“As many restorers are aware, heat is an element used to warm up cooler objects. The more important question is: What is heat and how can it be utilized in drying? There are three ways that heat can be transferred: Conduction, infrared radiation and convection,” Kyle Herndon writes.

In this interview, Brett Lawton talks about scaling, growing as a leader and finding the company’s niche as a mid-sized service provider in a competitive, increasingly consolidated market. He also discusses offering general construction and restoration services, and the value of an executive team.

In this first article of a two-part series on respiratory hazards and protections, Barry Rice, CSP, shares steps to correctly set up a respiratory protection program. In the second article, next month, he will cover how to implement and follow the program.

With CAT season coming soon, we invited Avelina Lamb, owner of PuroClean of Chandler, to discuss her franchise’s approach to growing CAT restoration services. She shares advice based on work in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida, as well as fire and smoke damage projects in Colorado following recent wildfires.

“We are so focused on the physical aspects of everything we do in our business and personal lives, we sometimes forget the importance of the emotional connection, a basic human need. We have become transactional and no longer personal. The most successful companies handle problem resolution with a human voice and a can-do attitude to service, while others deal with problem resolution with software and a list of options,” Barry Costa writes.

Barry Rice, CSP, reviews successful methods for preventing hand injuries, one of the most common injuries in restoration work. He provides advice on choosing the right glove and glove training implementation.

“We as an industry only know how to check these moisture content levels and have no insight into controlling or evaluating the primary metrics that are determining the length of time it takes to get these materials back to acceptable levels,” Chuck Dewald III writes. “Our industry is drying completely backward!”

In the age of digitalization, why should risk managers, contractors and insurance professionals pay closer attention to document restoration? What type of work sites or clients require document restoration? What is the technical process to restore documents in a way that these items are later safe to use? The why of document restoration can be divided into three categories: Efficiency, legality and sentimentality, Boris Skoro writes.

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.