HomeServe USA, a provider of emergency home repair service plans, is looking at expanding its Chattanooga call center as its customer base has more than tripled in five years.
The company, which already employs about 350 people in Chattanooga, is searching for more office space as the venture keeps adding workers, HomeServe USA Chief Executive Tom Rusin said.
Homeserve offerings
› Plumbing services: Exterior water service line, exterior sewer/septic line, interior plumbing, interior gas line› Electrical services: Exterior and interior electrical wiring, interior telephone wiring› HVAC services: Heating and cooling system repair, water heater repair/replacementSource: HomeServe
Employees work in the call center at HomeServe in Brainerd. The company, providers of insurance plans for exterior and interior home repair, is experiencing rapid growth and plans to hire 100 more workers. "We look forward to expanding our business in Chattanooga," Rusin said last week as the company marked a half decade in the Scenic City.
Rusin said the Connecticut-based company has outgrown the 36,000 square feet of space it has on two floors at The Pointe Corporate Centre office park off East Brainerd Road. The business would like to add about 4,000 square feet and have its personnel all on one floor.
"We're committed to staying in Chattanooga," Rusin said, noting about 15 more workers are undergoing training and should soon join the company's call center staff.
In addition to more than 350 or so people who'll be working at its center when those employees come aboard, the company employs about 40 on a work-from-home basis, he said.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said HomeServe sticks out as an example of a company that starts small in the city and then grows its headcount.
"We look forward to the continued relationship," he said.
Nick Wilkerson, Chattanooga's deputy administrator for economic development, said HomeServe started its call center with just 35 employees and now it has 10 times as many workers.
"That's 350 families in the middle class who'll have a great holiday season," he said.
HomeServe provides emergency repair service plans to more than 2 million households in the United States. The company, an arm of British-based HomeServe PLC, sarted serving the U.S. market in 2002.
The company's products protect homeowners against expenses of water, sewer, electrical and heating and air-conditioning emergencies. Rusin said the company has grown because its business is about "delivering quality customer experience."
Five years ago, he said, it looked at a number of states in which to put its "flagship" center in addition to Tennessee. The company chose Chattanooga because it had a pool of experienced workers, Rusin said. He also cited EPB's ultra-fast Internet service as helping the business grow in Chattanooga.
"There's an excellent communications infrastructure here in Chattanooga," the company CEO said. "Really, it was a no-brainer to choose Chattanooga."
The Chattanooga center operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.