The Los Angeles area wildfires decimated thousands of structures, and it could take years to rebuild what was lost in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Similar devastation occurred after Hurricane Milton ripped through Florida and Georgia last October.
Hurricane Helene caused billions of dollars of damage in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina just a few weeks earlier.
Anaheim-based ATI Restoration LLC coordinated several recovery efforts from these fires, hurricanes and other events. Fixing buildings, whether they are damaged by a disaster event or crippled by hazards such as asbestos or flooding, is ATI Restoration’s business.
“This is what we do for a living – we show up for the worst of situations,” ATI Restoration Chief Executive David Carpenter told the Business Journal. “We can go anywhere in the country.”
ATI Restoration, which started as an environmental remediation firm more than 35 years ago, has been finding much work in recent weeks. It has 150 active jobs related to the Palisades and Eaton fires and another 500 jobs are in the queue, awaiting review by the ATI Restoration staff.
“Our job count is going up,” Carpenter said, adding the first projects were located on the outskirts of the affected areas and, specifically, were for smoke damage.
ATI is ranked No. 9 in the Business Journal’s Environmental Consultants list (see page 17).
The firm made last year’s Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing private firms in the United States, due to its three-year revenue growth of 97%. ATI Restoration’s revenue jumped 49% from the previous year to $599.3 million, according to the Business Journal’s 2024 list of Largest Private Companies based in Orange County.
45K Jobs in 2024
The restoration contractor oversees thousands of projects each year, with the average job costing $14,000 to $15,000. The company was hired to do about 45,000 jobs in 2024, according to Carpenter. It renovates a wide variety of buildings from commercial and industrial to multifamily units to healthcare to residential.
One of ATI Restoration’s bigger jobs was tied to the iconic World War II-era north hangar in Tustin after it was destroyed by a fire. The company was hired as part of the response to the Marine Corps Air Station hangar fire in November 2023. The fallout from the fire, according to ATI Restoration, affected about 2,500 building structures, including houses and schools, within a six-mile radius with asbestos and debris.
ATI Restoration deployed 500 people to do asbestos abatement, emergency response and environmental testing.
The job entailed coordinating remediation with local fire and police, implementing a communication plan and coordinating with government officials.
“With emergency response trailers loaded with essential equipment, ATI established a command center, complete with decontamination chambers and airlock enclosures, to support the multi-phased cleanup. Partnering with city officials, federal agencies and environmental experts,” according to ATI Restoration’s case study about the Tustin hangar fire.
“ATI implemented a zoning approach that prioritized high-risk areas first, ensuring transparent, coordinated and thorough remediation. This structured response was key to protecting public health and restoring Tustin’s impacted neighborhoods and facilities,” the case study continued.
As time went on, the projects featured more significant damage and were directly hit by the fires.
Carpenter said the Texas Deep Freeze of 2021 and this year’s fires in Southern California meant ATI Restoration had to ramp up thousands of jobs.
ATI Restoration responded to Milton and Helene and completed more than 300 jobs in 2024.
The company generates more than $800 million in revenue annually, with 15% coming from large fires and hurricanes.
“Most people only see us once in their lives,” Carpenter told the Business Journal.
Fires, hurricanes, winter storms – they are all part of ATI Restoration’s wheelhouse.
But it’s not just disaster recovery.
While ATI Restoration does respond to major disasters, most of its work is straightforward and commonplace, such as asbestos abatement, hazardous material cleanup, lead paint removal and mold remediation.
ATI Restoration ultimately accepts work on commercial and residential projects, including decontamination, demolition, fire and smoke damage, mold, reconstruction and water damage.
Orange County Roots to National Powerhouse
ATI Restoration started as a remediation company in Orange County more than 35 years ago.
Gary Moore, the company’s founder, left Texas for California early in his career and started the business as an environmental and remediation company addressing asbestos and similar structural issues.
Moore is still on board as the company’s chairman, and his three sons– Jeff, Ryan and Scott – serve as executives.
The Business Journal in 2021 honored the company with a Family-Owned Business Award; previously, Moore won a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.
The company eventually evolved into disaster response and reconstruction, anywhere in the United States. Carpenter told the Business Journal that ATI Restoration is one of the four largest restorers in the country, with a presence in 25 states.
ATI Restoration recently acquired new offices, giving the company 70 nationwide and more than 2,600 direct employees, with a contingent of subcontractors and temporary agencies complementing each project.
If one office is spread too thin in a major disaster response, the next closest ATI Restoration location is ready to step up and assist, Carpenter said.
“Our work comes from a lot of different areas. Our offices are high functioning,” Carpenter said.
