COMPANY HISTORY

Rex Chase began Affordable Abatement, Inc. in January 1990. Soon his brother Anthony and his wife Sharen joined Rex.

After meeting with several consultants in an effort to market their new enterprise, several projects in Skagit county were begun. With an office in a bedroom in their mother's home and two large U-Haul size trucks equipped with CB radios, Rex and Anthony worked their first projects some 50 miles from their base of operations. Odd hours were common and many. They personally sacrificed many paychecks to keep the young company afloat.

It was soon agreed that a superintendent was needed to manage project logistics while the Chase brothers marketed new work. Bill Schroeder was promoted from site supervisor to that position. A couple of other small abatement contractors were quitting business, so Affordable quickly bought up their equipment for pennies on the dollar.

Dispatching crews from mom's driveway had become awkward, so an inexpensive shop was sought out. Originally, milk crates were chairs for most of the office staff, except for the bookkeeper - Sharen. Often there was a line of 4 people waiting to use the single telephone. Imagine, 1 phone to take orders, coordinate crews, make orders and bid projects ! We were really "uptown" when we purchased a fax machine ! In the early years we were known as the company with blue school buses, because we bought several small buses at an auction and painted them cobalt blue.

All of the usual mistakes were made over the years as a business grows, and we tried to learned from each of them - especially personnel issues. We even hired one of America's most wanted criminal and got him put behind bars. Yet through it all, the Chase brothers insisted on performing projects the right way and finishing them even when we took a loss. Our competitors stressed extras, we tried to perform under the bid. Slowly, we built a reputation of integrity.

Upon moving to Lynnwood, we increased our office and parking space allowing for investment in more vehicles. We began to diversify a little - lead, PCB's, mold, light tubes, painting and nuisance projects.

On January 1, 2000 we relocated to an Everett facility. While slightly farther from the Seattle Metro center, this allowed us more parking which prompted our entry into demolition, drug lab abatement and mold removal. Full time, we have a mechanic, expeditor, big-rig truck drivers and a quality assurance person. All have evolved in order to service clients better.