MADISONVILLE, Ky. — Offering services from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Alabama, and Missouri, Leslie Curneal of Enviro Source Restoration addressed the 1 Million Cups Entrepreneur program Wednesday, April 22.

With the desire to own a business, Scot and Leslie Curneal started their company in 2009.

“Our story starts with Scot having a passion within him to owning his own business,” said Leslie. “For a long time, I probably discouraged him. But, I started to see he was becoming more and more dissatisfied with his job in the mines, and he really wanted to get out of there. So, in 2009 I said ‘O.K., I am behind you, let’s do it.’”

Leslie said she grew up in a family business and knew the struggles.

“I had been raised in a family who owned their own business and I knew the struggles,” said Leslie. “It consumes your entire day, your entire night… your entire life. Sometimes it was great, sometimes it was not so great.”

After they did their research, they noticed that there really wasn’t anyone in town who was doing this type of work.

“After Scot did some research, we noticed there wasn’t really anyone in town doing air duct cleaning,” said Leslie. “There were a few people doing carpet cleaning and no one really doing chimney sweeping. That’s what a big part of what my family did… they owned a cleaning business.”

Leslie said that the company’s first name was called “Environmental Solutions”, but went through more changes before settling with Enviro Source Restoration.

“In 2009, we started Environmental Solutions,” said Leslie. “We bought some equipment… all of our start-up cash came from the first bank of mom and pop. They saw what their son and daughter-in-law wanted to do and they supported us.”

Scot left for Texas for a week to get his certifications and took the plunge to make it a full-time job.

“At the time, Scot was still working in the mines,” said Leslie. “We were not ready to do this full-time yet. But, word quickly got around about what he was doing, and then took the plunge to do this full-time. He made a lot of contacts through his training when he was getting his certifications.”

In late 2009, they received a call from a local business for janitorial services.

“A local business asked, ‘Would you give us a bid to do some janitorial services on a regular basis?’” said Leslie. “We were very fortunate and got the bid. So, we started doing commercial janitorial services. Over a period of time, it led to as many as 10 contracts cleaning local offices in Hopkins County.”

By 2011, they began to see some changes.

“We saw some things changing,” said Leslie. “Scot had an opportunity to take Environmental Solutions and turn it into something different. We did a name change; we wanted to identify putting our name on the cleaning service. So, we had ‘Curneal’s Cleaning Service’ and ‘Enviro Source Restoration.’”

Leslie said they were struggling with an identity.

“That was our problem we were having,” said Leslie. “We were trying to identify ourselves and that was one of the challenges. But, at that time, we were managing two businesses.”

In October 2014, the company went through another change.

“Both of us were working,” said Leslie. “I was working for the city and he was managing both businesses and it was becoming challenging. We saw a decline in the services that we were providing and we didn’t want to leave a bad name for ourselves. So, we decided in October to go full fledge with Enviro Source Restoration and stop the cleaning service.”

Enviro Source Restoration is a complete remodeling and decontaminated service.

“Scot is fully certified in all the states he works in,” said Leslie. “He is all over the place, he is regional. He does roofing, drywall, vinyl siding, replacement windows, decks and hardwood flooring. For the decontaminated services he does mold remediation, lead decontamination, biohazard decontamination, trauma scene clean up and air duct cleaning.”

Leslie said a lot of their customers consist of finance companies, property management companies, other restoration company contractors, insurance adjusters, realtors and property owners.

“Many of you know Scot cleans meth houses,” said Leslie. “He does not clean meth labs. Meth labs are already gone… the health department has already secured the property. They go in and test, they turn in the test to the laboratory, and depending on the level of contamination, a bid is submitted. If they get the bid, they go in and clean the house. A hygienist has to go in behind them and test the house again to make sure everything passes.”

Leslie said for the first three years, there was struggle, but they were able to overcome it.

“For the first three years, Scot struggled,” said Leslie. “He went and got another job that provided a steady income because he was uncertain. But, when Enviro services took off, we never looked back.”

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