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Lessons from the Pitch: What Youth Soccer Has Taught Me About Winning in Business

January 2, 2026 7:02 am

I grew up as a three-sport athlete. I played baseball, basketball, and football for most of my childhood, but baseball was my passion. When my kids started playing sports, I had big dreams of coaching and cheering them on as I continued my youth vicariously through them on the field. My reality was swim and gymnastics meets, downhill ski races, and soccer games—which I later learned were played on a “pitch”—all sports I knew absolutely nothing about. This fall I watched my two daughters play their final soccer matches, ever. My oldest in college

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There Should Be a Policy for That

December 19, 2025 7:02 am

When it comes to how employees interact with customers, vendors, and others, a lot of that behavioral guidance comes from what they see modeled by long-term or leadership-level staff. Ideally, that example-setting finds its way into a written policy manual early in the company’s development.  In this article, “manual” refers to a company policy manual or employee handbook. The term is interchangeable, as long as it’s used consistently. It’s important for the manual to remain distinct from standard operating procedures (SOPs). While SOPs outline the “how-to” of tasks and may evolve frequently, the policy

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Family, Tradition, and the One Day the World Slows Down

December 12, 2025 10:00 am

This year, I turn 47 — and my birthday lands right on Thanksgiving. It only happens every few years, but every time it does, it reminds me why I love this day, and this season. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It’s not about gifts, decorations, or a shopping list. It’s about people. It’s about slowing down, being together, and realizing how much good we already have. It’s the one day when the world actually hits pause — and for a 24/7 industry like ours, that means something. The day usually starts early.

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The New Job You Didn’t Know You Needed: AI Traffic Controller

December 9, 2025 7:44 am

If you’d told me a year ago that Southeast Restoration would need an ‘AI Traffic Controller,’ I would’ve laughed it off. Then 2025 arrived and proved me wrong. It began with our Support Center building the first wave of AI agents in Copilot Studio—tools that generated professional loss descriptions, inserted log notes directly into our job management system, and automatically created Microsoft Planner tasks for accountability. These agents were intentional, well-governed, and built with the right boundaries in mind. Then the rest of the organization got excited. Team members started experimenting with their own

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Why Two Estimators Can Walk the Same Job and Still Land on Different Prices

December 8, 2025 8:35 am

Every reviewer eventually faces the same confusing scenario: two estimators walk the same loss, see the same rooms, touch the same building materials, track the same moisture pattern, yet produce scopes and prices that look like they came from two different industries. One calls for selective removal and targeted drying. The other calls for full removal and a complete rebuild. One totals $3,500. The other reaches $7,000. So the question becomes: How can this be? Who’s right? Who’s wrong? And how can the numbers be so far apart? From a carrier perspective, the initial

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How Are Personal Expenses on My P&L Accounted for When Valuing My Restoration Company?

December 5, 2025 11:32 am

Q: I’ve got some significant personal expenses on my P&L’s, how are they accounted for when valuing my restoration company?  JT says: There are varying degrees of expensing personal items, from basic to widespread.  And yes, they absolutely should be ‘recovered’ for an accurate valuation.  There are 4 categories of ‘adjustments’ or what we call ‘add-backs’, as they’re ‘added-back’ to Net Income:   EBITDA:  Interest, Taxes (Income & PTE), Depreciation & Amortization. Business:  These may include Charitable Donations, Industry Consultants, One-Time Expenses, etc.   Personal:  Often the largest category possibly including-  Personal Vehicle Payments

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Property Capture Technology: The Competitive Edge for Restoration and Claims

December 5, 2025 8:11 am

Introduction Documenting a kitchen fire in a two-bedroom home is typically straightforward. Capturing damage across a 24-unit apartment building, fast, accurately, and in a way that stands up months later? That’s a different challenge. For Deft Group, a Florida-based claims adjustment firm, this challenge grew as their projects became larger and more complex. They needed a way to scale without sacrificing accuracy or client trust. Meanwhile, Flood Out Restoration in East Texas, a firm specializing in water damage restoration, faced a similar challenge from a different angle. Manual documentation of property damage was consuming

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Your Next Loss Might Not Be a Water Job… It Might Be an Email

December 2, 2025 8:31 am

Talking with restorers across the country has taught me one thing: every company has that one story…the story nobody really wants to talk about, but everybody needs to hear before it happens to them.  This is one of those stories.  It didn’t happen to a careless company. It didn’t happen to the kind of company still running on dial-up, carbon copies, and clipboards. It happened to a well-run, mid-sized restoration organization that truly believed their systems were solid and their team would never be the ones tricked by something as simple as an email. 

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A Legacy of Wisdom and Faith
: Remembering Phil Rosebrook Sr

December 2, 2025 7:52 am

When people talk about Phil Rosebrook Sr., they don’t begin with the businesses he built or the companies he coached. They start with comments on his faith, his wisdom, and his stories. Stories of prayers whispered over struggling owners. Stories of long conversations tucked away in quiet corners at conferences. Stories of road trips, cigars and malbec, belly laughs, and acts of generosity you never knew about unless you were there to witness them. Phil’s life was a tapestry of these moments, woven together by faith, humility, and a genuine love for others. Phil

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Fewer Jobs. Bigger Stakes. Smarter Moves.

December 1, 2025 9:57 am

If you’re expecting the restoration market to slow down and stabilize anytime soon, think again. The numbers tell a different story; one that’s forcing all of us to adapt faster than ever. This isn’t the restoration industry I started in. Back then, relationships carried the day. You could call a customer, schedule an inspection five days out, and still win the job. Today? If you wait five days, you’ve already lost. The customer has Googled someone else, checked Yelp, or asked a neighbor. We live in an Amazon world. People want service in an

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