Disasters can happen at any time and are totally and completely unpredictable events. More than fourteen thousand people experience water damage every single day, and the damage from frozen pipes and water leaks cost both insurers and consumers more than ten billion dollars every year. Water damage is also extremely expensive to repair, with research stating that the average costs to repair water damage ranges anywhere between 1,038 to 3,607 dollars, and can approach well over six thousand if the damage is very severe. The average age of a home in most current scenarios is nearly 40 years old, so this type of damage will continue. More often than not, restoration companies send armies of small restoration vendors who will swoop into a community and try to make a quick buck by taking advantage of people in their moment of vulnerability before leaving town again for the next storm.
Restoration companies should be able to build trusting relationships with customers in their territories, showing that they are trained professionals who do care about helping people. The franchisees of restoration companies are usually local restoration experts, and they position them to be first on the list for real estate agents, plumbers, insurance adjusters, insurance agents and property managers to call.
Franchisees of restoration companies currently have designated territories based on the number of referral sources they can tap into and the population of the place. Insurance adjusters and agents, property managers, realtors and plumbers are examples of referral sources. Forming close relationships with adjusters and agents is a no-brainer with most of the restoration invoices being paid by insurance companies. Realtors and property managers should know about buildings that need maintenance or restoration work, and plumbers are usually the first ones called to take a look at water-related mishaps.
In the past, five to ten years, businesses and insurance companies have been increasingly seeking out services from national brands to take advantage of the impeccable consistency and standardisation they can provide.
The Driving Force
The restoration industry has grown to an astonishing 210 billion dollars, with over 170 million commercial losses and 40 million residential-commercial losses in the country alone. The average cost of a water loss job is about three thousand dollars, but this varies widely. A dishwasher leak may only be a thousand five hundred dollar cleanup job, but it may be followed by a twenty thousand dollar contract to dry a commercial building after a flood.
It is a great idea to place a small number of operators in exclusive territories and not overcrowd the market with larger numbers of small operators. The franchisees are often in a better position to capitalise on referral relationships, and they can easily be the ideal single point of contact that busy insurance companies want in a region.