Restoration Today

Everyone wants more commercial work. It's easy to pitch you offer higher quality services, more expertise, etc. But from the facility manager's perspective - they see us all the same when we approach them.   Separate yourself at the door by offering a valuable solution to one of their needs, gain their trust and build the relationship from there. We are talking about ERPs - or Emergency Response P...

The Restoration Workforce Survey is a one-of-a-kind effort to find out what attracts people to the restoration industry, what makes them stay, and what makes them leave. This quick video gives a sneak peek into the kind of data coming out of this report. You'll be able to read much more about the findings in the March/April issue of C&R!

On Dec. 30, a fire sparked in the Denver suburb of Boulder, and quickly spread - doing more than $500 million in damage. That estimate makes the Marshall Fire the most destructive wildfire in state history, according to early assessments by Boulder County. More than 1,000 commercial structures, and homes, were damaged or destroyed. ATI's Denver office mobilized almost immediately, heading to groun...

Some of the toughest threats restorers face are unseen – mold spores, mycotoxins, VOCs, etc. When it comes to indoor air quality, there are few duos more popular or well-known for their IAQ expertise than Dave and Shannon Luce, owners of Luce Air Quality . Dave has been in the restoration and remediation industry since 2006, and tells the story of a mold job he went on in 2011 that changed his vie...

Tim Fuller has been building houses and doing restoration work since the moment he could swing a hammer. As his own Michigan-based restoration company grew, he found a need for more collaboration in the industry - a way for companies to join together and operate in a similar way, under the same brand and image, while allowing owners to retain ownership of their companies. On Jan. 1, 2022, after ye...

Barb Jackson is a Certified Restorer who has been helping companies set up contents cleaning divisions and tackle the toughest jobs for decades. In this episode of Restoration Today, Barb (owner of Total Contentz ) shares her plethora of knowledge and lessons she's learned over the years on contents on topics like: In-house vs. subbing out contents cleaning Value of adding a contents division Best...

The innovation of connected equipment is streamlining some processes for restoration and cleaning contractors, and reducing the need for daily in-person job site checks for readings. In this episode of Restoration Today, Thermastor/Phoenix Business Unit Leader Erin Hynum discusses the value of connected equipment, remote monitoring, and innovations on the horizon for structure drying.

Statistics provided by the National Fire Protection Association show that fire departments responded to about 1,291,500 fires in 2019 that caused an estimated $14.8 billion in property damage. This doesn’t take into account fires where more than one home burned in a condominium complex or wildfires where hundreds of structures can be lost in one event.   Fire chasing has been a highly-debated topi...

The Dewald Academy of Drying is gearing up to host Microbial WarriorTM Experience in early 2022, facilitated by Jeff Jones. The first class will be Feb. 21-25 in Indianapolis. The Microbial Warrior Experience is a 4 day hands-on course focusing on strategies for performing forensic restoration related to biohazard cleanup. Jeff Jones, owner of BioSheen Services , Chuck Dewald III, owner of the Dew...

On Tuesday, Dec. 8, news broke of Chicago restoration powerhouse J.C. Restoration merging with BluSky Restoration Contractors. J.C. Restoration is well-known in the restoration industry for dynamic leadership, impeccable culture, and purposeful growth. With this in mind, the news of the merger came as a surprise to many. In this episode, J.C. Restoration’s second-generation owner Warner Cruz gets...

For the seventh year in a row, Excel Supplies spearheaded the Restoring Christmas Toy Drive benefitting The Children's Network of SWFL. This year, the toy drive helped spread Christmas cheer and love to more than 1,100 children in foster care. As C&R looks to revive the Restoring Kindness Project in the U.S., we asked Justin Brown from Excel to share the story behind this massively successful...

Like many in the restoration industry, Liz Keefer had no intention of being here - or being coined The Mold Girl, but now that she is here, she can't imagine being anywhere else. She intended to be an architect, and foster her love of structures. But as her knowledge of the built environment grew, she entered the contents and mold remediation world in the muggy Southeast U.S. After years of learni...

Sales in restoration is unique. It takes a unique mix of consultative sales, empathy, and innovation. In this episode of the Restoration Today podcast, BluSky Chief Sales Officer Dan Flanagan and Business Development Manager Andy Holt share their tips for restoration sales success including: How has the sales process evolved since the pandemic. Technology (and old school products) to help with all...

Hiring and recruiting is unquestionably the top pain point for restoration and cleaning companies today. It is the topic of many conversations on industry trends, highlighted in workshops and breakout sessions at conferences, and even more evident by the number of job openings companies are posting every single day. While we have had many conversations on ways to get creative with hiring, the indu...

Chelsea Mihalko Trimbath is the Vice President of Mihalko's Fire & Water Restoration. She is a second-generation owner, taking over the family business from her father. In this conversation, Chelsea is authentic and open about the struggles she faced going from the "old guard" to a new one, the cultural changes that had to happen, the difficult decisions she had to make with top performers who...

Keeping up with credentialing and background checks can feel like a full time job for busy restoration companies, especially when the company works with multiple programs and TPAs.   Despite strict compliance guidelines, a lot of contractors overlook background checks for their subcontractors, and even their own employees. The labor shortage has compounded the problem. An informal survey by C&...

Current trending topics in the restoration and cleaning industry: Labor Rates Inflation Pricing Data Integration/Collaboration In this episode of the Restoration Today podcast, Xactware CEO Mike Fulton discusses each of those topics, where Xactimate stands on them, what is going on internally to even try to keep up with pricing, what contractors should do when they get pushback on pricing, Xactwar...

Eric Sprague and Larry Wilberton have owned a restoration company, sold a restoration company, built a company ( Morning Tech Meeting ) based on quick training for restoration teams, taught companies how to create healthy company cultures where people  want  to work for them, and are hosts of the popular Blue Collar Nation Podcast . Eric and Larry sat down for a casual conversation on the Restorat...

There are a lot of changes, innovations, and questions about technology in today's restoration industry. Scott Severe has seen technology and data change over the years since he joined the restoration industry - from one of the first 50 employees at Xactware, to starting his own software company, to Chief Customer Officer at Next Gear Solutions , and soon a new role within CoreLogic . In this spec...

Each franchise system brings unique value to its operators. All boast excellent marketing and branding teams, lead generation, training, and more for their franchisees. And each delivers those in different ways, at different levels. Restoration 1 has been named among the fastest growing franchises by  Entrepreneur  multiple years in a row. What is something that sets them apart? No program work. E...

If you are involved in estimating or reviewing insurance estimates, you just want to get it right.  You are the estimating professional in the process and establishing a fair price for good work is all that you’re looking for. You’re not caught up in the politics or larger strategies that lead to accusations that somebody is taking advantage of someone else.   Estimators and reviewers face massive...

Alex Duta took needs he saw within his own family's restoration company, and got to work designing and creating a software built for restorers, by a restorer, to address those needs.   In this bonus episode of the Restoration Today Podcast, recorded in lovely Captiva, Fla., during Violand's Business Planning Retreat, Alex shares his story, his insights on today's restoration industry, and what he...

On this Veterans Day, C&R is honored to recognize, salute, and celebrate veterans who are part of the restoration industry.    Jim Scalf is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army, and now the owner of PuroClean of Murfreesboro, Tenn.  His first tour of duty was as an infantry officer. Jim also was in the Reserves and National Guard, has worked at the Pentagon, NORAD, and was part of the team that...

Patti Harman spent years at the helm of  C&R  Magazine and working within the Restoration Industry Association. Her impact on the restoration industry and leadership of  C&R  led to the creation of an award in her honor, the Patricia L. Harman Golden Quill Award. It is awarded to one person each year for an outstanding editorial contribution to  C&R. After leaving  C&R , she moved...

Chrissy VanderWyde has been part of the PuroClean team since 1988, working in nearly every department until reaching her current role as Vice President of Franchise Relations. This year, Chrissy's hard work and dedication to the business, industry, and community, were recognized on a major scale when she received a prestigious Gold “Stevie” Lifetime Achievement Award. In this Restoration Today pod...