Restoration Pros Unplugged is the podcast built for restoration business owners who want to grow, operate smarter, and lead better. Hosted by Clinton James, CMO at Water Restoration Marketing, each episode cuts through the noise and gets straight to what matters — real conversations with restoration industry pros, business builders, and experts who've been in the trenches. From marketing and sales to operations, leadership, and scaling your company, Restoration Pros Unplugged delivers the insights, strategies, and honest talk you won't find anywhere else. No fluff. No filler. Just straight-talking advice from people who know this industry. Whether you're running a two-truck operation or managing a multi-location company, this podcast gives you the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to take your restoration business to the next level. Subscribe, tune in, and get ready to learn from the best. Welcome to Restoration Pros Unplugged.
Listen to episodes
60 recent
September 4, 2026Episode 7133 min
Five Fire Claims in Six Weeks: Bobby Thomas and Malik Stevens on Killing the Margin vs. Volume Myth
Malik Stevens believed what everyone says about TPAs. Then he ran five fire claims in six weeks, and the first one billed almost $60,000. In this episode, host Clinton James sits down with Bobby Thomas, CEO of Extreme Services, and Malik Stevens, a Louisiana owner converting his independent company into an Extreme franchise. Bobby came up from carpet cleaning to technician to owner and runs corporately across five states. Malik covers Lafayette, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge. You'll walk away with: Why the margin vs. volume argument doesn't hold up once you run the numbers How to find margin on a job when the obvious line item isn't billable Why getting approvals before work starts ends billing fights before they start How tighter documentation on program work improved every job they run What the independent side actually costs you in waiting, guessing, and unpaid work Why Bobby caps his franchise growth on purpose Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com. Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
August 28, 2026Episode 7045 min
"The Packouts Girl With the Hobby Job" : Kristen Stein on What Contents Work Actually Takes
Most restorers think contents is easy. Put stuff in a box. Kristen Stein says the box was never the hard part. In this episode, host Clinton James sits down with Kristen Stein, owner of Blue Kangaroo Packouts in Randolph, New Jersey. Kristen came out of international trade, bought a restoration franchise three years ago, and now runs 20,000 square feet of storage serving New Jersey, New York, and parts of Pennsylvania. You'll walk away with: Why contents is an owner-operator business, not a passive one How to set homeowner expectations when a job runs three to six months instead of three weeks Where contents companies quietly lose money on box sizing and inventory How to push back on carrier guidelines with documentation instead of arguments How she uses video and AI estimating to size crews and trucks before anyone rolls out What restorers should ask before handing a contents company a client's entire home ---------- Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
August 21, 2026Episode 6941 min
Two Phone Calls, One Drive Home: How Michael Harrison Built a $6M Restoration Powerhouse
Michael Harrison told his insurance agent he'd do $250,000 his first year in business. He finished at $1.6 million. In this episode, host Clinton James sits down with Michael Harrison, owner of Mid-South Restoration Services and 1-Tom-Plumber Memphis. Michael started in the trade at 14 as his brother's helper and spent 20 years learning it at franchises and independents before two phone calls on one drive home pushed him to go out on his own. You'll walk away with: How he built a 100% referral business on insurance agents and adjusters Why he tells agents straight when a loss isn't worth filing a claim on Why his $6M year was less profitable than his smaller years Why he turned down a TPA that wanted a cut of referrals he already earned How he cash funded a 1-Tom-Plumber franchise to be the first call when a building floods The culture decision he sat on too long, and what it cost him Want to connect with Michael or learn more about Mid-South Restoration Services and 1-Tom-Plumber Memphis? www.1tomplumber.com/memphis-tn www.midsouthrestoration.com ----- Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com ----- Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
August 7, 2026Episode 6833 min
From Near-Bankruptcy to Breakthrough: Raul Gonzalez's Restoration Comeback Story
Most restoration business owners only show you the highlight reel. Not this episode. Raul Gonzalez of WonderBuilt Restoration and Construction gets real with Clinton James about the two times his business almost didn't make it — bad hires, a cash crunch, a lawsuit that blocked his SBA funding, and high-interest loans just to cover payroll. He shares exactly what it felt like, what he got wrong, and how he turned it around by finally asking for help instead of trying to do it all himself. If you've ever laid awake worrying about making payroll, this episode is for you. Raul's story is proof that the struggle isn't a sign you're failing — it might just be the price of building something real. Sales SOPs. KPI tracking. Job profitability. Getting financing-ready. These are the exact things that almost sank Raul's business — and they're the exact sessions at the Restore Scale Dominate Summit, Aug 27–28 in San Diego. Apply now at RestoreScaleDominate.com Seats are almost gone. ---------- Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
July 31, 2026Episode 6737 min
Six Years, Six Territories: How Tunde & Moji Adefolaju Built a 15-Truck SERVPRO Starting One Week Before COVID
Tunde and Moji Adefolaju opened their SERVPRO one week before COVID shut everything down. Six years later they're running six territories and 15 service vehicles in Northern California. In this episode, host Clinton James sits down with the husband-and-wife team behind SERVPRO of East Concord / Brentwood. Neither came from restoration — Tunde managed construction projects, Moji came out of banking and oil and gas. One 40-minute phone call with a franchisee they'd never met sent them into the industry. You'll walk away with: - How they survived a launch that landed on top of a global shutdown - Why they built SOPs and culture early, before they had the crews to run them - The collections fight every restorer has, and how they shortened their payment windows - How they split residential and commercial: Google for one, relationships for the other - Why they added a 1-Tom-Plumber franchise, and how the two brands feed each other - Moji's advice for women getting into restoration ---------- Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com ---------- Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
July 24, 2026Episode 6623 min
From Navy Squadron to a $100K Job: Dwayne West's First 9 Months at Firehawk Restoration
Nine months into business, Dwayne West landed a $100,000 job off his second lead. In this episode, he tells host Clinton James how he did it. Dwayne owns Firehawk Restoration in Jasper, Georgia. He's a Navy veteran who grew up working construction with his dad, then built a career flipping houses and running a general contracting business before jumping into restoration. You'll walk away with: How a $875 pay-per-lead buy turned into a six-figure mitigation and rebuild job Why Dwayne skipped third-party administrators from the start How his construction background let him launch offering full mitigation and reconstruction Why he invested in a 1-Tom-Plumber franchise to build commercial relationships His advice for anyone thinking about starting a restoration company Want to connect with Dwayne or learn more about Firehawk Restoration? Visit firehawkrestoration.com Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com. Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
July 17, 2026Episode 6534 min
Industrial Metrics, Explosive Margins: How Larry Braun Scaled Pine Ridge Restoration Past $6M Using Dashboard Accountability
Running your restoration company on gut feeling and bank balances is a quiet way to stay stuck. Real growth comes from installing hard numbers and accountability into every job. In this episode, host Clinton James sits down with Larry Braun, VP and Co-owner of Pine Ridge Restoration in Cleveland, Ohio, and a featured speaker at the Restore Scale Dominate Summit in San Diego. Larry spent 30 years running an industrial steel plant before joining the restoration business just two and a half years ago. He brought a manufacturing mindset with him — and it worked. Pine Ridge had been stuck at $3M since 2005. Larry helped push them past a $6.3M forecast, chasing an $8M stretch goal. You'll walk away with: How Pine Ridge ties technician bonuses directly to job-level profit margin A field accountability system that catches costly mistakes before they become callbacks How to get clean financial visibility between your emergency response and reconstruction teams Why niche-focused BDRs are outperforming generalists in insurance and senior living verticals Why ranking on Google isn't enough anymore, and what AEO means for your next lead Want to see Larry break down these exact systems live? He's leading a hands-on session called “Behind the Dashboard” at the Restore Scale Dominate live event in San Diego, August 27–28 . Early bird pricing expires tomorrow, July 18th, and saves you $150. Apply now at https://restorescaledominate.com Subscribe to Restoration Pros Unplugged and visit restorationprosunplugged.com. Running a restoration company and want to get more jobs from your online marketing? Book a free discovery call with Water Restoration Marketing at https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
June 29, 2026Episode 6430 min
Scale or Stall: The Three Core Pillars Separating Restoration Giants From Stuck Operators
Most episodes of this show feature a single guest sharing their unique path through the industry, but today we are completely flipping the script. In this special roundtable edition of Restoration Pros Unplugged, host Clinton James brings together two of the sharpest tactical minds in the home services space: Chris Nordyke of Floodlight Consulting Group and Nikole Mackenzie of Momentum Accounting. If you are a restoration business owner generating anywhere from two million to ten million plus in annual revenue and you feel like you have hit a glass ceiling, this transparent, no-nonsense conversation is your blueprint to breaking through. The panel tackles the real friction points that keep growing companies stuck in a loop of high stress and stagnant margins, unpacking the business across three critical domains: sales, marketing, and financials. - Chris Nordyke targets the foundational flaws in traditional B2B sales pipelines, challenging owners to aggressively move past the old school "candy and smiles" route marketing model. He explains how minor behavioral changes can transform underperforming field reps into high-producing B2B sales assets. Chris introduces the power of the "pain-seeking question" as the definitive tool to disrupt entrenched vendor relationships and secure lucrative commercial accounts. Furthermore, he analyzes the toxic internal friction between sales reps and operations teams, outlining how to build a unified system where fulfillment consistently executes on the promises made in the field. - Nikole Mackenzie exposes the operational vulnerabilities hidden within fragmented back-office structures. From relying on well-meaning spouses and office managers to fighting chaotic data streams inside job management software, many operators are completely blind to their job-level profitability. Nikole demystifies cost structures by introducing the 50/30/20 framework, designed to inject simplicity into complex financials. She details how clean, standardized charts of accounts enable companies to implement precise department-level benchmarks and execute technician incentive programs that maximize cash flow. Crucially, she explains how tracking true cash health protects growing businesses from looking profitable on paper while bleeding capital in reality. - Clinton James grounds the conversation in the shifting realities of digital lead generation, detailing how rapid developments in AI search engines threaten to make legacy marketing tactics obsolete. He breaks down what it takes to prevent your brand from becoming an "invisible restorer" to modern consumers and outlines how to claim dominant local visibility outside of low-margin third-party administrator networks. To bridge the gap between theory and execution, Clinton, Chris, and Nikole pull back the curtain on a collaborative, highly exclusive live intensive they are hosting this summer. The Restore Scale Dominate workshop is a rigorous, two-day event taking place on August 27th and 28th in San Diego, California. Hosted inside a functioning multi-million dollar restoration facility, this application-only masterclass is strictly limited to forward-thinking owners who want to walk away with fully customized strategic asset toolkits, standard charts of accounts, and live interactive operational audits. Listen in for a masterclass on cross-department execution, and discover how to claim your market before your competitors beat you to the punch. ----- Apply for the Live Intensive Workshop: Ready to sit in a room with elite peers, dissect your market's data, and install these frameworks directly into your business? Space is strictly limited to ensure high-level collaboration. Secure your seat before the early bird pricing expires on July 18th. Apply to attend here: restorescaledominate.com ----- Scale Your Lead Generation: If you want to stop guessing on your ad spend, optimize your local maps presence, and ensure your business dominates both Google and AI search engines, let's look at your market together. Book a free digital strategy session with the Water Restoration Marketing team: waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
June 12, 2026Episode 6334 min
How Andrew Rickabaugh Fled the "Apology Tour" to Build a Multi-Million Dollar Independent Restoration Brand
Most restoration owners have a crazy story about how they got into the business, but very few have survived a first job so brutal it almost drove them out of the industry forever. In this episode of Restoration Pros Unplugged, host Clinton James sits down with Andrew Rickabaugh, co-owner of Rick and Ball Restoration and a One Tom Plumber franchise in Huntsville, Alabama. Andrew pulls back the curtain on his non-linear path to entrepreneurship, spanning roles as a paramedic, firefighter, Huntsville police officer, and a 20-year career in the Marine Corps. The real turning point, however, came at age 24 when he was hired into a restoration firm as an area manager, only to find himself leading an operational disaster. Handed a mountain of derailed reconstruction files, Andrew spent his days visiting furious homeowners and eating crow for mistakes made by completely unmanaged crews. The experience was so exhausting that he quit after 364 days, vowing never to set foot in the restoration industry again. The story didn’t end there. Years later, a call from his brother-in-law and business partner, Kevin Ball, convinced him to return on his own terms to launch an independent company. Andrew breaks down how they put their heads down and did the dirty grunt work themselves, organically climbing the organic rankings to become the highest-rated restoration firm in a hyper-competitive market. He details their strategic expansion into the commercial market, explaining what it takes to find and manage a high-performing business development rep who isn't afraid to pick up the phone and build long-term relationships with property managers. To eliminate the expensive, margin-choking bidding wars over third-party plumbing referrals, Andrew and Kevin made the bold choice to buy a One Tom Plumber franchise. Now managing a team in the mid-30s with a fleet of 15 service vehicles, Andrew shares raw insight into how they handle modern operational constraints. He explains how they utilize AI tools to audit scopes and counter insurance adjusters using strict IICRC guidelines, and why they are aggressively pivoting toward a customer financing model to bypass carrier delays and compress their average 30-day reconstruction start times. Whether you are a military veteran looking to make the leap into home services or an established restorer feeling trapped as the bottleneck in your own business, Andrew’s perspective on efficiency, tech integration, and self-reliance will reframe your growth strategy. He leaves listeners with a powerful reminder on the true value of entrepreneurship: if you don’t own your business, you can't control your future. - Connect with Our Guest Learn more about Andrew and his team: www.rickandball.com - Scale Your Restoration Business Want to generate exclusive, high-intent water damage jobs and build an inbound marketing system you actually own? Book a free strategy session with the Water Restoration Marketing team: waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
April 24, 2026Episode 6237 min
Systems, Leadership, and Letting Go: The Next Level for Restoration Owners with Toby Clem
In this follow-up episode, Clinton James sits down again with Toby Clem of Restoration Advisers to dive deeper into what it really takes to grow a restoration company that doesn’t depend on the owner. If your business still runs off memory, gut decisions, and “just figuring it out,” this episode is for you. Clinton and Toby break down: Why running your business from memory will eventually hold you back How simple systems (SOPs) can create consistency, better results, and more profit The real reason owners struggle to delegate—and how to fix it What it takes to develop leaders inside your company The mindset shift required to step out of the truck and into true ownership They also share practical, no-fluff action steps you can start this month: Track the right KPIs weekly Set a consistent leadership meeting rhythm Build your first system around a real pain point This episode is all about helping restoration owners get unstuck, build stronger teams, and create a business that can grow without them being involved in everything. Toby also shares details about the Restoration Advisers Montana Business Retreat, happening June 23–24 in Whitefish, Montana. This is a small, no-vendor, no-pitch mastermind where restoration owners come together to talk through real challenges, share ideas, and learn from each other. Open to all restoration owners (not just clients) Limited attendance for real conversations Focused on your biggest business challenges Held near Glacier National Park ----- If you're serious about growing your business and want to be around other driven restoration owners, this is worth checking out. https://restorationadvisers.com/montana2026-847608 ----- Looking to generate more high-quality leads that turn into onsite visits and jobs? Book a discovery call with the Water Restoration Marketing team: https://waterrestorationmarketing.com/discovery-call/
Is this your show?
Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.
