- Award category: Movers & Shakers
- Speciality: Insurance restoration
- 25 years in business
- 2000 volume: $4.6 million
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Staff: 10 office, 20 field
Credit: Dan Waller
Des Moines doesn’t get many tornadoes. It is not in the hail belt—or even the big storm belt. In fact, natural disasters do not often befall the Midwest town. So insurance restoration companies have to make do with everyday accidents. And that is just what the almost $5 million, family-run United Services of Des Moines does—and has been doing for 25 years.
By volume, 60 percent of the company’s jobs are repair of fire damage. But by lead count, they account for only 20 percent. The rest are small jobs—water damage, vandalism, maybe an ice dam or two if it’s a cold winter.
In an industry that caters to people in need, the three brothers, Kirk (left), Kent (center), and Kip (right), who run the company their dad founded recognize the need for strict professionalism. They also recognize the need to support their community. They have an extensive program that supports the local volunteer fire department—a group they often find they must follow in the professional arena.