Over the weekend, I spent time with my lifelong friend Todd.

I first met Todd in the eighth grade, in 1994! I was a scrawny nobody, and he was the tall baseball player. I was new to the school and sitting by myself in the cafeteria when Todd sat down across from me. He had several magazines with him. One of them was a WWF magazine!

For those of you who do not know or may not remember, the WWF known as “World Wrestling Federation”, was the leader in sports entertainment in the world. (In 2001 they changed their name from WWF to WWE, as they are known today).

Stars like Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage helped establish wrestling,and put it on the mainstream throughout the eighties and into the nineties.

I was a huge fan at the time. This was an opening for me to start a conversation with him. As we talked, we realized we had a lot in common with one another.

Todd and I would meet daily and spend many hours debating which wrestler was the best and why.

As we moved into high school, Todd introduced me to a band that would forever change my taste in music.

As we cruised down the main street in our hometown in Todd’s mom’s station wagon, Todd popped into a tape into the cassette player. (Crazy to think we were still using Cassettes in the middle of the 90’s).

That is when I heard Van Halen for the first time. I was hooked. Eddie’s guitar mesmerized me. David Lee Roth’s screaming lyrics had me playing the tape repeatedly as we cruised.

Todd explained to me that there was more than one lead singer for Van Halen. He told me that the other lead singer was Sammy Hagar. Todd was a “Roth” fan who believed Van Halen with Sammy Hagar was not really Van Halen.

I had to find out for myself.

So, I did what any teenager would do. I joined Columbia Music House! I know you remember them! 8 CDs for a penny?

I ordered Van Halen’s entire catalog (In CD’s) and only paid a penny! (I am sure I still owe them money today).

As I listened to their entire catalog, I realized that I was much more of a Sammy Hagar era fan than David Lee Roth. To me, Roth was like going to high school and being the life of the party. Sammy era was more mature, professional and had a lot more sustenance in the music and lyrics.

Thus began the great debate of our high-school lives. Todd and I would spend hours debating why our favorite lead singer was the best era of Van Halen. These debates often would go deep into the night and sometimes, almost come to blows!

Todd was a big believer in not messing with a formula for success. He felt Van Halen had that formula down with Roth better than Hagar.

I disagreed as I believed Van Halen with Hagar reached greater heights than with Roth.

Over the years I grew up. I guess Todd did too. (lol) We both went our separate ways with our careers.

Then one day, unexpectedly I got a call from Todd.

“Hey Yo! I bought a restoration franchise and now am in the game!”

I was stunned. Literally shocked.

Todd lived in a different city and state than me, but he had seen the success of my restoration company, so he decided to jump into the industry.

Todd bought a franchise with significant brand recognition behind him. As he started to build his company, we would talk often and our long, drawn-out debates started again.

Todd was a firm believer in the “Franchise Model”. Having brand recognition and everything else that comes with owning a franchise made it extremely turnkey for Todd.

I believed in starting from scratch. Being locally owned and operated and building my own brand that nobody else owned was important to me.

As the years went by, Todd and I have shared several debates over the subject. We went as far as to make pros and cons for each to figure out who was right.

Here are some of the things we both discovered and agreed on with owning a Franchise vs. Independent restoration company.

Franchise Pros:

• Franchises offer an established brand and recognition. Todd was able to attract clients right away. They trusted him quickly because he was aligned with an established brand.
• Most Franchises have a proven business model that is built on established systems and processes. Todd had immediate access to marketing plans, customer support and systems for all aspects of the business. He was able to put SOPs into place that took our company years of trial and error to build. This reduced Todd’s learning curve drastically.
• The support system that comes with most Franchises is a huge benefit. Todd had access to training, marketing, other franchise owners.
• Because of the Franchise Todd bought, he had access to long established “preferred vendor” programs with insurance carriers that our company wasn’t able to get on. There were many times when Todd’s workflow was extremely strong because of the relationships with the vendors.
• Todd was able to have bulk pricing through the franchise on equipment and supplies. There were items that I was paying 25% more on than Todd was.

Franchise Cons:

• Todd had to make a considerable upfront investment to purchase the franchise. The royalty fees that he must pay for every job are a significant amount. This lowers the overall net profit that Todd makes.
• The franchise Todd owned started to get a bad reputation because of other franchisees in his state. This caused Todd to lose some significant jobs as adjusters and agents became wary about the work Todd’s company could do. Even though Todd’s company had a very good reputation, he became “guilty by association”. There was not much Todd could do to save those relationships. The Franchise to which Todd was part of eventually did take the Franchise away from the other Franchisee, but the damage had already been done.
• Todd did not have much control over what his company could do. He had to adhere to their requirements for marketing, branding and even the services in which they offered. Todd had seen a great need in his market and wanted to add a service to the company, believing it would boost his bottom line. The Franchise would not grant permission for Todd to add the service. He was limited to what they would and would not allow.

Independent Restoration Company Pros:

• Unlike Todd, I have had full control over my brand. How I wanted to operate, market and decisions I wanted to make, were all mine to make without having to answer anyone.
• Although it took longer for us to establish our brand, we were able to gain local confidence by being “locally owned and operated”. There were many clients who chose to use our services based on that.
• We were able to provide additional services for our clients to give them the best service possible. We did not have to get permission to add a service to benefit our clients.
• We did not have to invest a lot of money in starting our business up. When I started, I had a trailer with an extractor in it. I had a dozen air movers and two dehumidifiers. My investment was exceptionally low, which kept my overhead low. I was able to add equipment over time and build my company to what our clients’ needs were.
• We do not have to pay any royalties. With most independent restoration companies, this can be a huge benefit as it boosts the net profit of a company. This also allows us to make more profit to reinvest in the company, which allowed us to grow to a higher level than Todd's company was able to.
• When compared to Todd, our company’s net profit margin was significantly higher because we did not have a royalty fee we were paying on every job.
• Support systems designed for independent companies now offer software, billing and SOPs outside of franchise models. This can help streamline the learning curve.

Independent Restoration Company Cons:

• I had a steep learning curve on how to operate and scale a restoration company. While Todd got a “blueprint”, I had to figure a lot of that on my own. I made more mistakes. I had to try things with trial-and-error vs having a proven system.
• It took our company a lot longer to build brand recognition at first. We did not have the preferred vendor contracts that Todd had. It was difficult to land jobs when we were bidding against a franchise at first.
• I had to build systems and processes from the ground up. I did not have a support network of other franchises like Todd did.

During 2017, Todd and I both landed a large commercial loss. Todd made some calls and had all the resources he could ever need at his fingertips. Within 24 hours, he had other franchisees arriving to help with the multimillion-dollar loss. Equipment was brought in by the franchise within days. Todd had people from the corporate office advising him on every aspect of the large loss. He had community. We were in a completely different boat. I had to find a couple of other local companies that I could trust that would help bring in the resources that we needed to take care of the job properly. We had to rely on trusting each other and being on the same page to ensure the job was handled properly. We had to fly someone in to advise us, who specialized in the specifics of our large commercial loss. It was two totally different scenarios and support systems. In the end, what started as cafeteria debates about wrestling heroes and late-night arguments over Van Halen’s greatest lead singer evolved into something far deeper — a friendship built on mutual respect, fierce loyalty and a shared pursuit of building something that matters. Todd and I may have taken different routes in business — one franchise, one independent — but both of our journeys have been marked by grit, growth and a relentless desire to serve with excellence.

Our ongoing debates are not about who’s right or wrong anymore — they’re about sharpening each other, learning from our experiences and reminding ourselves that success isn’t one-size-fits-all. Whether you build your own name from scratch or leverage the power of a franchise, what matters most is showing up with purpose, staying true to your values and never losing sight of the relationships that make the journey worth it.