I have vivid memories of what it was like to grow up as a child in the restoration industry. From my birth up until about the age of 20, my dad owned a local franchise office of one of the better-known national restoration companies. Much of my upbringing is littered with memories that involve this industry in one way or another, from the national conventions we attended to my first job as a cleaning technician.
My most notable early memory of the restoration industry involved a specific flyer marketing the franchise’s commitment to helping communities after catastrophic events. The image on the cover showed a home surrounded by waters rising to just below the roofline, while the family that lived there was huddled on top of the roof waiting for help to arrive — to save them. I remember finding this piece of marketing collateral in my dad’s work vehicle while we were caught in the middle of our own ‘flash flood’ caused by torrential rainfall.