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I Was Never the Guy on the Rope: What 11 Years in Combat Search and Rescue Maintenance and Production Control Taught Me About Running a Restoration Operation

May 15, 2026 9:35 am

Let me get something out of the way before anyone reads further. I spent eleven years in United States Air Force Combat Search and Rescue. I was not a Pararescueman. I was not a pilot. I was a helicopter crew chief and, later, production control. My job was the airframes — the HH-60s that carried the rescue teams — and the maintenance Airmen who kept them flying. The heroes in my story are the PJs who went down the rope, the pilots who flew into places most people can’t find on a map, and

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Stronger Together: Lessons from the Past for the Future of Restoration

May 13, 2026 7:00 am

My Grandpa, Earl Woodard, was a hero. As a navigator, he survived 20 B-17 bombing missions over occupied France during WWII and after his plane was shot down, the people of the French Resistance helped him evade capture and get back to his life in the United States. On a train to the West Coast for mandatory R&R, he met Nancy Berklin, another hero, and they were married within 3 months. In 1946, they purchased one of the first portable extraction units and started Earl E. Woodard Rug Cleaners, bringing the innovation of in-home

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A Year of Service — and the Strength of Our Leadership Pipeline

May 11, 2026 8:00 am

When I stepped onto the stage last year as President of the Restoration Industry Association (RIA), I made a commitment to communicate better—more clearly, more transparently, and more frequently—with our members and the broader restoration community. Looking back, I believe we made real progress. If I graded the experience itself—the honor of serving, the relationships built, and the opportunity to work alongside an incredible group of volunteers—I’d give it an A+. I loved every minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat. If I graded my own performance, I’d probably give

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Deep Dive #1 | 2026 State of the Industry

May 8, 2026 1:37 pm

Deep Dive #1 of 4 in The State of the Industry webinar series is here! Join C&R and KnowHow for an exclusive, interactive look at the 2026 report—breaking down key financial trends, workforce realities, tech shifts, and growth opportunities shaping restoration today. Discover what the data says about confidence, margins, and hiring, plus actionable strategies to guide your business decisions this year.

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Claude and Xactimate: The Headline vs. The Reality

May 8, 2026 8:53 am

I’ll bet when your Facebook feed lit up with the news of this it probably felt like Christmas morning when you were a kid. Verisk announced it was bringing its analytics and generative AI capabilities directly into Anthropic’s Claude through a new Model Context Protocol connector, and the headline read like a watershed moment for restoration estimating. Before you start making a mountain of wrapping paper looking for that brand new Nintendo or PlayStation you’ve always dreamed of, let me give you the facts as I see them. It’s not quite a lump of

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Turning the Pages of Our Industry’s Story

May 7, 2026 10:54 am

When I had the privilege of taking over C&R in 2021 from the Restoration Industry Association, one of the treasures that came into my possession was the archives. These archives, of course, hold the legacy and history of the RIA through the years – the conventions, the training opportunities, the innovations in equipment and science, the name changes, the industry icons, and so much more.  Recently, I’ve been working on creating a better inventory system for the archives and doing my best to preserve them (maybe someday I’ll be able to get them digitized

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AI Isn’t Lying to You. It’s Agreeing With You: Sycophancy in Restoration

May 5, 2026 7:41 am

Artificial Intelligence is moving fast in the restoration industry. From estimating and documentation to scheduling and communication, it promises speed, efficiency, and better decisions. But there’s a risk most people aren’t talking about. AI sycophancy. Sycophancy is when something agrees with you, flatters your thinking, or reinforces your assumptions, even when you’re wrong. Simply put, AI can tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear. In restoration, that’s a problem. Why This Matters in Restoration This isn’t a theoretical industry. It’s operational, time-sensitive, and margin-driven. Decisions made in

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Beyond the Hype: A Restorer’s Guide to Practical AI Integration

April 28, 2026 10:45 am

The restoration industry is currently navigating a wave of “AI noise.” Every time you open LinkedIn or your email, you’re likely bombarded by promises of new software that will solve all your problems or, conversely, dire warnings about the risks of the technology. To cut through this static, we recently hosted the Practical AI for Restoration bootcamp, a three-hour session designed to turn down the noise and stick to tangible facts. This article summarizes the core takeaways from that event, which featured seven restoration voices sharing their expertise on how to adopt technology in

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E-Verify 101

April 28, 2026 9:31 am

In today’s environment, it is important to understand the basics of verifying your employees’ legal status to ensure your business is compliant with applicable federal laws. This includes understanding the federal E-Verify website. While not federally required in many cases, many states do, in fact, require its use and most have their own procedures for verifying employee eligibility. Therefore, it is important to check with your local state to determine what other specific state statutes may be applicable to your employment practices.  Federal law has established an employment verification system (using the Form I-9)

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You Can’t Lead Change from the Ivory Tower

April 28, 2026 8:00 am

Every business builder knows the feeling. You wake up before dawn and reach for the same two things: the bank balance and the receivables report. Payroll is coming. Cash is still somewhere in the collection cycle. Margin is thinner than it used to be. You run the numbers again, not because anything changed overnight, but because the pressure did. I’ve lived that more times than I’d like to admit, across more than half a dozen companies. And I don’t know of many things more stressful than carrying the weight of your team’s mortgages, rent

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