Jacksonville, FL - Paul Davis Restoration will open its new 17,000 square foot national training center at 7251 Salisbury Road in Jacksonville, FL on Thursday, June 24. The company has completed the build out of the new facility and has relocated from its former training location also in Jacksonville. The new training center will formally open during the company’s national convention to be held locally.

Paul Davis Restoration Inc. is owned by The Franchise Company (TFC), a First Service Corporation (FSV) company.

According to Tim Robinson, Paul Davis Restoration’s COO, the decision to expand the training center and its capabilities supports the company’s growth as a leader in the property damage restoration industry even during difficult economic times in the U.S. “Our new training center is the foundation of a comprehensive support system we provide all Paul Davis owners, and its construction is a reflection of the significant growth we are experiencing,” said Robinson. “This new, state-of-the-art facility will not only enhance our above industry standard of support, but also accommodate the training and continuing education needs of insurance and other industry professionals,” he said.

The Paul Davis National Training Center will feature most categories of approved certification courses from The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) including emergency fire and water damage mitigation, structural clean up, fire and smoke restoration, water damage restoration, odor control and contents cleaning and restoration, to name a few. Additionally, a variety of hands-on modules – designed to demonstrate advanced mitigation, restoration and contents cleaning methods using the latest equipment and advanced technology – were installed to replicate the real life situations participants will face in the field for a more effective training experience.

The company also constructed two large theater-style classrooms at the new facility with state-of-the-art, audio visual systems. These classrooms will be primarily used for providing training on all aspects of successfully operating a Paul Davis franchise business to existing franchise owners and staff as well as the hundreds of new franchise owners expected to be trained at the facility over the next five years. With an experienced training staff supporting it, including two of the only 17 IICRC certified Applied Structural Drying (ASD) instructors in the US; the increased classroom capacity is needed to accommodate Paul Davis franchise office growth.

The centerpiece of the new national training center is the “flood” house training module – a full-scale, fully-functional residential structure built within the new facility. The 1,700 square foot home has a full size bedroom, living room, kitchen, dining area and bathroom. It also includes furniture, appliances, a variety of flooring types, home décor and electronics.

The flood house will include space for classroom activities that are designed to give students a real life training experience while learning proper mitigation and restoration techniques. In accordance with IICRC specifications, the house is designed to be completely flooded with thousands of gallons of water under controlled circumstances as part of the IICRC Applied Structural Drying (ASD) course and other related courses.

As part of this training, students learn how water affects a variety of building materials including carpet, drywall, wood and tile, and, by using scientific methods and equipment, that structures can be dried in as little as 3 days. ASD training is an important insurance industry requirement that has been proven to reduce overall claims costs by teaching the importance of drying when possible as opposed to tearing out and replacing water damaged areas of a structure. Over the life of the new training center, the structure is designed to withstand being flooded and completely dried more than 200 times without the need for major structural repairs or replacement.

The new training center will also feature the company’s Complete Contents Program along with the latest methods and equipment to support a systematic, thorough contents claim services program for Paul Davis franchisees. The training center will have a hands-on contents training module that will demonstrate a fully integrated solution with state-of-the-art software and equipment for inspecting, valuing, inventorying, cleaning and restoring property that is involved in an insurable fire or water-related loss. Paul Davis’ partners will also be featured at the new training center with products that are designed to support the franchise owners and professionals attending classes and programs at the center.

For more information, contact Tim Robinson, Paul Davis Restoration’s Chief Operating Officer at 904.737.2779. Visit the website at www.pdrestoration.com.