Central Environmental Services, Inc. was incorporated in June of 1995. However, the journey to that point was a long one for owner Richard Lorenz, whom by that point in time had been wrecking buildings for nearly 30 years. He was given the opportunity to wreck his first structure when he was only a junior in high school. In the summer of 1965 he and a friend were hired by one of Chicago’s largest builders to tear down a garage in a Chicago alleyway. “We were so excited about the job that we showed up at 3a.m. and had the job done before noon” says Lorenz. “The guy who hired us didn’t expect it to be done for a couple of days. He could not believe his eyes.” From that first experience, Rich learned an important business lesson that he still carries with him to this day. Central Environmental Services, Inc. has been built upon his fundamental belief that success is found when you “get a job done quick and clean, and contractors will be eager to hire you back”. Locally, Rich has been doing business in the Orlando area since 1980. He moved from Chicago to work as an excavation superintendent when Walt Disney World was building Epcot Center. Lorenz said he knew that the development around the growing tourism industry would provide a great market in which to start a demolition company. “There were lots of places with old buildings that developers were eager to have removed because of the value of the land underneath the buildings.” He started his business working out of his Chevy station wagon, taking on small jobs removing roofs, and wrecking old homes and building interiors. “I started out with some nice contracts, but I was so busy wrecking that I didn’t have time to sell and bid on new contracts. I realized that I needed to hire some more people to help me in order to keep my company going.” Rich, along with his first five employees, managed to build Central Environmental Services, Inc. from the ground up with nothing more than self-reliance, a small bank loan, and that old Chevy station wagon. |
