Derek Hansen
Founder & Lead Restoration Technician
IICRC certified in water damage restoration and applied structural drying, Derek founded Gateway Restoration after years of watching Chandler homeowners get let down by slow response times and confusing insurance processes at larger restoration franchises.
Built to Fix What Big Franchises Get Wrong
Gateway Restoration did not start in a boardroom. It started on job sites across Chandler, where our founder spent years working restoration calls for larger national companies and watching the same problems repeat over and over. Homeowners would call a national hotline during the worst moment of a flood, only to be routed to a call center hundreds of miles away with no real knowledge of Chandler's neighborhoods, soil conditions, or storm patterns. A subcontractor would eventually show up, often hours later than promised, with little explanation of what was happening to the home or how the insurance claim would actually work.
Those homeowners were left managing confusing paperwork, unclear timelines, and contractors who treated the job like a transaction instead of a family's home. Walls stayed wet longer than they should have. Mold appeared because drying equipment was pulled too early. Insurance adjusters pushed back on claims that lacked proper documentation. Time after time, the missing piece was not equipment or technical skill, it was communication and accountability from someone who actually lived in the community they were serving.
That experience became the reason Gateway Restoration exists. We built the company around a simple idea: a Chandler homeowner facing water damage deserves a restoration partner who picks up the phone personally, explains what is happening in plain language, and treats their home the way they would treat their own family's property. That means no call centers, no unfamiliar subcontractors showing up unannounced, and no vague answers about cost or timeline.
Local ownership is not a marketing line for us, it changes how the work actually gets done. Because our crews live in Chandler, we already understand how caliche soil traps water beneath a slab leak, how a monsoon storm can push water through a roofline in minutes, and how stucco exteriors can hide moisture behind the wall for weeks before a stain ever appears. That local knowledge shapes every inspection, every drying plan, and every conversation we have with an insurance adjuster on your behalf.
Since founding Gateway Restoration, our mission has stayed the same: protect Chandler homes, reduce the stress of an already difficult situation, and guide every homeowner through the recovery process with the honesty and urgency they deserve. We measure success not by how many jobs we complete, but by how many families we help get their home, and their peace of mind, back.