Family-owned restoration and cleaning business serves northern Ohio and beyond
By ASBR Staff
Doug - Ops. Mgr.of Disaster Restoration, Gary - Janitorial Supervisor, Jeff Amstutz - Ops. Mgr of Residential/Commercial and Janitorial, Butch Wamer - President
Park-Ellis ServiceMaster is a family business—specifically a Wamer-family business since 1967 when Larry Wamer, Sr. became a partial owner. Today, his son, Butch, runs the popular restoration and cleaning business.
Park-Ellis ServiceMaster was incorporated in 1963 in the state of Ohio. Larry Wamer, Sr. was an employee at that time. Through hard work and dedication, Larry bought his own franchise. For several years he worked to build his own business. The owner of Park-Ellis ServiceMaster was so impressed with Larry’s business, he made him an offer.
In 1967, Larry became part owner of Park-Ellis ServiceMaster. After 25 years of partnership with one of the founders, Larry and Beverly Wamer bought the Park-Ellis ServiceMaster name and business in 1985. Larry handled sales and managed the business, while Beverly played a key role in keeping the books balanced. With the help of two production employees, one of whom being their son, Butch, Larry and Beverly set off on their own.
During this time Larry and Beverly’s son Butch had begun to climb the corporate ladder. Butch was a Crew Chief and promoted to Production Manager. Later in 1989, the business had grown so much it could no longer stay at its Old West End location. From there, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster moved to its current address on Holland Sylvania Road. At that time the company employed around 12 people.
In 1994, two major changes occurred. First, Larry promoted Butch to General Manager. Second, Butch became part owner of the company. With added responsibilities and a new sense to guide the company, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster headed in new directions. With Butch’s fresh approach and new ideas, he and Larry formed a great management style.
By 1998, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster was growing rapidly. In June, Nancy Wamer joined the family. Nancy brought fresh and exciting ideas and skills that would play a key role in taking Park-Ellis ServiceMaster to new levels. Now that the business was excelling at such a rapid rate, placement of each key team member was strongly emphasized. In late November of 2000, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster experienced one of the largest changes in the company’s history: Larry and Butch reversed roles. Butch now had become the President of Park-Ellis ServiceMaster. Larry, not wanting to leave his dream, still remained active and assumed the Vice-President position, but after 39 years was ready to retire. After retirement, Nancy moved up to assume the position of Vice President.
On April 10, 2009, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster bought ServiceMaster Clean Professional Services from Park Blubaugh, one of the original owners of Park-Ellis, and welcomed two new additional partners, Doug Clough and Jeff Amstutz.
ServiceMaster Clean Professional Services focuses on janitorial-type work and is located off Angola Road near Spring Meadows. Park-Ellis ServiceMaster now employs almost 50 wonderful people who are dedicated to providing that “Master Moment” on a daily basis. Every year has proved to outshine the previous one and they look forward to continuing that trend.
ServiceMaster Corp. owns several large, national companies including Terminix, TruGreen, AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic, American Home Shield, Merry Maids and ServiceMaster Clean®. ServiceMaster Clean alone has roughly 5,000 locations. The company also emphasizes God in its philosophy, which makes it unique, Jeff said. “The core values are honor and God in all we do,” he said. Park-Ellis ServiceMaster has four main objectives, displaying their values: to honor God in all they do, to excel with customers, to help people develop and to grow profitably.
Jeff is the Operations Manager at the Capital Commons office focusing on Residential, Commercial and Janitorial services, while Doug is the Operations Manager at the Holland Sylvania office focusing on Disaster Restoration services. Park-Ellis ServiceMaster has about 40 janitorial accounts in the area and cleans for several government buildings as well.
The screening process for all employees involves background checks, drug tests and ongoing training. “We do as many checks as we can to make sure a customer or client’s business will feel comfortable with our employee working at their home or business,” Jeff said.
Park-Ellis ServiceMaster serves all of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. “We service 14 counties and we’ll go wherever we’re needed to get the job done and help a customer!” Jeff said. “Wherever we’re called, we’ll go.”
Now with 50 employees and multiple locations, Park-Ellis ServiceMaster, Jeff, Doug and the Wamer family will continue their success by making each moment, a “Master Moment.”
If you have found this story interesting, informative, or inspiring, please let Park-Ellis ServiceMaster know! ServiceMaster Clean is located at 805 Capital Commons Dr. or 3404 Holland Sylvania Rd., Toledo. You can reach their Disaster Restoration services at (419)841-5575 or their Residential/Commercial and/or Janitorial services at (419)861-9602. You can find them on the web at www.smparkellis.com and they also offer online scheduling for residential cleaning services.
