ability,” Ben says.
Good morals and top-notch education helped the Yankers attract great employees, which they prefer to call team members. Gail says the 30- plus Buffalo Restoration staff is like family. Whenever there is a birthday to celebrate, Gail would give the team member a menu and let them pick a
favorite breakfast food. Then she would home-make staff favorites like huevos rancheros, stuffed French toast and chicken fried steak. With food in hand, she and Ben would sit down and eat breakfast with the birthday celebrator before starting their day in the office or at a job site. The shared meal offered an opportunity to learn more about each team member. In addition to the birthday breakfasts, the Yankers greenlighted their leadership team to incorporate fun into the Buffalo Restoration company culture. They planned company cookouts, floating the river together, kickball games, Nerf gun fights and more. Hiring people to fit in for the fun is great. But hiring people who can put themselves in harm’s way and be compassionate with customers is more important.
“Our guys put themselves at a lot of risk,” Ben explains. “They are exposed to blood-borne pathogens, confined spaces, hantavirus…They are turning chaos into comfort.”
That process of turning chaos to comfort is a serious job, Gail says.
“The people that we hire need to have a servant heart because you’re dealing with people who have had something bad happen to them,” she explains. “Whether it’s their house, their business where they’ve poured their heart and soul, or a trauma cleanup, you’re dealing with people who are having a really bad day. You have to be compassionate. So, for us, fitting in with our company culture is really important. We care about our staff and team members and I think that they know that.”
The strong team dynamic is something that continues today, even in Ben and Gail’s absence. Ben tells the story about a Buffalo team member who has a severely immune-compromised child. Other staff members have stepped up to deliver meals to the family’s doorstep, to allow them to stay home and safe.
It’s stories like those that remind the Yankers that they’ve created exactly what they set out to: a company that can thrive without them. And though the Yankers have officially retired, they are not slowing down. After the Coronavirus pandemic, there will be more scuba diving trips in beautiful locales. Gail and Ben say they’re busy re-discovering the hobbies they shelved as busy business owners. Ben says he’s got nearly 74 hobbies or bucket list items to parse out.
“We’re gonna do a little bit of traveling and just have fun,” Gail says.
