business/entrepreneursh p

Repairing The Community

Sharf Construction improves buildings while building personal relationships.

Bill Carroll! Contributing Writer

Two young local men — a

Jew and a Chaldean — are

on a mission to repair the

community and make it

look better.

Zach Sharf, 30, of Bloomfield
Township and Deleir Sesi, 29, of
Bloomfield Hills combined forces into
Sharf Construction — operating out
of an office on the second floor of
Sharf's home.
"But that's all the office space we
need',' explained Sharf, the company's Going over plans for Shari Construction's next job are worker Josh Watson and partners
president, "We have the manpower
Zach Sharf and Deleir Sesi.
and resources to fan out into Detroit
and the suburbs to do home and busi-
ness restoration, remodeling, new con-
people were losing and just walking
in between, to do the work. When a
struction and even disaster repair."
away from, plus the other homes they house exploded in Detroit recently, we
Sesi is vice president.
were buying. In 2007-2008, banks
were called in to put it back together."
Sharf Construction's short-term goal
were taking over foreclosed homes
and needed someone to fix them up.
is to gross $1 million this year and
they're already more than 50 percent
"And although Zach had his own
Specializes In Stone Work
ahead of where they were last year at
company, he was right there to help
"We also clean up after storms
me with anything I needed — while
and basement floods and do other
this time under separate companies,
disaster-type work; and we're often
Sharf Construction and Sesi's firm,
he was running his own company."
As
time
went
on,
the
two
contin-
involved in a lot of specialties, like
Re-Start Services.
ued
to
work
together
on
a
number
masonry, including bluestone, lime-
The two entrepreneurs, friends since
stone and other high-end stonework:'
their high school days, had two years
of projects. "Since we had the same
of college at Michigan schools before
goals and aspirations, and faith in
Sesi said.
"Impeccable" is the way Chuck
working part time for other firms, Sharf Metropolitan Detroit, we decided late
Shanaman, general manager of
in construction and Sesi in electrical
last year to merge our two companies
work. Sharf got a head start on the
into Sharf Construction:' Sesi said.
the Servpro franchise in Hazel
"We had a meeting of the minds,
Park, describes the work of Sharf
others, launching Sharf Construction,
Construction. Servpro repairs and
mainly doing home restoration and
and since we worked so well together,
remodeling.
we felt this was the natural thing to
restores homes and businesses, spe-
do:' Sharf added.
cializing in fire, smoke, water and
"Three years ago, I was bartending
mold cleanup and drywall work.
at night and spending mornings and
Sharf Construction relies a great
deal on work given to them by insur-
"The Sharf guys present themselves
afternoons trying to figure out my next
well and really know the business:'
move," Sesi recalled. "Then I decided
ance companies or satisfied custom-
said Shanaman. "Our customers are
to begin a construction and property
ers who refer others to them. "Word-
maintenance company called Re-Start
of-mouth is still one of the best forms very happy with their work because
of advertising:' Sharf said.
they always take care of the little
Services:'
things. It's important for a subcon-
The company has nine subcontrac-
tractor like them to do good work
tors, with a total of 50 years of expe-
rience between them, who work for
because they represent you, the con-
Cleaning Up The 'Ugliness'
tractor, in the eyes of the customer."
"My plan was to assist in fixing up
them on almost a regular basis. More
Sharf Construction recently bought
all the ugliness of the home foreclo-
employees are hired as needed.
"We're a 'one-stop' organization:'
its own Servpro franchise, cover-
sure situation that was sweeping the
ing the western territory of Sterling
area;' Sesi said. "We wanted to help
Sesi said. "We'll go anywhere from
Heights.
maintain and restore the homes that
White Lake to Howell, and points

B CHALDEAN NEWS I JEWISH NEWS August 2011

Sharf Construction also does repair
work on manufactured home parks;
Franklin Homes of Belleville operates
eight of these manufactured commu-
nities in Southeastern Michigan.
"The Sharf team has a lot of
chutzpah in the good sense of the
word," said Ron Blank of Bloomfield
Township, Franklin president.
"They're great young guys, who are
passionate about their work. They fix
everything for us. They've taken the
bull by the horns, got this business
going and are really establishing a
reputation in the community."

Help Refugee Families

Not only have Sharf and Sesi been
helping each other for years, but they
also have displayed the cohesion
prevalent in the Jewish and Chaldean
communities in what Sesi calls "com-
munity outreach within our families."
Sesi's mother, Salam Sesi of
Bloomfield Hills is a teacher in the
Warren Consolidated School District,
teaching English to children from
Chaldean refugee families, who have
found a safe haven in the Macomb
County suburb. Sharf's mother,
Terri Sharf of Birmingham, a retired
teacher, is now a volunteer psycholo-
gist at Kadima, the Southfield-based
Jewish mental health agency. Salam
Sesi assists her there.
The Sharf Construction crew
spends a lot of time volunteering to
truck furniture back and forth for the
Chaldean families within Warren and
do many odd jobs for them.
"We realized the importance right
away of helping not only each other,
but our respective communities as
well," Sesi said. "We're a microcosm of
Jews and Chaldeans. There are many
similarities between us and we have a
strong mutual respect for each other's
religions and holidays."
Said Sharf: "It makes us proud to
help each other within the Jewish and
Chaldean communities; just like in
our work, it gives us satisfaction to
make homes livable again." BC