Our Story

Family-owned. Locally-operated. Nationally-recognized.

Kelmann Restoration is Wisconsin’s award-winning, full-service disaster cleanup and property restoration company. Our headquarters are located right here in Milwaukee, and we have been family-owned and locally-operated since 1973. We take pride in knowing that we are trusted partners in commercial and residential property restoration and committed members of our community.

Kelmann was founded in 1973 by two friends who first met in their high school principal’s office: Jerry Kelly and Dick Niggemann. Jerry and Dick began by purchasing, remodeling, and managing rental properties on Milwaukee’s north side. From the beginning they prioritized personal relationships above profit or accolades; they often completed projects at little-to-no-cost to help families in need, or worked at cost to support low-income housing initiatives for the City of Milwaukee.

Before long, Jerry and Dick settled into their respective roles: Dick was out of the office working with customers and subcontractors, Jerry was in the office working with Kelmann’s growing group of employees. Both were focused on growing and supporting their own families, from having children to hiring friends and relatives to giving back to the organizations that mattered most to them. For decades, Jerry and Dick took on new and more challenging projects, trained their employees in the latest technologies and industry standards, and built a business on trust, loyalty, and quality work. With a growing company meant increased visibility and recognition. Kelmann began winning regional and national awards in restoration and remodeling, and to this day Kelmann is the only company to have won the National RIA Phoenix Award six times.

In 2011, Dick Niggemann retired from his work at Kelmann Restoration. It was a time of transition and forward-thinking as Jerry welcomed his oldest son, Tom, to the family business. New general manager Adam Nelson and operations manager Luke Myers were brought on board as well. Mirroring the original founders’ story, Tom and Adam met while attending Marquette University, and were roommates for three years. Luke has been a family friend of both the Kellys and the Niggemans for decades. This innovative leadership team has overseen Kelmann’s significant growth over the past five years, emphasizing an expansion in commercial work and extending Kelmann’s footprint beyond southeastern Wisconsin into northern parts of the state.

Jerry passed away in September 2018, and Tom became president of Kelmann Restoration. One month later, the company marked its 45th anniversary with a celebration that certainly would have made Jerry proud by honoring many accomplishments much growth. Together, the team is devoted to honoring Jerry’s lifelong mission: to treat every customer, colleague and partner like family.

The Kelmann Cares Foundation was founded in 2019. The foundation seeks to lift up organizations, programs and individuals that embody this mission. We empower those who are serving local families, improving our communities and supporting those who protect us. We believe that by impacting local families, we may impact communities, our nation and the world. The Kelmann Cares Foundation has donated nearly $75,000 back into the community.

In 2023, Kelmann Restoration has celebrated its 50th anniversary. Today over 100 employees work for Kelmann Restoration (some who have been with the company for 40+ years) on four campuses (Kelmann expanded to include a second building in New Berlin in 2017, a third building in Wauwatosa in 2020, and a fourth in Sheboygan in 2023). While many things have changed over the years, the core value of family first has stayed the same.

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