Finding Success

Robin Nickerson often catches himself whistling as he pulls into work. It's not because the sun is inching up the horizon like a periscope—though it is nice to inhale the crisp, heavy air as the faint glow of dawn descends upon the Hebron Industrial Park. In many ways, his life has experienced a similar rebirth, emerging from obscurity when it seemed the day would never break. To Nickerson, each new morning is a promise of something better, another opportunity to improve the world one restoration contract at a time.

It's hard to believe that a mere six years ago he was scraping the bottom at a local insurance company. "I was very shy at that time, and it was the only job I could find," he confesses. Like many of his generation, Nickerson moved to the city in search of "more." After two failed businesses, he returned to Yarmouth. His metro experience was like a nightmarish roller coaster: it whisked him through peaks and valleys, only to retreat, nauseated, to the very coordinates he'd departed. In transit, he accumulated so much debt that 90 percent of his paycheques went to loan payments. The rest was set aside for later.

When he couldn't bum a ride to work, he walked the eight kilometres from Arcadia to Main Street. It was a humbling experience, but instead of conceding defeat, he was invigorated. "This time in my life was a blessing, as it bestowed me with a bulldog determination and a burning desire to succeed. I knew I could do more than this, so I took this emotion and channeled it into educating myself."

Nickerson studied hundreds of business models, often staying up till 3:00 a.m. to analyze competitive strategies for success. Feeling brazen, he started a third business, a project development company, to assist new and prospective business owners. This allowed him to redeem chunks of his arrears. Just as significant, he started to overcome some of the bashful tendencies that once defined—nay, confined—him. He was an enigma, to be sure. A 19-year-old introvert who hadn't completed high school yet somehow managed to start a drywall company in the HRM. But that's just how smart Nickerson was. All he ever needed was the expertise.

When the insurance building caught fire, it left him with the question: How could he get involved in the fascinating process by which the premises were restored? His eyes were pried wider than before to witness alien men in Hazmat suits at work. "I thought to myself, now that is a cool business!"

As it happened, disaster restoration was a tough nut to crack. Determined, he started a property management and maintenance company, but he essentially passed the first three months pounding pavement. He must have knocked on hundreds of doors and handed out hundreds of cheap business cards, but the response didn't meet his expectations. "I spent the next three years working day and night to build that company. Some days I would work 24 hours straight, but I loved it. As it grew, I sold off parts of the business until I decided to finish my high school education."

Nickerson scored one of the school's highest averages, and his peers elected him valedictorian. Evidently, the scholastic bug had nipped him, as he delved into the post-secondary spectrum, studying through Université Sainte-Anne and the Dalhousie nursing program in Yarmouth. Meanwhile, he was moonlighting to grow what remained of his restoration business. A sucker for sleep deprivation, he also added a marketing company to his roster.

It was around this time that he began a professional relationship with Dan Murry, co-owner of SystemCare. Shortly thereafter, Nickerson was recruited to assist with the restoration of the West Pubnico School, following a devastating flood. After completing the task, Nickerson acquired his own franchise and hasn't looked back.

The process of restoration is subject to a strange dynamic, though. When SystemCare first arrives at a jobsite, emotions run very high. Clients are understandably distraught, having just lost irreplaceable items or heirlooms, so the first order of business is always to console them. "We realize that our job isn't just a matter of restoring objects and structures, although that's an important part of the process. What we really pride ourselves on is the way we work diligently to recapture the memories and feeling of security that are destroyed when disaster strikes. Whether the damage is caused by fire, flood, or wind, every job we approach is chaotic. It's up to us to focus on people and keep them informed. Above all, we always try to reassure them that we can handle everything and they won't need to deal with 10 different firms. There's nothing worse than being in this situation and having to chase around."

As foreman Steve Crosby puts it, SystemCare meets people at their worst and hopefully leaves them at their best. Such a goal is only possible with genuine concern for the client and oodles of TLC.

It can be rather daunting to step inside a damaged building. SystemCare meticulously removes every item and appliance from all affected rooms. Each object is carefully packaged, itemized, and photographed before shipment to the warehouse for assortment. Once there, items are assessed to determine which can be restored. SystemCare uses cutting-edge technologies to strip away smoke and water damage, and it's amazing how much abuse some common household objects can endure without being rendered unusable. SystemCare even sifts through debris because they sometimes unearth rings or other such treasures. "It's labour-intensive, but if we can find a ring that's got a lot of memories, our clients are very thankful. And it lowers the cost of a claim."

Once all the contents have been vacated, SystemCare guts damaged rooms, down to the structural two-by-fours. In case of flood, they often have to dismantle the floors and begin restoration from the concrete foundation. It's especially crucial to contact them once an issue is detected; even though they use state-of-the-art technology to treat, repair, and restore a building, the job can be greatly reduced if they receive notice before the problem festers.

SystemCare Yarmouth offers 24-hour emergency wind, water, smoke, and fire response services, along with content handling, cleaning, and disaster clean-up. They also offer general construction services for rebuilding damaged property, including carpentry, roofing, flooring, drywall, painting, renovations, finish carpentry, siding, and window and door installs. For interior touchups, feel free to enlist their carpet and upholstery cleaning, as well as their scotch guarding services.

Essentially, SystemCare Yarmouth assembles jigsaw puzzles. They deal with materials much more precious than cut cardboard, but the approach is similar: gather all contents to one side and concentrate on the frame. Of course, their sense of accomplishment is much greater than one who completes a puzzle. Not only do they mend broken images, they reacquaint displaced people with memories and restore shattered feelings of security.

It may have taken Nickerson a few years to recruit the right team of professionals, and it's true that, at only 29 years of age, he still has some unfinished objectives in life, but there's no greater feeling than restoring a client's home or business. If he catches himself whistling as he strolls into work, it's not because he's about to embark on a new project that will introduce him to new disasters and dispirited clients; it's because he sees past these hurdles to the final handshakes and confident smiles. He's been through enough in life that he could live no other way. And even if these mornings didn't smile on him, he'd still have the world's best coworkers to fill that void.

Robin has expanded his business with revenue increasing at an average rate of over 40% over the last 5 years, expanding his market from the town of Yarmouth into Clare, Argyle, Barrington, Shelburne and Lockport all the way up to East Port Hebert. Increasing his work force from just him self to upwards of 15 team mates.

His services have grown from drywalling, painting & Commercial Contract Cleaning into carpet cleaning, disaster clean up, and now Flood pump out services, content pack out and itemizing, moving, storage, restoration and drying, structural drying. professional certified water, smoke, and fire damage restoration, reconstruction services such as carpentry, drywall and painting, trim work, cabinetry, exterior roofing and siding.

By partnering with an Environmental Engineer to also provide environmental remediation services such as , oil, mould and lead/asbestos.

He has grown his company to be the Largest Preferred Insurance Contract Vendor of Professional Disaster Restoration Services From Chester to the Annapolis Valley.

He is the sole shareholder of his company and has accomplished all this by the age of 29.

He is currently the youngest serving member of the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce board of directors and represent the board at the South West Shore Development Authorities meeting. He has been acknowledged by industry professionals as a Journeyman Textile Restorer, Journeyman Fire & Smoke Restorer and is the process of completing his Master in Textile Restoration, Fire & Smoke Restoration and Water Restoration, along with Advanced Structural Drying, placing him in the top 2% of Restoration Professionals in Atlantic Canada. He also hold certification in Applied Microbial Remediation in Buildings, Water damage Restoration, Carpentry diploma from NSCC, general insurance licensing training from ITAC.

Under Robin's guidance his company is certified under the Nova Scotia Construction Safety Association, Is a member of the Building Owners & Managers Association of the Atlantic Provinces, Is a Certified firm of the Institute of Inspection, Cleanin & Restoration, Is a Restoration Industry Association recognized member, and has been nominated for the 10th Annual Mobius Environmental Awards.

Robin also soley ownes Jani-San Management, which is a property development, investment and management company which also offers project development and management services in the Tri-counties.