Welcome back to “Building Leaders,” a brand new series from KnowHow that explores how today’s restoration leaders are setting up their teams for success in the future. Inspired by our latest book, Building Leaders, each interview features in-depth conversations—in text and audio —with industry leaders actively preparing their teams to tackle the leadership challenges of tomorrow.
If you want to stay ahead and ensure your team is ready for tomorrow’s challenges, you’re in the right place. Expect real advice, actionable insights, and plenty of takeaways to help you build a team ready for whatever comes next.
Ready to build the leaders of tomorrow?
In an interview in early 2020, Andy Amrhein sat across from yet another leadership candidate, watching the clock tick past the fifth hour of interviews that day.
Outside, phones rang with emergency calls, and crews rushed to disaster sites across Maryland. But Andy, the new CEO of Thomasville Restoration, stayed focused on what seemed like an unlikely priority for a disaster response company: meticulously building his leadership team.
From the outside looking in, it must have looked weird. Here they were, a relatively small restoration company, spending half their time recruiting executives while competitors were chasing every job they could find. But Andy, fresh from having just spent over a decade scaling a major sportswear company to international prominence, saw something others missed: a chance to lay the initial groundwork for future explosive growth.
Today, that counterintuitive bet has paid off spectacularly. Thomasville blazed past its initial five-year revenue goal in just three years, forcing them to set a new ambitious target of $50 million.
But the story of how they got there—and the leadership philosophy driving their success—challenges everything the restoration industry thought it knew about growth.
Curious to hear more from Andy? Click on the video below to catch the full discussion!
From Under Armour to Thomasville Restoration
Andy Amrhein’s path to leadership in restoration began in an entirely different arena. Before co-owning Thomasville Restoration, Andy spent 12 years at Under Armour, helping grow the company from a $600 million North American business into a $5.5 billion global powerhouse. “I love the process of building and growing,” Andy reflects. “But after more than a decade, I was ready to build something else—something different.”
That “something” turned out to be Thomasville Restoration, a company founded by Andy’s close friend of 22 years, Tom Neidert. “When I told Tom I was leaving Under Armour, his first reaction was, ‘What are you thinking?’ But then the conversation quickly turned into an idea: “What if we built something together?”
By early 2020, Andy had joined Thomasville as a co-owner, bringing his vision for growth and leadership development to a company ripe for transformation. “Thomasville already had the passion for helping families put their home and lives back together,” he says. “They had the guts and operational processes, so I saw a diamond that just needed some polishing.”
Vision and Leadership: Setting the Stage for Growth
One of Andy’s first priorities was to set a bold but attainable vision for the company. “When I walked through the door, we crafted a plan to become the number one restoration company in the Mid-Atlantic region,” he explains. “It was a stretch goal, but it was achievable and believable.”
The team initially aimed to grow from $7 million in annual revenue to $25 million within five years. Impressively, they achieved this milestone in just three years. “We had to move the goalposts,” Andy notes. “Now, we’re working toward $50 million, and I believe we’ll get there a lot sooner.”
How did they achieve such rapid growth? Andy credits the company’s success to two key factors: building a world-class leadership team and creating a culture where everyone feels empowered to excel.
Building a Strong Leadership Team
For Andy, developing Thomasville’s leadership team wasn’t just a task—it was the priority. “In the first 18 months, Tom and I spent nearly half our time recruiting and interviewing candidates for our leadership team,” Andy shares. “We were meticulous in our approach, looking for people who were hungry, humble, and ready to build something great from scratch.”
As part of their commitment to building something great, the co-owners sought leaders who challenged them and had more industry knowledge than they did. "I came from outside the industry, Amrhein explains. “We needed people who knew more than me about restoration, [people] who would push back and tell me when I was wrong.”
But the process wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. “We had to convince experienced executives to leave larger companies and take a chance on Thomasville,” Andy says. “But [eventually] we sold them on the opportunity to shape something great—and to leave their fingerprints on a company with incredible potential.”
Today, Thomasville’s leaders are given autonomy to execute their plans while aligning with the company’s broader vision. “Our job is to ensure they have everything they need to succeed,” Andy explains. “It’s about trust, empowerment, and knowing when to step back.”
The Thomasville Culture: A Family of Excellence
Thomasville’s success isn’t just about numbers; it’s also about people. “We’re a family-first organization,” Andy says. This extends not just to how they treat their clients but also to how they support their team.
The company invests heavily in team-building events, from family picnics to holiday parties. “We want our employees’ families to feel part of the Thomasville journey,” Andy shares. “What strikes me most is seeing kids proudly asking for a Thomasville shirt because they want to feel like they’re part of something special.”
But building a culture of excellence is not all sunshine and rainbows. “We’re upfront during hiring,” Andy says. “If you’re looking for a typical 9-to-5 or work-life balance, [Thomasville] is probably not a good fit for you—and it doesn’t mean you’re not a good person.” Instead, as Andy explains, Thomasville is bullish on people hungry for growth, looking for a challenge, and committed to staying the course.
Andy’s Three Pillars of Leadership: Humility, Hunger, and Authenticity
For Andy, great leadership starts with self-awareness. “Stay humble and hungry,” he advises. “No matter how successful you become, remember your achievements are directly related to the team around you, and it’s important to reflect some of that credit to them.”
Andy also emphasizes the importance of authenticity. “Early in my career, I tried to emulate other leaders, and it came off as awkward,” he recalls. “The best advice I ever received was to stay true to who I am. Leadership comes in all forms, and authenticity resonates with teams.”
Another cornerstone of Andy’s leadership philosophy is embracing mistakes as learning opportunities. “At Thomasville, we encourage respectful challenges during leadership meetings,” he explains. “We don’t always agree, but we align as a team and have each other’s backs. That alignment is critical for maintaining trust and focus on strategic initiatives.”
Sustaining Excellence Over Time
In an industry as demanding as restoration, sustaining a high-performance culture is no small feat. “It starts with hiring the right people and setting clear expectations,” Andy says. “We focus on intrinsic and extrinsic rewards—recognition, growth opportunities, and competitive compensation.”
Thomasville also emphasizes long-term thinking. It’s not just about reacting to today’s challenges; they’re constantly looking ahead, planning for the next milestone, and ensuring they have the leadership bench to get there.
Final Takeaways
Under Andy Amrhein’s leadership, Thomasville Restoration has become an enviable model of growth, resilience, and operational excellence. Their story highlights the power of vision, culture, and a commitment to building leaders.
Andy and the team at Thomasville have found success by:
- Prioritizing culture: Be relentless in picking the right people, investing in them, involving their families in activities, and making excellence a shared value.
- Building for the long term: Balance immediate demands with a clear vision for the future.
- Embracing humility and staying hungry: Trust your team, empower them, and stay open to their ideas.
- Leading authentically: Be true to yourself, and let that authenticity guide your actions.
In an industry where emergency response is everything, Thomasville's story proves that true urgency lies in having the patience to build things right. Through intentional leadership and culture development, they've created a model for building future leaders. Looking back at those marathon interview sessions in 2020, Andy's instincts proved right: the best foundation for handling tomorrow's disasters starts with building the right team today.
For more insights from Andy Amrhein and other restoration leaders, explore our full interview series on YouTube or check out the new audiobook. You should also check out our previous episode with Julie Johnson on the role of love and care in building leaders.
See you next month for more Building Leaders! For more resources on succession planning or scaling your operations, visit tryknowhow.com.