ADVANTACLEAN
REVIEW

SERVPRO REVIEW

SERVICES PROVIDED

AdvantaClean focuses mostly on cleanup after a property has experienced water damage. There are both long-term and short-term implications of water damage and AdvantaClean addresses them all. The full list of services is as follows:

MOLD

Mold is one of the biggest risks of damage after the water itself. A moisture-filled environment is a fertile breeding ground for mold, which can lead to the mold spreading into rooms that were not even initially affected by water. As such, it’s critical to address it as soon as possible. AdvantaClean makes this a priority, offering:

❏ Mold removal

❏ Mold remediation

❏ Mold testing

❏ Crawl space encapsulation

MOISTURE

Naturally, after water damage, there is a strong chance of moisture problems. As a result, AdvantaClean provides the following services, all designed to help eliminate moisture from a space:

❏ Moisture control

❏ Attic ventilation

AIR DUCTS

Although not strictly linked with water damage, air duct cleaning is a key service in the AdvantaClean menu. Since unclean air ducts and dryer vents can lead to fires, this very much forms part of the regular preventative steps to take to keep your home safe. AdvantaClean offers the following:

❏ Air duct cleaning

❏ Dryer vent cleaning

WATER

Water damage is at the heart of what AdvantaClean offers. In the aftermath of a flood or leak, AdvantaClean can provide the following services:

❏ Water damage restoration

❏ Sewage removal

❏ Basement waterproofing

COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT

Finally, AdvantaClean also has the following offerings for Commercial and Government property:

Additional
Company Information

At the AdvantaClean headquarters in North Carolina, there is a 24-hour customer care center focused on responding to emergency callouts. On top of these, the site is also home to a 22,000 square-foot training facility. This training facility contains a full-sized 1,700 square-foot house that is used to train franchisees and employees in full-scale hands-on simulations.

In addition to the hands-on training, AdvantaClean also hosts training webinars every two weeks, designed to keep its team fully up to speed on the latest developments in the world of remediation, cleaning, and restoration.

ADVANTACLEAN
RATINGS AND REVIEWS

BBB RATING

BBB RATING: A/A+

The Better Business Bureau gave AdvantaClean Systems an A/A+ rating.

PROS AND CONS OF USING ADVANTACLEAN

AdvantaClean focuses more on remediation and cleaning than on its competitors, which tend to focus more on the restoration parts of water and fire damage. This naturally gives it an advantage when it comes to customer decision-making since it has a clear niche in which it excels. However, it is worth examining precisely what are the pros and cons of working with AdvantaClean.

PROs

Any company that grows to the size of AdvantaClean must have some strengths in terms of operations, processes, and customer service. It has two significant strengths:

Experience. The fact that AdvantaClean has been in operation for 23 years gives it a weight of experience that is reassuring to consumers. A prospective customer can be assured that AdvantaClean has the wherewithal to deal with almost every type of problem.
Customer Reviews. Across online review sites, AdvantaClean has an extremely strong reputation. This shows that AdvantaClean is a company that knows how to keep its clients happy and places a strong emphasis on doing a good job.

CONs

Although the pros mentioned above are extremely strong, AdvantaClean is not a perfect company. Its limitations, however, are fairly minimal:

Size. AdvantaClean - although clearly still growing - has a limited range of locations. It only operates in 34 states, and not fully in each of those, meaning there’s a chance you may not be able to find an AdvantaClean location in your immediate vicinity.
Scope. Although the fact that AdvantaClean runs a narrow ‘menu’ of services helps it to excel, it may be too limited for some consumers. For example, if you need extensive contracting work on top of your restoration, AdvantaClean may not be the best option.

OUR RATING

Using our five-point scale (below), we have ranked AdvantaClean as ‘Good.’

The reasoning behind this rating is that AdvantaClean sticks to its lane and does an excellent job in its core competencies. It has a strong customer service, which leads to satisfied customers. Although a greater range of services would help push it towards ‘Excellent,’ it may also jeopardize that which it already does so well.

As the company reaches the limits of its national expansion, it may look at lateral expansion into new offerings. At present, however, it is an extremely good service provider in a slightly limited field.

ADVANTACLEAN HISTORY

AdvantaClean is still relatively young compared with many other companies operating in the same business environment. It was founded in 1994 in Winter Park, Florida. Initially, it ran as a contracting business specializing in rebuilding homes that had experienced various forms of damage. This centers on loss mitigation and structural repairs.

The impetus behind the company’s founding was Hurricane Andrew, which caused extensive damage throughout southern Florida in 1992. The company’s partners had worked as contractors in the aftermath, and gained a great deal of direct experience with post-damage restoration. They utilized this experience and found a gap in the market for high quality, professional remediation.

AdvantaClean’s partners decided to open an office in North Carolina, designed to operate seasonally during hurricane season. This business in North Carolina was successful and fueled wider growth within the company. In 1998, the company was ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as the 33rd fastest-growing small business in the United States.

1995

AdvantaClean began a process of franchising the business to new locations (the existing locations were retained as company-owned stores). The next six years saw a great deal of investment in technology, operations, and infrastructure, with a view to building a national network of franchises.

2000

The first existing company store was sold as a franchise and the process began in earnest. At the initial stages, franchise sales were only made to select individuals, and there was no push to increase the number of franchises too quickly. AdvantaClean realized that there was a risk involved in franchises, and growing too fast could jeopardize the company’s branding and reputation.

2006

The franchising process had been successful and AdvantaClean was ready to start selling franchises to the general public. The first franchise was sold in 2009. Its franchises were notable for being relatively low cost, significantly lowering the bar for entry for prospective franchisees.

2008

The speed of growth of the franchise operation had made AdvantaClean a national company. The growth since 2008 has been almost exponential. In 2011, AdvantaClean sold its fiftieth franchise; it sold its 100th only a year later. It currently operates 230 branches throughout 34 states, and is continuing to grow. AdvantaClean is well on the way to branches in every state of the US, as well as international expansion into Canada.

HOW ADVANTACLEAN OPERATES

BRANDING & BUSINESS MODEL

The essence of running a successful franchise operation is consistency; being able to standardize operations and processes to ensure a consistent, repeatable product is what makes a franchise successful. That’s what guarantees a customer in California gets the same service as one in North Carolina, and what fuels a company’s growth.

However, this aspect of franchising is rarely discussed at the level of branding – after all, a company with franchises sells the product to customers and franchises to interested entrepreneurs.

AdvantaClean’s branding, however, fully trumpets the standardized nature of the business. It states: “While most of our competitors are chasing emergency situations, AdvantaClean stands out; our business model is designed to produce regular, scheduled work and sustainability.”

This is an interesting tactic, showing how the standardized business approach, operations, and processes permeate throughout the AdvantaClean model.

ULTIMATE SELLING POINT

Aside from the touting of its standardized processes (which is a fairly unique marketing strategy), AdvantaClean’s USP is really the bringing of simplicity to what can be a complex and stress-filled field. In many respects, therefore, the uniqueness of the AdvantaClean approach is that it brings calm and reassurance to the process of remediation and restoration.

Many of its competitors focus on the drama and stress of a flooded or damaged home; AdvantaClean does the opposite. A remediation and restoration company based in the hurricane corridor of the United States is one that is extremely well-prepared and well-versed in the damage a home can experience.

FURTHER INFORMATION

While AdvantaClean (rightly) prides itself on the standardized nature of its franchise operation, one area in which the franchises are not standardized is when it comes to size. Its franchises vary from small, single-unit home franchises to large multi-state franchises.

AdvantaClean is rare in the manner in which it tries to simplify the remediation and restoration industry. Many companies ‘sell’ how complex a problem is, offering themselves as the only solution.By contrast, however, AdvantaClean is remarkable in the way it seeks to bring order and serenity to the market.

Its investment in innovation and constant training helps to create a team of experts, proficient in all of the latest techniques when it comes to remediation and restoration. For the consumer, not only is its performance standardized, but it offers a reassuring presence in what can be a stressful time for customers – even if AdvantaClean doesn’t focus on the stress.

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