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/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Restoration Froze Unplugged Podcast. In each episode, we're going to bring you excited interviews and discussions with top restoration industry leaders. We're also going to delve into their business, the strategies that make them successful, and most importantly, the valuable lessons they learned along the way. I'm your host Colin James. I'm also the chief marketing officer at Water Restoration Markets. We're a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping restoration companies nationwide secure more high-value water jobs. Now, this show aims to provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to excel in the restoration industry. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And welcome everybody to another episode of the Restoration Pros Unplug Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Clinton James. I'm also the chief marketing officer at uh at Water Restoration Marketing. Um today is kind of a full circle moment. Okay. So when I initially started this podcast, my hope is that it would fall on the ears of restorers across the country where they could pick some um some nuggets, some insights from other people in the industry that they could apply to their business. Well, little did I know, um, one person in particular would listen to the podcast, take immediate action, invest in a whole other franchise and a whole set of additional services to grow their business. Um, and they found it from this little podcast called uh Restoration Pros Unplugged. So today I'm joined by Dwayne West, who is the owner of Firehawk Restoration out of Jasper, Georgia. Uh Dwayne, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Clinton. It's great to be on here. Um tell the audience a little bit about Firehawk. Uh, what services do you offer and what's the business look like today?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Okay, uh Firehawk uh Restoration. Uh the name actually came from a um my the squadron I was in when I was in the Navy. Uh it was were the Firehawks, which has since been disbanded. So I kind of uh played off of that. So to try to be be a little unique. Um and we we do water, fire, and mold uh right now. Uh and it's 99% water and mold right now. We haven't done a fire job just yet because we're so new.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Um well, give the audience a little insight. When you say you're new to the restoration industry, how long has Firehawk been up and running? Uh probably nine months, right? Nine months. Love it. Love it, love it. Um tell them a little bit about uh the sense of scale. Like how many people do you have that work in the restoration part of the business?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

We we have uh two people, including myself. Okay. We have a third person that we bring in uh on uh if the job gets a uh uh to a decent size.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Gotcha. All right. Um now before you were doing restoration and after you served in the Navy, by the way, thank you for your service. Um, tell the audience uh a little bit about what you were doing before you got into restoration.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Okay, well, uh like I said, I served in in the Navy uh in the in the 90s, and uh, you know, along those lines, I actually learned a lot in the Navy that uh that I use every day uh in my business, you know, as far as like leadership and accountability and that kind of thing. So that's fun.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

It's fun, it's funny you mentioned that, Dwayne, because I've interviewed guys that um have a military background um that get into restoration specifically, and they say the exact same thing, right? A lot of the disciplines that you use while serving the country are disciplines that you can apply to any business that you start, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Exactly translates, yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Uh all right, keep going. I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you there.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

That's okay. And and so even before I was in the military, my my dad was uh was in construction pretty much his whole life since he was a teenager. And I and I grew up um going to work with him as a child during the summers, uh, you know, and on the weekends, if we worked, uh he was a uh we did construction work framing new homes, uh, and then eventually he transitioned into uh having a brick masonry company and we did remodeling also along the way throughout the years. So I've been uh in construction pretty much uh since I was born. Uh and and uh so so I uh I I was kind of destined for it. Um and uh and you know, and that translated into later on in life after the military, I uh um I got my real estate license and we started doing real estate. Um, and then um I uh ended up getting my general contractor's license also. So my wife and I, we you know, we buy homes, flip, flip houses, uh, remodel homes, uh do a few new homes as well. So we've been in pretty much in all all aspects of uh residential construction uh throughout my life. So it that's kind of where we were with that.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

And then uh well, flipping houses in Georgia is not a bad thing to do. What made you make the jump from doing that kind of work into restoration?

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Uh it just seemed like an easy transition, uh, really. I I had a friend of mine who who was uh had had been in the business and he was telling me, you know, he did some work for me and he'd done some restoration work, and he said you should consider uh doing that. It's some pretty good business to be into. So I just it kind of clicked and I just started doing some research, uh YouTube videos, and then I ran across your your podcast actually, uh, on Spotify. Okay. I just started listening uh uh to listen to all the people I remember. Um Ben, I think Ben Looper was on your podcast from Southeast Restoration.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Man, we've had a lot of guests.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Uh so there was a lot, a lot, a lot of the lot of big uh bigger companies, uh, and just hearing the uh how how much they like it. And also the uh it seemed like everyone had a common theme about the the culture uh that they wanted to have in their companies, uh, and that kind of fell in line with with my what I was hoping to uh to have uh as a company.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

I like that. Um all right. So you have a experience as a general contractor doing flips and obviously working construction for your father. That allows you when you get into restoration to do something that a lot of restorers don't do, which means offer full service right out of the gate. So not just doing the mitigation work, but also doing the reconstruction. Did you ever think about, hey, there's a lot of money to be made in mitigation? And when it comes to remote, you know, rebuilds, like there's a lot of money that you spend on labor and materials, and you have to you have to have cash flow to do that um before you're actually gonna get paid on those jobs. So the was there ever any consideration to not doing the reconstruction part and just focusing on the mitigation at first?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Um, no, just because I was so comfortable. Uh in in in the re the reconstruction, uh it was just you know that to me in the beginning that was the easy part because I already had been through it. Uh, the hard part was learning the mitigation for me. I won't say the hard part is just that it was just the lack of uh experience and and knowledge in the beginning. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

All right, so you went out, you got your certifications, and you're in business for a little less than a year. Talk about what the first couple months looked like for Firehawk.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Um, it was actually surprisingly well. So I I've we found uh about these uh these services is you know, you can pay per lead. Uh and uh during in those videos, a lot of the guys were saying, you know, you just need to get jobs, you know, to start some cash flow. So I decided that you know, I know the the leads are expensive, but um I wanted uh to jump in. I know you have to pay to play uh in this business. And so we bought, I think it was 33 mile radius, I believe is is the lead that we bought in the we and in uh inquiry, I believe we were using. And uh we we really got lucky on a job. We got a job that ended up being a $100,000 job between the mitigation and the the rebuild.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Oh, that's a nice, uh, nice first job, one of your first jobs there.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, yeah, it was their second job, actually. Yeah, very nice.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Um, okay, so you decided to go the pay-per-lead model. So we we talk a lot about lead generation on this podcast. And I've got clients um for my digital marketing that do continue to use your 33-mile radius and your inquiry, and and in addition to setting up their kind of own online presence. Tell me a little bit outside of the the that you know unicorn job that you got. Um, are you still continuing to have success with these paper lead services? And if so, which ones and roughly how much are you spending per lead?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Uh yeah, we've had success with um uh 33 mile radius has probably been the best in our area. And it seems to vary, isn't uh, but but yeah, and we're paying, I think it's um with 33 mile radius, I think it's like $875. Okay. Uh I think inquiry is a little more. I think it's like $1,300.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

That's what happens when you're uh in close to a big market like Atlanta. They rub those prices up on you.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, yeah. And then you know, 33 mile radius only allows you to be one of three. So there's a lot of areas that's already taken, you know, that yeah, that's already got three people in those. So so yeah, some of those are are difficult to even get into uh uh with on on their company.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

All right. So you you struck gold with the the second job that you guys did. Um, what else is is really working in the business for you? What do you feel like is is allowing you to kind of grow and scale this business, even though it's really early?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah, I think um just the the relationships uh that we're building with with people, uh even though we haven't um some of the some of the companies that we've been talking to and working working with, we haven't really gotten to have any work through them yet, but um, we've gotten a lot of leads and a lot of um people who are are almost really just willing to be a mentor uh with within within that to help us kind of get off the ground. So I've had a lot of people that work for other companies who are willing to to help us out and answer questions and uh because we're still you know new and there and there's still a lot to learn. Uh there's a lot uh in on the mitigation side, and especially when it comes to mold and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

A hundred percent. Now, um when we talked originally, you mentioned that you were gonna kind of stay away from TPAs, your third party administrators. Um, what went into that thought? And have you talked to other restorers about their experience with the Lacrity and AcuServe and contractor connection?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Uh both. Uh just a lot listening to a lot of people on your podcast and other podcasts. And then um what really I guess cemented the deal with with not using TPAs is we actually went to the RIA event in Savannah this year. Sure. And uh just talking to other restorers. That's that's one of the most amazing times I've ever had. I get to meet a lot of people in different parts of the country uh who are all very open and uh willing to talk to you about like, you know, what works, what doesn't work, uh, you know, the mistakes that they've made, uh, you know, and they really want to help you uh to keep from making the same mistakes they made.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

You you got to appreciate that. So I I've been adjacent to this industry for eight going on nine years now, and there's not a lot of gatekeeping. There's not a lot of restorers out there that won't tell you the right move to make, won't share their experience, what's working, what's not working. Um, going to an event like IRA, like tell me a little bit more about like, hey, who'd you meet? Um, who'd you know prior to going to going to the event?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Well, I actually um got invited by one Tom Plumber because they they are event uh uh part of the event. Okay. Um, and I I have a a friend of mine that works for a company, I don't know if I can say their company name on here, but they work here in Georgia and they were down there. Okay. And um they they took me around and I met I met uh I cannot remember some of the specific companies, but I remember meeting a guy who was in Houston who's been doing it for 18 years, and I met the guy who uh um I think they just purchased icon restoration. Okay. Uh talked with him for uh uh hours actually. He just had so much information, you know, and and advice and uh was uh very motivating to to hear hear him speak and talk about the business and uh and wishing the telling me he wishes out you know that I'm gonna be successful and that kind of thing. So it was really good to have have him uh uh and give his advice.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Uh real estate agents don't have that same mindset, I found. Uh so when you got into that business, I bet there weren't realtors beating down your door trying to give you advice on flipping.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Total opposite, yeah. We're swimming with the sharks with the realtors sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Absolutely. Um, all right. So you're off to a phenomenal start, been in business less than a year. Um, that doesn't mean everything is is you know peaches and cream at this point, right? Right. Um talk a little bit about what's the biggest challenge that you feel like you're dealing with right now and trying to scale your restoration business.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Um, I feel like that the the biggest challenge will be finding uh great people that will fit the culture that I'm trying to build uh for my company that you know that that wouldn't that'll buy into the culture that we're trying and and and the structure that we're building from.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Well, talk a little bit about that, right? So you have a couple team members right now. Um you guys are kind of establishing like what the culture is going to be for the business, and that kind of is a reflection of your specific core values there, right? So if someone was interviewing for a role with Firehawk, how would you describe the company culture?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Uh the culture would be uh family. I want it to feel like a family. I want um you know, I want them to feel comfortable coming to work each day, knowing knowing that they're they're working for a company that has uh their best interest in mind uh and and an owner that not only knows that they work for him, but an owner that um also looks at it like he works for them as well. Yeah. Uh and and keeps that in mind.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

All right. So talk about some of the hires that are on the horizon for Firehawk. So are there any specific roles in the restoration business that you're thinking, hey man, I need to hire in the next 30, 60, 90 days for these roles?

SPEAKER_01 13:53

We're we're looking for a business development rep right now. Um we have we have interviews this week, so we're hoping to have them, some a new person on board within the next two or three weeks. Awesome. Uh to help help us grow and scale on the commercial side.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Now, are you looking for somebody with experience in the restoration industry and with contacts, kind of a book of business, so they can show up and immediately, you know, generate revenue?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

That would be nice. Or at least someone who has uh has, you know, maybe been a part of the um the you know, the um, I can't remember the name of the BOMA the organization, someone who at least has uh business to business sales experience. Okay, someone that might can find they may not know about restoration uh or plumbing, but that could could learn at least that piece of it. Because I'm looking for somebody that again that fits our culture and also that has a some sales experience, and maybe you know you need to train them the other 10 to 15 percent to get them up to speed with uh now you've got a little bit of an advantage because as a result of listening to this podcast, you made the investment in a one-to-plumber franchise.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Um and everybody that listens knows how I feel about the guys over at one time plumber. Great company, they're absolute rock stars, so shouts out to them. Um, but you now have a resource, right, in one tom plumber to help you identify the skill set of the person that's really going to come in and be a rock star business development rep for you. Um talk talk a little bit about um how you first came across one Tom Plumber and what made you invest in the franchise.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Well, I first came across it for from uh your one of your podcasts. Oh, there you go. You were interviewing Rocky uh on there, and he was talking about the company and how he was uh, you know, the the plumbers, he was having the issues with the plumbers, you know, uh he was paying them uh fran fees, and then someone else would come in and offer him more, you know. So he decided that uh screw this, I'm gonna uh start my own plumbing company and create my own leads. Uh and so I I was listening to that along at the same time. I was actually out visiting um, you know, state farm agents, uh and other plumbers and plumbers, yeah. And everybody is it's almost like you would go in there and you would get the eye roll, like, oh, there's another restoration rep or whatever kind of coming in. So once the I listened to, you know, it kind of clicked for me that how one time plumber lets you kick the door in, so to speak. You know, you you you get in the there's not any there's hardly any companies that have plumber plumbing representatives that go out and do sales. So I look at it like if you can get the company's business as a plumber and you're and you're and you do a good job for them, eventually your sister company will get the restoration.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

What's your experience been, Luke, working with uh with Alvaro and the team over at One Time Plumbing?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Uh it's been amazing. Every everybody's professional, um uh on point. Uh it's been it's been a seamless process from from beginning till now. We we're we are uh two and a half weeks from our opening date. And and you know, they give you a timeline and and you you you work through that timeline on getting everything that needs to be done. And um it really I mean I I was very surprised. Uh it's it it literally literally is a plug-and-play system. I've heard people say that before, but it is. It's it's it's amazing that you know you get you got proven systems and and support from them, you know. They have a digital marketing team, which I don't know. That's what you do, but they have a team that handles your online reputation, your website, they answer all your Google uh um reviews for you.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

And that's gonna be important for you, Dwayne. Those Google reviews, man, those are gonna be gold for both Firehawk and your one-time plumber franchise.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

It is. And uh after a lot of uh due diligence, I completely understand that. And and uh and and I know how important that is.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

All right, so one tom plumber, let's be honest, it's an investment, right? You're making an investment. Um, ultimately, what how do you feel like it's going to impact? Because it obviously it's going to generate some revenue on the plumbing side there, but how do you see it really impacting the restoration side for Firehawk?

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Um, I uh what really to me, what what in my mind, and I don't think anybody's ever said it this way, but I look at it like this you might be courting a uh commercial company as a restoration company, and you might just be wasting your time. They might just be enjoying the free donuts. I mean, when something happens, you know, they're gonna call a server pro or somebody else or another competitive company. Whereas if you if you're doing working with the same company and they decide to use your plumbing company if you and they've used you three times uh in the year, and then they they have a water loss, they already you already have an established reputation or established relationship with those guys. And uh the I think the chances of them calling your sister company are high if they don't have anybody on the list at that point. So that's that's what really sold me is I felt like you, you know, it got your foot in the door um and allowed you to establish a relationship to where they could trust you and and know that you would do a good job for them.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And I I also will say, because I spent some time living in Georgia, pretty close to to where you guys are at. Um, that person, that BDR, you in that bright pink shirt, um, that's gonna stick out like a sore thumb when you're going into these businesses, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah, yeah, and carry that pink plunger on your folder.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

There you go. Make sure you uh you send us a picture of that because I'm sure that's uh that's gonna look awesome. Um so so we have people that listen to the podcast that are at all different stages, right? Some of them have been in the restoration industry, they've owned their own businesses for 10 plus years. We've got folks that are a couple years in that are really experiencing those growing pains, but we also have people like you, right, that are looking to either get in the restoration business or they're brand new. So give some advice for that person, that that Dwayne that was listening to this a year ago, right? Listening to this podcast, thinking about putting dipping their toe in the water and starting a restoration business. Give them some advice on on what they should think about um and how they should go about executing getting into the restoration space.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

I would say the first thing is get your certifications and start learning, learning, learning the the the technology or the you know the science behind the the restoration. Um and uh build your systems first and build your company from the systems and stay within those systems. Uh and then my personal motto is chase the knowledge before the money. Don't think about the the money, think about the knowledge and the um the the experience the customer has. Like you you want to you want to build build it for the long term. You don't want I I look at it like this, I want to build a company that's gonna last 20 years. I don't want to build a company that's gonna scale tremendously in two years and then it's gonna fall and fizzle out. I want I want to build something on a solid foundation.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

I like that. Is this a a legacy business for you or is this because I talk to guys that are just getting in this, they know they're gonna be in it for five years, they're looking to sell to private equity or something like that, be part of a roll-up event. Um, is that what you're looking for? Or is this a business that your family is gonna inherit and hopefully continue to scale?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Uh either or uh both of my kids are in college and they're they're kind of doing their own thing, but they also have a very they're very interested in the business, so I'm not sure if you know in five years where they would be in their life, whether they would be interested in in taking on this business or not. But I would love that if they did. Um, but yeah, I I'm kind of uh I just want to I want to build something that that could be uh handed down to my to my children, or you know, if we get to that point, private equity would would be an option also.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

All right. Um let's uh let's give those folks that are listening to the podcast that are like considering getting into the restoration industry. Um, Duane, you've had a lot of great mentors and people that can provide you advice, and I'm sure you'd be more than willing to kind of provide that advice to somebody new as well. So, where can they reach Dwayne West? Tell them give me your website address. Um, are you on LinkedIn? What's a good way for them to reach out to you?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yes, yeah. Our our website is uh uh firehawrestoration.com.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

You can reach me directly through there. Okay, or you can reach me at uh firehawk restoration at gmail.com. Awesome is my email, or you can call my cell phone number, which is 770-855-9760. Call me directly. I'll be glad to to talk with you guys anytime.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Or if you're a business development rep in the greater Atlanta area looking to make a move to another restoration company, you might be a good fit for the culture over at Firehawk, right, Dwayne? Absolutely. Yeah, call me for sure.

unknown 22:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Well, like I said, this has been awesome, full circle moment. Um, I love the fact that you listened to this podcast before you got into the restoration industry. You continue to listen to this podcast, you took action based on some of the interviews that we've had here. Um and I am wishing you all the best success as you continue to scale this business, Dwayne. So thank you for being on the Restoration Pros Unplug podcast.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Thank you, Clinton. I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

All right, to our audience, I hope you got a lot of value. Again, man, we talk to people at every stage of a restoration business. And it's really refreshing to hear somebody that has been at it for less than a year already crushing it, already looking at ways to scale their business. So we'll be back next week with another episode. If you like what you heard today, make sure you leave us a five-star review on Apple, uh, Spotify, our YouTube. Um, so thank you again for joining us, and we'll be back next week with another episode. Thanks again, Dwayne. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Restoration Pros Unplugged podcast. If you like what you heard today, be sure to subscribe, share, and also leave us a five-star review. We'll be back with more interviews and discussions with restoration industry leaders really soon. In the meantime, if you're a restoration company looking to add more high value water jobs, you can reach me and my team at War Restoration Marketing.net. Again, that's War Restoration Marketing.net. I look forward to hearing from you so.