'We relieve the stress off the customer'

MILTON — Louisiana native Donald Dellinger has more than 30 years' experience in construction and home restoration, and he uses that knowledge to bring the Milton area — along with the rest of the Gulf Coast region — quality service.

Dellinger’s wife, Kim, is the primary owner of U.S. Restoration, located at 2751 Avalon Blvd. in Milton. Dellinger is the chief operating officer and oversees the day-to-day functions of the business.

That includes "all of our territory of Mobile to Miami, from the Gulf Coast to the Canadian border," Dellinger said. "When we get them out of town, [we travel a bit], but they’re far and few. I concentrate on our backyard, which is from Mobile to Panama City."

U.S. Restoration opened in May 2016, and officially became an LLC in July 2016. The company was run out of the Dellingers' home until February 2017, when they moved to their current location.

Dellinger said he moved to Santa Rosa County in 1998 with the sole purpose of opening this business.

"I was actually working for U.S. Restoration in Mandeville, Louisiana; I was the project coordinator for many years," Dellinger said. "We serviced the Gulf Coast region, and he gave me the opportunity to branch off and open an office over here in Florida. Now, we’re not a franchise; we are independently-owned.

"We are family-owned and operated, so it’s all family that works for us. The store that’s in Louisiana is [owned by] my first cousin."

U.S. Restoration provides a variety of services including fire, water, smoke and mold remediation; rebuilds; emergency water removal; carpet cleaning; general cleaning; biohazard cleaning; fire damage repair; smoke damage repair; odor removal; mold remediation; hygiene cleaning; inspections; estimations; and trash outs. They provide 24-hour service for emergencies.

"Experience definitely has a lot to do with things," Dellinger said. "I got into this field in 1983 at the age of 16. I got into this field… as an assistant in carpet cleaning. My first cousin taught me everything he knows about carpet cleaning, and expanded into restoration work… Then times got slow, so I branched off from there and got into residential building."

Dellinger said he returned to the restoration business after working in building for about three years. He received more training and certifications in the field before going back to building — this time, high-rise construction.

"The reason why I played it like that was I wanted the knowledge of how things are built," Dellinger said. "It plays a big part in this business, because you have to know how to take it apart and put it back together."

Dellinger has five experienced employees working for him, all of whom have various certifications.

"You have to grow; have to get established," Dellinger said. "Our name is just now getting out there … What separates us from the other restoration companies is the fact that we are a turn-key company; the customer has to deal with only one contractor and that’s it, not multiple.

"We relieve the stress off the customer."

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: 'We relieve the stress off the customer'