How Alpine Restoration Grew to 120 People Without Scaling Management Overhead

Alpine Cleaning and Restoration had created processes, documented procedures, and trained their teams consistently. The problem was finding them when it mattered.

Krystal Fullmer, eight years at Alpine and currently a project estimator, describes what kept happening: “We'd implement a change in one office, and you'd go to another office a year later, and they'd have no idea that the change was implemented.”

Training was happening. People had good intentions. But every message was being interpreted differently as it moved from person to person, which meant execution varied by location and individual.

Melissa McKay, 17 years at Alpine and now handling program work and credentialing, had tried building a solution manually. “I actually started creating processes, trying to build an operations manual,” she said, but quickly recognized the core issue: “It's never uniform.”

At 50 people, this created confusion and costly rework. At 120 people across three offices—where Alpine is today—it would totally stall their growth. 

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Eight Hours a Month Answering the Same Questions

Krystal did the math on the cost of her time: “If I'm gonna spend two hours of my week fielding calls that could be funneled through KnowHow—that’s two hours every week, eight hours a month. That's an entire day of my salary I just spent taking calls that we have a solution for already.”

Instead of fielding complex problems requiring expert judgment, she’d be stuck answering routine questions with documented answers that were inaccessible when the team needed them.

And in restoration, the stakes for “inaccessible” are higher because restoration operates on disaster's schedule, not business hours. Krystal: “We're in restoration at one o'clock in the morning. If this house is on fire and Bob doesn't answer his phone and my tech spends two hours waiting till he wakes up and sees it, how am I valuing my customer's time, my time, my tech's time?”

The customer waits. Revenue delays. And tomorrow, another question arises that has the same answer, but nobody can find it fast enough.

Beyond eating into the manager’s time, the cost is also in what technicians aren't learning: how to solve problems independently. And that dependency is expensive in both short-term dollars and long-term career development prospects.

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The Organizational Habit That Made Knowledge Accessible 24/7

Alpine implemented KnowHow five years ago, but the tool itself wasn't what solved the problem. The habit did.

Every week follows the same pattern. 

• On Monday, employees receive a KnowHow link with a process—safety standards or best practices—via email.
  
  
• On Wednesday, the meeting starts with that process in KnowHow.
  
  
• Can't make the meeting? Complete the process independently. KnowHow tracks who's completed what processes, their progress, and who needs help, all of which handles accountability without requiring manual follow-up.

Alpine uses KnowHow not only for storing technical procedures, but also for everything that matters for consistent execution. 

Krystal: “We use KnowHow for standards of excellence, standards of white glove service, standards of communication, or care. Even where to park the car when they go at night is in our KnowHow. So customers can see it, and our [EverLine] logos are out.”

These days, when someone calls with a question, Krystal's first response is simple: Did you check KnowHow?

She explains why: “The guys have embedded in them to go to KnowHow first. So it's freed up my time. I can focus on more things for my skillset than fielding those calls.”

And critically, she adds: “If it's not correct in KnowHow, or if you think it needs change, let me know.”

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What Uniformity Actually Buys You

Melissa describes the outcome of implementing KnowHow: “The biggest difference is the uniformity. Everyone knows the same thing, the same process, the same how. We never have to go back and figure out, okay, well this person does it this way, this person does it that way.”

Similarly, Krystal sees the impact at the management layer: “We have more time. We're not fielding as many calls for traditional things. Upper management is using it too, so our president's not getting as many calls to field that volume.”

The knowledge that used to require Krystal's phone call, or Melissa's memory, or someone tracking down the right version in the right folder, now lives in one place. Accessible at 1 a.m. when Bob's not answering his phone. Consistent across all three offices. Changes that used to take a year to travel now travel instantly. And the people who used to spend eight hours a month answering everyday questions are building leaders instead.

At the tech level, Krystal says: “The techs are faster, independent, and more confident 'cause they have a direct Bible resource for them to go to. They feel more supported….and it’s helping them grow.”

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Why Implementation Timing Matters

Melissa's advice to companies at Alpine's earlier stage (50, 60, 70 staff): “Jump in. It is worth the time and effort because you eventually have to build everything.”

Krystal makes a similar point about timing: “It's better to put it in when you're lean, and you're slow, because you can start that training. And when you get busy, and things are chaotic, it's already gonna be embedded in your culture.”

The alternative is paying twice: once in current inefficiency while delaying the solution, and the other in future implementation when you're overwhelmed and trying to embed new habits during chaos.

Alpine scaled from 50 to 120 people without proportionally scaling management time spent answering questions or adding headcount. The house still floods at 1 a.m. sometimes, but techs don't wait for Bob anymore. The answer's already in KnowHow, and so is the confidence to use it.

After five years and 140% growth, Krystal's verdict is unequivocal: “KnowHow is built for a reason, and it’s an incredibly valuable resource if you use it.”