From carpets to catastrophes, K-tech has been cleaning up for 50 years

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

June 9, 2025

WESTON – Since its inception 50 years ago, President Kraig Kersemeier said K-tech Kleening and Restoration Services has successfully evolved from a janitorial company to a restoration company that also offers air duct and carpet cleaning.

Along the way, Kersemeier said the company has both added and spun off aspects of the business in response to customers’ needs.

With its first customers focused mainly in Central Wisconsin, he said the company has since expanded into northern Wisconsin in the Rhinelander area and is reaching out toward Door County as well.

Kersemeier said what has remained unchanged since his parents – Clarance and Sue – started the business in 1975 is the underlying aspect to what the company ultimately delivers to its commercial and residential customers: time.

“What we sell is time, and we give that back to customers who would rather go golfing or spend time with their family,” he said. “We have the equipment, training and technicians to take care of it for them.”

What began humbly as a small, family run janitorial business, Kersemeier said, is now a trusted source for cleaning, restoration and specialty services. 

“When we started, it was a janitorial company and transitioned into carpet cleaning to support commercial businesses’ needs,” he said. “Then we got into residential carpet cleaning, and that’s when I really got involved.”

Kersemeier said he was always exposed to the family business, but his first focus at K-tech was running the carpet cleaning division.

When doing so, he said it was soon discovered that the trucks and vacuums used for carpet cleaning are also ideal for addressing water damage.

Kersemeier said that led to water restoration services and later broadened to include fire restoration, mold remediation, air duct cleaning and more.
Today, he said air duct and carpet cleaning comprise the largest percentage of K-tech’s business.   

“We offer some specialty services, too, but it’s all cleaning-related and the thrust of it is cleaning and restoration services,” he said.

Continuing the legacy

When his parents decided it was time to exit the business, Kersemeier said he and his older sister considered taking on the business.

But it wasn’t a foregone conclusion until they witnessed their challenges in finding the right owner to succeed them.

“At the time, family pride came in, and we said, ‘Mom, Dad, why don’t we take it and run with it’ – as my older sister and I were already working in the business,” he said. 

However, running a family business, Kersemeier said, can be challenging – a notion he is first to acknowledge when he and his father didn’t always agree on the “right” way to do things.

But passion for the cleaning industry, and a desire to ensure the K-tech name continued to be associated with quality work, Kersemeier said, prevailed.

He said for him, performing cleaning or restoration services is very fulfilling work.

“There is a satisfaction in taking something dirty and making it clean,” he said, “or in the case of restoration, helping people who may be at the lowest parts of their life, but helping them put things back together. It feels good to help people.”

Even today, Kersemeier said repeat business and referrals comprise a lot of the work that comes into the door. 

“A lot of our success is the result of consistency,” he said. “People appreciate that we’re not a fly-by-night company. We were here yesterday, we’re here today and we plan to be here tomorrow to serve our clients and communities.”

Ebbs and flows

Though the journey hasn’t been without its peaks and valleys, Kersemeier said the company has stayed the course in knowing its brand: quality services delivered with care.

The COVID-19 pandemic, he said, didn’t impact K-tech’s revenue, but it did shift the company’s revenue streams – prompting a significant increase in disinfectant services.

“While one door was closing, another door opened, and we were fortunate to make that shift,” he said. “Fortunately, we didn’t have all our eggs in one basket. While we didn’t do much (residential) carpet cleaning during COVID, there was an increase in it for businesses, for example. It was a great reminder that flexibility is important with every business and having broader offerings can help you during times like that.”

Kersemeier said the business has added several restoration services to the mix over the years, but divested itself of its janitorial services in 2016.

That said, acquiring some janitorial businesses in the Fox Cities and Fond du Lac area, he said, did provide exposure in a different region and introduced K-tech to the Door County market.

“The Sturgeon Bay and Door County market was heavier on carpet cleaning and restoration, so it paid for us to stay there,” he said.

K-tech’s team members – which Kersemeier said total about 20 – work out of the Weston or Rhinelander locations.

The team in Weston, he said, covers Door County.

Though K-tech used to have a physical presence there, Kersemeier said it didn’t make sense to maintain that.

The K-tech team, he said, provides a fairly even mix of residential and commercial services in terms of value.

While there are fewer commercial jobs, Kersemeier said, each is larger and generates more revenue than the residential jobs.

Nowadays, he said water damage restoration is a high-ranking service, and it’s not just employed for flooding.

“We do more ice maker machine line, washing machine line or water heater (water damage restoration) when things wear out and leak,” he said.

This time of year, Kersemeier said restoration needs increase because sump pump failures can be added to that mix.

Also, because of people’s increased awareness of health issues, he said both mold remediation and air duct cleaning continue to rise in popularity.

“Indoor air quality is thought of more now than 10 years ago as people become more aware of its importance,” he said. “Air ducts are out of sight, out of mind, behind walls and above ceilings, but they’re top of mind more (than they used to be).”

Kersemeier said changing trends have affected some of the work K-tech performs.

Though the company started with a focus on carpet cleaning, because people are opting for more tile, hardwood and vinyl flooring, Kersemeier said, K-tech has built up business in those areas.

In addition, he said K-tech now cleans more rugs than ever as those have increasingly taken the place of wall-to-wall carpeting in many settings.

“We have changed and adapted as the flooring has changed and have changed with it,” he said. 

The same can be said, Kersemeier said, for integrating power, pressure and soft washing and even gutter cleaning – it’s a matter of delivering on what customers need, he said. 

“Our marketing approach is about getting into their home or business, and once they decide to trust K-tech on one service, to explain the other services we can help with as well,” he said. 

Once a family or business begins using K-tech’s services, Kersemeier said they tend to stick around.

“There are some customers who have been with us through everything, and we’ve been there for them, too,” he said. “Our repeat business is very high, with some customers calling and asking for our technicians by name because they have that level of relationship with our employees as well.”

Kersemeier said the entire team is excited to celebrate the company’s 50-year milestone, which it will commemorate with special community-focused initiatives, appreciation events and customer spotlights throughout the rest of the year. 

“Reaching this milestone is a true honor,” he said. “K-tech’s success is rooted in our family values and the incredible support of the local community.”

Supporting the community

Kersemeier said K-tech has long committed to contributing to the communities in which they do business – a commitment he said has been solidified with the creation of K-tech Charities in 2006, a 501(c)(3) focused on helping those in need throughout Central Wisconsin. 

From disaster relief to cancer patient assistance, Kersemeier said the organization raises funds through events, such as the Pink Ribbon Open (hosting its 22nd annual event June 9) and Fairway Fore Foods golf outings.

Funds, he said, benefit numerous organizations, from assisting a VFW with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for veterans to food baskets. 

“Not counting the 2025 Pink Ribbon Open, (since launching the nonprofit), we have raised more than $2 million to give back to our communities,” he said. “Charity is one of the proudest things our family has been involved in doing, and it benefits a wide variety of people.”