Allen’s: A family-run business
Chris Allen journeyed to Florida, along with his father, Ken, in the early-1990s to pick up a vacuum truck to begin a new business venture.
Things started out slow, with Chris still working part-time for other people.
Eighteen years later, things have certainly picked up for Allen’s Environmental Services, Inc., which has grown to include 17 employees, a location in Brewer that opened last fall and a total of 25 work trucks.
Allen’s Environmental Services, Inc. is truly a family business.
Chris started the business with his father, Ken, who still lends a hand when needed. Chris and Kim Allen’s 19-year-old son, Joseph, is on the payroll as a full-time employee along with 18-year-old Christen, who has assumed a lot of the office work duties.
Even seven-year-old Mason likes to help when he can.
“We provide vacuum trucks for mills, the state and municipalities,” Kim said. “In the wintertime we thaw frozen pipes. We provide tank inspections, tank removals and installs, as well as a state-of-the-art camera system and a new pipe-bursting system, which is also state of the art.
“We like to try to add something new to stay current,” she said. “We’re in our second summer with the pipe-bursting system, which is a service no one else offers in northern Maine.”
“There is very little landscape disruption when your pipe bursts,” she explained. “Typically, we only have to dig one hole and the work is done underground.”
Kim said to succeed in business, keeping up with the times is a must.
“We offer the latest technology,” she said. “You also have to be honest and fair and make yourself available.
“Chris tries to be there when he’s needed, whether it be weekends or the middle of the night, when there is an emergency, he’s there and will do a good job – there is no skimping or cutting corners.”
Allen’s Environmental Services, Inc. can be reached by calling 764-9336.
