Julie and Tony Roberts’ SERVPRO franchise in Henderson, Ky., is directly involved with CAT restoration work following the devastating tornadoes that touched down in December 2021, including one of the largest projects in the town of Mayfield, Ky. In this episode of Ask the Expert, Julie and Tony discuss the devastation witnessed, restoration efforts including a large church, challenges overcome, the benefits of a dedicated storm response unit, lessons learned over numerous CAT projects and the work yet to be done. 

As countless restoration companies struggle to find and keep employees, Caleb Brunz, head coach and president of Paul Davis of Greater Minneapolis & St. Paul, has more people wanting to work for his franchise than he has openings. He has also launched a non-profit, Pathways Trades Academy, to feed a healthier pipeline of talent into restoration and other trades. This Ask the Expert episode dives into how his company invests in its people and embraces them as its competitive advantage, from compensation to company culture to development to DEI. It also explores the work Brunz is doing to attract more people into the industry overall.

What do people, in general, want from employers? How are other industries treating employees and candidates? Answering these questions offers up ideas, lessons and competitive intel from beyond the world of restoration. After all, restoration businesses aren’t just competing against each other for talent. In her latest editor’s note, R&R Editor Valerie King talks about embracing external inputs in a tight labor market.

Jesse Mount is co-owner of Asbestos Abatement, Inc., located in Lakewood, Colorado. In this episode of Ask the Expert, Mount shares his transition from project manager to co-owner, working hand-in-hand with restoration contractors to remove asbestos, considerations for business looking to add asbestos removal to their services and more.

Claims estimating and the software used to facilitate it are critical elements of property restoration. With Verisk Elevate around the corner, we invited Mike Fulton, president of Verisk Property Estimating Solutions, to talk trends and innovations in estimating, ongoing areas of interest among contractors like Xactimate pricing, the impact of external forces like inflation on property claims, educational highlights for Elevate 2022, and the details of an Xactware rebrand.  

Laura Nelson is vice president of marketing at Signpost, a company that helps local businesses attract, connect with and grow their customer base. At The 2021 Experience Convention & Trade Show, Nelson led a session on attracting, selling to and delighting homeowners from start to finish. Here, she discusses the most critical points of homeowner interactions with restoration businesses. Nelson covers how contractors can stand out on Google, optimize online prospects and customers, convert more browsers to buyers, and drive more referrals through an elevated customer experience.

Laura Spaulding, founder and CEO of Spaulding Decon, is a former law enforcement officer who has evolved her business from a solo operation to a nationwide franchise that specializes in biohazard disinfection and decontamination. Spaulding Decon topped the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 crime-scene cleaning category in 2022. In this episode of Real Stories in Restoration, Spaulding shares her journey from humble beginnings as a woman-led startup. Today, Spaulding Decon is scaling rapidly with 20 to 30 new franchises a year, has added real estate acquisitions to its business model, and has millions of followers on social media.