Restoration business adds services, changes name

The company, now known as Wood Re New and Tile Too, has added to its cleaning products and services so that the company can clean tile and grout and restore the luster to wood floors without sanding. The company was founded in 1993 by Stan Krempges, and now has 17 franchisees in nine states.

The wood cleaners and protectants Wood Re New and Tile Too uses are exclusive to the company.

“We work with a company that comes up with our exclusive cleaners. We work with another national company on our exclusive protectants,” Krempges said.

The new services are available in Springfield, Krempges said, but he hopes to make them available to all franchise locations by fall.

Krempges said that the additional services will provide stability for his company and entice potential franchisees.

“Right now, we are a seasonal business. From November through February we really slow down. Financially, that hurts us, especially as we are growing,” Krempges said. “The other side of being a seasonal business is that we really get hit hard in the spring, and it is really difficult to serve our customers while being picky about hiring and training new guys.”

But because the new services can be done inside homes or businesses, Wood Re New and Tile Too will be able to keep its technicians busy year-round.

“We have 13 good, clean-cut guys. Usually in November we have to lay them off and hope to get them back in the spring, but we always lose some of them,” Krempges said. The tile-cleaning service is ideal for both residential and commercial clients, Krempges said, but he expects that the company’s hardwood floor refinishing process will best serve residential clients.

“The hardwood restoration is completely mess-less. We use chemicals to abrade the finish, and then we fix scratches and gouges and reapply a finish. You can walk on it in your socks that evening,” he said.

He added that homeowners whose floors have serious issues such as problems with the stain should not consider this process. “This is mostly just for people whose floor is from five to 10 years old and need their finish brought back to life,” Krempges said.

The company’s tile and grout cleaning process is chemical based as well. “We use a combination of chemicals, water under high pressure, and a vacuum system. … There is no way a homeowner could get their tile this clean,” Krempges said. “Another really neat service we can do is color grout. So if a homeowner has stains in their grout that they can’t get out, we can return the old look, or if they want a new look we can change the color of the grout to get it.”

Krempges said fees for services vary according to size.

Dan Schumacher, general manager of Millwood Golf and Racquet Club, recently commissioned Krempges’ company to clean the facility’s floors. “My slate looks brand new,” Schumacher said. “They were restoring the beams in our building and they brought this process up to me. We decided to try it and it has worked out very well.”

Schumacher noted that the company’s work was the first professional cleaning on Millwood’s floors in about a decade.

“We have always cleaned the floor ourselves. After they cleaned the bathrooms, I told them they had to come back and do the lobby because the bathrooms looked too good,” Schumacher said.

Krempges is enthusiastic about the changes at his company.

“My first year in business, I did less than $100,000 in sales. Now, companywide we are in the range of $7 million. We have a great infrastructure and I am very excited about where we are going,” he said.

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