Meet Micah Jefferson | President: Restoration 1 of West Denver & Restoration 1 of Aurora

We had the good fortune of connecting with Micah Jefferson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Micah, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I spent over 18 years working at a telecommunications company. I had worked my way up from an IT developer to running IT and Operations departments. I was pretty burned out and trying to determine what to do next. I spoke to my mom about it and she suggested I speak with an entrepreneurial coach. After going through a thorough vetting process, I landed on opening up a restoration company for a couple reasons. It’s always been my nature to help people in times of need. And the restoration industry is fairly recession resistant. It sounded like both a challenging and fun venture. I do not know if I ever really calculated how much risk there was in opening my own business, I just knew I wanted to do something different and owning my own business was both a source of pride for me as well as a way to provide a good future for my family.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Restoration 1 of West Denver & Aurora have a number of qualities that set us apart from others. Most restoration companies perform the mitigation work and leave the client to work with someone else to rebuild the damaged areas of their property. At Restoration 1 we have an in-house rebuild/construction department that excels in putting the client’s property back the way it was or even improve it. Several of our clients will take the opportunity to upgrade areas of their house after mitigation. We work with them to understand what upgrades they would like to make, what funds they can expect from insurance and what additional money they would need to bring to the table for these upgrades. Having this capability allows a client to deal with one company throughout their project and bank the time they may otherwise have to spend managing multiple companies.

As of November 2023 we have also started a contents department and will be able to take care of our clients’ contents in-house. Many of our jobs require contents to be cleaned and stored while the mitigation work and rebuild are being completed. Previously we would sub-contract that work to a few local companies. Sometimes this would cause project delays, cost increases and frustrate our clients. With the introduction of our in-house contents department we now control this aspect of the project and can closely align with our project timelines for the mitigation and rebuild.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a hard one. It really depends on the individual that is visiting and what they want to do. I moved to Colorado after college for the skiing and winter sports. What has kept me here is all the things that we can do the other three seasons of the year. I love to take people that are visiting up to the mountains to play golf, fish, mountain-biking or skiing. I think a great week would be touring the state and hitting all of the golf courses in the morning and then mountain biking or fishing in the afternoons or evenings. We would start with a couple days in Golden and hit some of the great restaurants in Golden and play golf at Fossil Trace. Then we would head to Breckenridge and stay at a small condo that we own and play golf and mountain bike and fish there for two to three days. We would have to hit some of the restaurants in Breckenridge and the surrounding area. From Breckenridge we would head out to Rifle and bike some of the amazing trails out there. After Rifle we would drive over to Telluride and Ouray area and hike Mt. Sneffels and do some more mountain-biking. From there we would go to the Crested Butte area and do more of the same. After Crested Butte we could go over Cottonwood Pass and hang out in Salida and Buena Vista for a few days. From there we would head back to my house in Golden and top everything off with a concert at Red Rocks, there really is no such thing as a bad show at Red Rocks.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are two women in my life that have supported and encouraged me along the way, my wife and my mom. When I made the decision to quit my comfortable, well-paying corporate job and open my own company, they both were incredibly supportive and helpful. My mom decided that she would do the marketing for my company for free, after three years I finally had to tell her that she needed to start charging us. To this day I do not believe that she charges what she would for any other company.

After about a year of running Restoration 1 there were a number of areas that were being neglected on the reconstruction and accounting area. My wife sold her business and joined me to help run Restoration 1. Restoration 1 would never be where it is today without her making that decision. These areas are now the best functioning areas of our company. I am always amazed at how well my wife balances her time between Restoration 1, our family and her physical and mental well-being.

Website: https://restoration1ofwestdenver.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restoration1ofwestdenver/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restoration-1-of-west-denver/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Restoration1ofwestdenver

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHJiFkC2-Gs8jZmUV-wS99g