In 2016, Benjamin Surdi, founder and CEO of PureDry Restoration, purchased a business that was in major debt and all-around bad shape. Since then, the company has quadrupled in size and revenue, and it is a recognized market leader in Washington State.
My hope is that the information in this article will shed some light on what it can cost for a restoration contractor to stay in business and provide the level of service consumers expect after a disaster.
The inability of contractors to cover overhead expenses is one of the key factors why so many restoration companies fail and will continue to do so unless the overhead burden of the company is accurately reflected in their estimate’s markup.
It’s hard for some businesses to imagine living in today’s digital age. Many businesses still collect information on paper or through multiple software solutions, but the manual process of transferring information from one place to another severely limits a company’s ability to act—much less drive efficiency, performance, and profit.
Are restoration contractors unethical for making a profit? Absolutely not. Good restoration professionals are not "ambulance chasers". Profits make it possible for the training, equipment, and professional personnel needed to be there for people when they are needed the most. Annissa explains more about it in this week's Ask Annissa.
If Hurricane Matthew would have taken a more westerly track by just 30 or 40 miles it probably would have been the largest natural catastrophe the East Coast has seen since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
The answer to this question is one that has haunted small business owners: cash flow. A company can look good on paper, bringing in consistent revenue and new clients, while still coming up short at the end of the month.
In R&R, we often have articles about industry trends. Typically, these trends are broad – like working with TPAs, catastrophe restoration, and hiring problems. However, there are other topics being talked about just as regularly among contractors – especially online.
