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We Didn’t Have Titles. We Had Each Other. The Power of Informal Peer Groups

March 13, 2026 9:00 am

Early in my restoration career, I didn’t lack drive, intelligence, or work ethic. I lacked people. My professional world ended at the logo on my shirt, and that logo was shared by just six others within Violand Management at that time. No outside peers. No external perspectives. No one beyond the said four walls of our company that I could lean on to challenge my thinking or confirm I wasn’t about to make an expensive mistake. Every decision, doubt, and hard lesson stayed trapped inside that small circle. Whether I realized it or not,

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The Disciplined Entrepreneur: Building Scalable, Profitable Restoration Businesses That Endure

March 12, 2026 5:46 pm

The Disciplined Entrepreneur: Building Scalable, Profitable Restoration Businesses That Endure More than a decade ago, I wrote about discipline during a period when the restoration industry was facing significant change. At the time, many contractors were navigating shrinking volumes, tighter margins, and an uncertain future—very similar to where we are today. What stood out then was the companies that consistently outperformed their peers did not rely on market timing, luck, or quick fixes. They relied on discipline. Today’s market may be different on the surface, but the underlying challenges are just as real. Labor

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RIA Insights: Leadership to New Heights

March 12, 2026 12:43 pm

The Restoration Industry Association (RIA) is entering a defining moment marked by new leadership, expanded advocacy, and a stronger voice for the independent restorer. From a new Chief Executive Officer to a dedicated Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs and a brand new Voice of the Independent Task Force, RIA continues to build on strong momentum and advance its mission on behalf of its members and the industry through member-driven ideas. Saima Hedrick Named CEO RIA recently announced a planned leadership transition as Kristy Cohen moves on to a new professional opportunity after a

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Meet the 2026 RIA Candidates

March 12, 2026 7:00 am

Welcome to the Meet the Candidates conversations! We encourage you to watch ALL the Meet the Candidate interviews to get to know each of them and what they bring to the table. Our goal is for each of them to be 10 minutes or less! There are 3 candidates total for this year’s election (Josh Miller, DJ McCabe, and Joe Scroggins), and one open board seat for the RIA Board of Directors. Ballots will be emailed directly to RIA members on March 16. Voting is open to RIA members ONLY. Election Results will be

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Where Are They All Going?

March 11, 2026 9:00 am

The Early Foundations of the Biorecovery Industry Some may assert that the Biorecovery industry remains in its early stages, despite the foundational work being laid in the early 1990s. Pioneers such as Don McNulty, Kent Berg, the late Ron Gospodarski, Tim Riley, and Gordy Powell are all recognized for their contributions in nurturing and establishing the groundwork for the industry as it stands today. Those who are deeply involved and committed to upholding the ethics and standards of the industry would readily affirm that the Biorecovery Industry is far from being in its infancy;

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From Volume to Variance: Why Scale in Restoration Is Now a Data Problem, Not a Labor Problem

March 10, 2026 8:00 am

Restoration has never been a simple business, but it used to be a more linear one. Win more work, hire more people, add trucks, open another branch, repeat. Scale was hard, but it was at least conceptually straightforward: if you could keep the labor engine running, you could keep the revenue engine growing. That mental model is breaking. Labor is still a constraint (and a painful one), but for large independent groups and franchise networks, the more limiting factor is increasingly variance—the unpredictable differences in how work is initiated, documented, executed, and closed from

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Why Every Restoration Jobsite Needs a Dedicated Health & Safety Officer

March 9, 2026 8:00 am

In the high stakes environment of the restoration industry, no matter if it is mitigation or construction, a true Health and Safety Officer (HSO) is a missing link for many restorers. In environments where our teams face electrical hazards, fall hazards, chemical and hazardous material exposures, the HSA is your first line of defense in reducing liability. While many contractors view safety oversight as a box to be checked, industry best practices and rising regulatory scrutiny dictate that the HSO is as vital to the project as the Project Manager. However, simply appointing a

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How Do You Know It’s Clean?

March 5, 2026 8:00 am

Defining Cleanliness in Fire, Mold, and Compliance Driven Industries As building materials, consumer electronics, appliances, art and textiles continue to evolve, new materials are constantly being introduced into homes and structures. When these materials and components burn, the by-products from fire damage become more complex, water and mold remediation becomes more challenging, and compliance expectations rise across commercial and industrial settings. As a result, the industry is being asked a simple but increasingly difficult question: How do you know it’s clean? This simple question demands a fact based, measurable answer; it is no longer

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Stop Posting Jobs. Start Selling Opportunities: How to Attract More Qualified Candidates

March 4, 2026 8:00 am

In today’s tight labor market, leadership can no longer rely on outdated job postings that merely list responsibilities and qualifications. Strategic inclusion of compensation details and well-written, persuasive job descriptions is not just a best practice — it is a measurable driver of recruitment performance that increases applicant volume, improves candidate quality, accelerates hiring timelines, and strengthens overall recruitment efficiency. Why Including Compensation Matters One of the most impactful changes an organization can make is including salary ranges or pay information directly in job postings. Multiple studies confirm that compensation transparency significantly influences applicant

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The Human in the Loop: Where Knowledge & Instinct Beat AI

March 3, 2026 7:30 am

AI agents are quickly becoming the next big promise in technology. Autonomous. Always on. Supposedly smart enough to take work off your plate instead of just rearranging it. For restoration companies, where every day feels urgent, complex, and slightly on fire, that promise is understandably tempting. Who wouldn’t want a digital team member that never sleeps, never complains, and never forgets a follow-up? But here’s what I keep seeing across the industry: AI doesn’t fail because the technology isn’t ready. It fails because the organization isn’t. One of the biggest obstacles is scattered knowledge.

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