Why are there no Restoration Forums?

[Mikey P]

I've tired it, TMF and all the rest have had dedicated room for water, mold and fire discussion but nada.


Are the pros too busy to chat about the validity of air scrubbers and how to give a Insurance stiff a VBJ?


All we have is the Chavez, the 3 Al's and Lockhart here so a dedicated room would not be worth it unless you think that If Fred Builds It They Will Come..


your thoughts prease..

 

[tmdry]

Back when you had the restoration section, it was quite helpful and I remember seeing a lot of threads on there. It's worth it if you put it up. I know you don't do much restoration so maybe that is why you don't have it on your board?

restorationforums.com is one, they've improved over the years, but not as popular as the carpet cleaning boards.

 

[steve g]

there is a restoration forum, but its not visited very well. IMO and I told them this is they have too many sub forums so what happens is someone posts in a room and if you don't see it, its like its not there. content and posts are what drives people to the sight, noone posting means no traffic.

here is the link

http://www.therestorationforum.com/ you can judge for yourself and see if you think there is way way too many sub forums. at least with the amount of traffic they have. its too bad I would like to see the industry closer nit and maybe some standards could be decided on better.

 

[Goomer]

http://foreskin-restoration.net/forum/

 

[dealtimeman]

Build it and they will come!

 

[dealtimeman]

Do you have a mod for the room?

 

[Mikey P]

are you applying?

 

[Hoody]

Lockhart would be a good moderator. Steve G could start a thread and share his experiences in how to bill to get the most out of the job.

 

[Mikey P]

Yeah,I apologize for leaving Steve G off that list..who else considers themselves a restoration pro aside from that mute from Watsonville?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Not sure. When I was on Restoration Forum's there were two kinds of guys on there. They big players who ripped those that didn't agree with them and the new builder that was getting into restoration. Fewer cleaner/restorers? I'm sure plenty viewed the threads like I did but my guess is most were worried to post anything.

Big time outfits don't have the time and don't care about bulletin boards, they are generally construction oriented and sub any extraction & cleaning. They just don't have anything to gain by being on them.

It's really us smaller guys that can take advantage of new innovations in cleaning and restoration by visiting the center of the carpet cleaning universe.

 

[hogjowl]

I think you should charge for entry and they will flock to get in.

 

[Desk Jockey]

How is a separate room going to make any difference?

 

[hogjowl]

Thank you, Mr. Chavez. I have always wondered that myself.

And every board eventually gets that way ...

 

[Steve Toburen]

Not sure. When I was on Restoration Forum's there were two kinds of guys on there. They big players who ripped those that didn't agree with them and the new builder that was getting into restoration. Fewer cleaner/restorers? I'm sure plenty viewed the threads like I did but my guess is most were worried to post anything.

Big time outfits don't have the time and don't care about bulletin boards, they are generally construction oriented and sub any extraction & cleaning. They just don't have anything to gain by being on them.

It's really us smaller guys that can take advantage of new innovations in cleaning and restoration by visiting the center of the carpet cleaning universe.

Let Richard be your Restoration Forum moderator. His main business emphasis is restoration (hence all the poop photos) and Lord knows he has the spare time to do it. Plus even though Richard hides it well he has a lot of knowledge about the day-to-day challenges of running a fairly large restoration business.

Steve

PS I'm not sure why there aren't more restoration focused forums and yes, I think there is a need.

 

[Mikey P]

Not sure. When I was on Restoration Forum's there were two kinds of guys on there. They big players who ripped those that didn't agree with them and the new builder that was getting into restoration. Fewer cleaner/restorers? I'm sure plenty viewed the threads like I did but my guess is most were worried to post anything.

Big time outfits don't have the time and don't care about bulletin boards, they are generally construction oriented and sub any extraction & cleaning. They just don't have anything to gain by being on them.

It's really us smaller guys that can take advantage of new innovations in cleaning and restoration by visiting the center of the carpet cleaning universe.

You're echoing the same thoughts an industry uppity up shared with me on the subject.


Most are too busy and set in their ways to bother.


Same reason you dont see Stanley, Coit, Rainbow, Service Master and the other franchises on forums.



and since Marty plagues every damn one of them, Ill blame him too. Only so few of us are willing to let a guy like him into our lives voluntarily.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think the guys want less of a manager and someone that is more in the field, tech tips, Xactimate help that kind of chit and that's really not me. There are plenty on here that fit that bill far better and would be a much better choice for the position.

Plus thats starting to sound too much like work......and well you know how much I'm against that!

 

[hogjowl]

I started out exclusively in DR. Full structure, as well as conventional restoration. I was so busy that I would have had no time to be on a board, even if they had existed back then.

 

[juniorc82]

Because full time restoration guys are even beigger a** holes than the guys on here

 

[Mikey P]

and you got out why?

 

[juniorc82]

I dont know if it is a trend that happens nationwide, but I have saw alot of cleaners cleaning business totaly go to shit after becoming mosty restoration. I remeber a company in town that had a pretty sizable market share in carpet cleaning and janitorial. It seemed like over a span of only like 5 or 7 years they became a hardore restoration company. After being mostly restoration the company eventualy got a real slimeball reputation in our community. I think mostly because of underskilled employees who regularly botched jobs, turning away old carpet customers because they where busy, and the owner thinking he was some business mogel who didnt have to go in the field anymore and spent all his time on the golf course. I knew somthing was not right in that company when I was told by a former employee that there are 5 people working in the office on sales, marketing , and admin stuff but they only employed 2 techs in the field. I do a small loss for a regular customer if I have to but I really hate the business end of the resoration biz and hate the emotionaly charged frenzy that comes along with dong residential d.r. work.

 

[SMRBAP]

Would it be just one "room" or have sub- rooms for water, mold, fire, marketing, equipment given.

A very different animal than cc'ing, but still has the same basic main topics.

 

[hogjowl]

I was a 28 year old male (which means I was an idiot) with nothing but an education and no common sense. I hired the wrong people, let Allstate own me, had no business structure and my life was miserable. At the end of my 3rd year, Allstate regional office called me in for a meeting. The regional manager (who was like God to the other Adjusters) wanted to interview me. I thought I was in some kind of trouble. He told me they had started a policy of interviewing their top 10 contractors to sift for corruption, kick backs, etc. Of course, that made me wonder where I landed on the list .... I'm figuring 8, 9 or 10. Turns out, he showed me a graph of claims dollars paid and I was NUMBER FREAKIN ONE! As I walked out the door of that building, I was on the phone to my wife telling her about it. She said that was great news, so why did I not sound happy. I told her that we should be better off financially if we were doing that kind of business, especially when you consider the time I was having to put in to running the crazy business.

I was too young and stupid to know how to turn it around, but I was smart enough to understand the numbers, and was not willing to work like this and basically just cover expenses.

It would be a different story today ... as age as made me a wiser person.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Because full time restoration guys are even beigger a** holes than the guys on here

I was going to say that but then not all of them are but sure there are a few. It's an ego thing, they can't help it!

 

[Mikey P]

We would start with one room and as the need grows we would expand.


Too many rooms ruins a Board in my opinion.

 

[Mikey P]

I was a 28 year old male (which means I was an idiot) with nothing but an education and no common sense. I hired the wrong people, let Allstate own me, had no business structure and my life was miserable. At the end of my 3rd year, Allstate regional office called me in for a meeting. The regional manager (who was like God to the other Adjusters) wanted to interview me. I thought I was in some kind of trouble. He told me they had started a policy of interviewing their top 10 contractors to sift for corruption, kick backs, etc. Of course, that made me wonder where I landed on the list .... I'm figuring 8, 9 or 10. Turns out, he showed me a graph of claims dollars paid and I was NUMBER FREAKIN ONE! As I walked out the door of that building, I was on the phone to my wife telling her about it. She said that was great news, so why did I not sound happy. I told her that we should be better off financially if we were doing that kind of business, especially when you consider the time I was having to put in to running the crazy business.

I was too young and stupid to know how to turn it around, but I was smart enough to understand the numbers, and was not willing to work like this and basically just cover expenses.

It would be a different story today ... as age as made me a wiser person.

interesting, so IF you did give it another whack, lets say with your son in the management roll, how would you go about it?

or have the rules changed too much for you to really know ..

 

[Desk Jockey]

I was a 28 year old male (which means I was an idiot) with nothing but an education and no common sense. I hired the wrong people, let Allstate own me, had no business structure and my life was miserable. At the end of my 3rd year, Allstate regional office called me in for a meeting. The regional manager (who was like God to the other Adjusters) wanted to interview me. I thought I was in some kind of trouble. He told me they had started a policy of interviewing their top 10 contractors to sift for corruption, kick backs, etc. Of course, that made me wonder where I landed on the list .... I'm figuring 8, 9 or 10. Turns out, he showed me a graph of claims dollars paid and I was NUMBER FREAKIN ONE! As I walked out the door of that building, I was on the phone to my wife telling her about it. She said that was great news, so why did I not sound happy. I told her that we should be better off financially if we were doing that kind of business, especially when you consider the time I was having to put in to running the crazy business.

I was too young and stupid to know how to turn it around, but I was smart enough to understand the numbers, and was not willing to work like this and basically just cover expenses.

It would be a different story today ... as age as made me a wiser person.

Yea you have to be careful about putting all your eggs in one basket. Allstate is a piece of work......did I say work? I meant sh*t. ok maybe not that bad...MAYBE.

They had an agent that had bought a Steamatic franchise here, they knew the guy knew little and had quality issues but would still give him all the work. Even to this day they don't give us any work unless it's area wide flooding and they all of the sudden they "love us".

You are better out of it Marty, those guys don't make any money and are stressed about the changes the vendor programs keep making to take more from them and make them do more for free. They are "owned" by them.

 

[Hoody]

I'd love to see a restoration room in here again. I wish people like Curtis Pennington and Keith Collins participated here again. They both had great knowledge on restoration.

Hasn't Dave Gill gotten more into with his business ?

 

[FB19087]

http://www.therestorationforum.com/ you can judge for yourself and see if you think there is way way too many sub forums. at least with the amount of traffic they have. its too bad I would like to see the industry closer nit and maybe some standards could be decided on better.

way too many subforums........and no moderation to speak of...most of the post are spam post

 

[The Great Oz]

You want to start a restoration BB? Good luck! At least I know you're not going to do it for the money since only the big players buy every piece of shiny stuff available.

Sort of sad that restorationforum has been allowed to go to seed. It definitely needs moderation help. That was a forum that exposed a lot of industry dirt, blasted the mistakes created by the previous IICRC knuckleheads that wouldn't allow smarter people into their club, debated the various lawsuits in the industry and was unquestionably the place to find the best and brightest in the restoration business - at least on-line. It was so important that Cooper and Holland tried to recruit the owner to be a partner in the grand plan to own the industry. He gets points for for not being interested.

Opinionated jackasses? Sure, just like on every BB.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Restoration/Janitorial forums tend to be far more conservative, typically you need $50k-$100k to cover cash flow and/or equipment. Completely different person from an industry that only needs $2k for a portable, the 2 people have a hard time communicating.

Carpet cleaners are way more entertaining and I would rather hang out with.