Restoration Pros Unplugged

Two Phone Calls, One Drive Home: How Michael Harrison Built a $6M Restoration Powerhouse

• Clinton James • Season 1 • Episode 69

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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

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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/


SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Restoration Pros Unplugged Podcast. In each episode, we're going to bring you insightful 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, Clinton James. I'm also the Chief Marketing Officer of Water Restoration Markets. We're a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping restoration companies and HBY 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 the Restoration Pros Unplug Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Clinton James, the chief marketing officer over at Water Restoration Marketing. I have met my fair share of awesome restoration company owners. Today's guest is no exception to that rule. This is a man who literally grew up in restoration. I'm talking about working his way up from being a helper right behind his big brother, all the way up to owning a powerhouse restoration company out in Tennessee. So it is our pleasure today to welcome to the podcast the owner and operator of Mid-South Restoration Services, Michael Harrison. Michael, thank you for joining us for the podcast today.

SPEAKER_01

Appreciate that. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00

Now, Michael, for those in the audience that don't know you, um why don't you give them a little background on Mid-South Restoration, where you guys are located, what kind of uh restoration services that you offer?

SPEAKER_01

All right. So we're an independent restoration contractor based at a just a little town called Somerville, Tennessee. We're just north of Memphis, but we uh we kind of serve as that tri-state area right there. So um water, fire, mold, reconstruction contents. Um, we're a full service vendor, licensed GC. Um, so we handle it start to finish.

SPEAKER_00

All right. So you've got a unique story in that you literally grew up in this industry. Why don't you tell everybody about how you got into restoration?

SPEAKER_01

All right, so my brother has been in restoration 28, 30 years, something like that. So um I used to be his little helper. Uh from I guess 14 to 17, I'd help him on jobs and kind of picked up in the trade a little bit. So when I turned 18, I went to work for one of the big franchises as a helper. Um, you know, I I kind of got hooked in it. So I I make a funny joke, but uh it's one of the things that sucks you in. Once you're in, you're in. You can't really get out enough. So uh, you know, that was kind of how it worked out, man. I let one thing led to another, and you know, I kept my head down and learned as much as I could learn, and you know, that's where I started and worked my way up.

SPEAKER_00

Now, nobody that's sitting in uh middle school, high school class is dreaming of a career in restoration, but I'm sure you had like an aha moment, right? Where you were like, hey, this is probably going to be the industry um that takes care of me and my family for the rest of my days. Um, can you talk a little bit about what what would do you remember what that moment was for you? Yeah, when I got that first big paycheck with all that overtime on it.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, you know, we were we were doing some pretty large projects, working a bunch of hours, man, and it's like I don't know, something about it intrigued me, but I mean it was good money. I mean, back in 06, you know, 07, like it was good money back then, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So that's what really hooked me in, I think. So I mean, and compare yourself to your friends at the time, right? Some of them were working maybe retail, restaurants, stuff like that. I mean, your paycheck's probably a little bit bigger than their paycheck on a regular basis. Yeah, yeah. Just a little bit. All right, so so so the money's really important. Um, but you've also working and growing up in restoration, you've kind of seen the impact that a good restorer can have on a homeowner, right? Um, is that really important to you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, 100%. I mean, we see people sometimes at their worst. Um, some of our clients and customers have never been through anything like this before and don't even know where to start to put the pieces back together. Um, so we come in at their worst and and we try to turn those things around and help them through the process and get them put back together a whole again. So uh it is very satisfying seeing that start to end process, um, and and just being there for people when they need you. I mean, that's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_00

So you've held probably every role a restoration company has, right? You said helper, uh, lead tech, project manager, GM. Um, and I'm sure you've worked under a lot of great people and some that weren't so great, right? So, but what what do we learn? We learned lessons in every step of the joys uh of the voyage there. So, um, what did those years working under people teach you about how you wanted to run your restoration business?

SPEAKER_01

You know, I think it taught me a lot both ways, good and bad. I think you've got to take any situation and take the positive and negatives and learn from both sides of it. Um, I think that I learned a lot of things I didn't want to do to my employees, and I didn't want to treat them. And then also I uh learned things I did want to do for my employees that really impacted me. Um, you know, I've worked for a lot of different several different companies, the big guys, the little guys, independent franchise. So I got a good broad spectrum before I ever went on my own on what uh kind of everything, the different ways that everybody ran things. So I think that gave me a good idea. And by no means am I perfect at it. You know, I mean we I'm still learning every day. So uh a lot of personalities in this industry, and uh, you know, we try to come to work do the best we can for our clients and and provide them with an exceptional service, and and we do the best we can every day.

SPEAKER_00

Do you remember the worst boss you ever had in the restoration industry? Yeah, yeah. We're not gonna name we're not gonna name names on the podcast, but yeah, we're not allowed to do that. So is there one thing that you can think of that he did that you said, damn it, when I start my restoration company, that's the one thing I'm not gonna do to my team, or that's the one thing I'm not gonna do when we're working in the community.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. I think um there's a couple moments there, a couple different situations. Um, I think that the biggest thing for me was I'm gonna answer the phone no matter what time it gets from the crew. They need me, I'll be there.

SPEAKER_01

Um, you know. So I mean, just the other day, I was out on a large loss job with the crew setting water and setting fans up. I mean, I'm not scared to get my hands dirty. I'm not scared to let up when you need it. Obviously, we all have our job to do to keep the wheel turning. Um, but sometimes they need that. You know, they need that. The bosses can still got it, the boss has done it, the boss can do it, all things. Um, you know, so I think that that that's one thing I really learned is is is you know, I've worked places where we're all a big team, I've worked places where everybody's got their job, and you don't mix and mingle. Uh, but I definitely like the team oriented everybody folks, everybody. Uh it benefits us, it benefits the customer all across the board.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I I like what you said there, right? You you do occasionally need to show your team that, you know, even the new guys that weren't around when it was just you, some D Hughes, some air movers, like doing the majority of the work, the new guys they never saw Michael in the field, right? So you're giving them feedback, you know, coaching, development, sometimes criticism on the job that they do. And they really need to feel like, you know, if Michael was in the field, he could do this job and he would do it well, right? So is that do you like being that kind of owner operator, or do you see yourself at some point, hey man, I'm a CEO, I'm not actually in the business, I'm out working on the business.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's something I truly struggle with because I'm in front of Frances and start in the year, all they'll always be in my blood. So um I I struggle with person honest with you, I'd rather get in the show than break figure. We're still in the office, worrying about uh this job and that job. So uh sometimes I figure I enjoy it, you know, more. Uh well, like I said, we got a business to run, we got things that agree. So uh, but I do enjoy being out there with them, and I think that it gives you me respect knowing that I've done what they do um and exactly what they go through on a daily basis, because there's some days that really does suck, you know. There's some days it's very worldy and some days it's great and easy, but other days it really, really sucks.

SPEAKER_00

Makes sense. Um, how many years has Mid South been in business? So we're on a sixth year currently.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Um so we're um we're constantly growing and getting bigger and bigger and and bringing on always looking for the right people, and you know, so awesome.

SPEAKER_00

Um, you told me that the decision to start Mid South happened on a Friday night drive home. So let's go back six years. Walk me through what happened that day.

SPEAKER_01

Rough day at work on Friday. I will give you that. Um had a rough day at work on Friday. I was on my way home. I lived about in Lawrence's office. You know, had a good little drive home. Um, on the way home, I got a phone call from a newer insurance agent um that I've been building a relationship with, doing some work with. I mean he said, uh Mike, let me ask you a question. He said, Where do you see yourself at in five years? Never really thought about it that way. So he said, Do you see yourself still working for the guy you're working for? And he said, you know, honestly, uh I'm I'm struggling with some things right now. I thought I said, I'd be lucky if I make it to the end of the next two weeks or a month, you know. Um, he he said something to me that really hit me. He's like, man, you came in, you called on me, you handled my jobs, you inspect my losses, you write the estimate, you're taking care of my customer, you're calling me to collect money if I owe it to you or customer as a team. Why are you not working for yourself? He said, I've never met the guy that owns the company you worked for. I wouldn't honestly while speaking on something do it a day. Um, why are you not doing your own thing? I said, Well, that's a big leap, a fake to take. Um You know, we just bought a house, we're looking to adopt a town. You know, like we were we were really setting our roots uh in the small town we live in, and and I just it really wasn't on my radar at all at that point in time. So he's like, All right, well, my wife's coming home and we let you go. Uh hung up the phone with him, and I had a um an adjuster call me within a few minutes of that. And you know, it was very similar, similar conversation. Um, he's like, Man, you're you're doing it all, you know it all, you know the industry. And uh, why are you working for somebody else? Why are you not working for yourself? And I was like, conversation. I'm like, that's a big leap, you know. Um so I talked to him for a few minutes, had about another 10 or 15 minutes on my ride home, and I really thought Galaphone I really thought long and hard about it. Um, and I was like, you know what? You know, if it's the good Lord has it in the cards for me, then this is what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00

Um you have to assume having those two conversations with two people that don't even know each other, literally within moments of each other, there has to be some like divine intervention there, right? I know you're uh a man of faith. Um, what did that kind of hit you like in that moment? You know, it's it's hard to say, it's hard to explain.

SPEAKER_01

You know, um at that point in time, you know, I knew the operations inside them. You know, the business part of it was a whole nother ballgame for me. Uh, but I got home that afternoon and I said, Hey, I walked in and I looked at my wife, I said, Hey, we're gonna start a business.

SPEAKER_00

Now she's like now what of that, because your wife is active in the business, but she also at the time was running a doctor's office, right? You guys were you said you just bought a house, you were in the middle of trying to adopt a child. How did that conversation go?

SPEAKER_01

She freaked out a little bit. She freaked out a little bit. She's like, How are we gonna afford that? How are we gonna do this? You know, you know, uh, she's always been super supportive of anything that I wanted to jump into feet first, but which met freaked her out, and she's like, uh, I don't know. Like, and I was like, Well, let's we need to start doing some research on what all we we need, and uh, you know, one thing led to another, and the cards fell in place, and you know, before we knew it, we were sitting at a table spitting names out, trying to come up with a name. And where did Mid South come from? Did she did you come up with that or did she come up with that? To be honest with you, I had to look back, I don't even remember. I mean, there were so many names on the list, like it just it just stuck. I mean, it was like we're in the mid-south, you know, we do restoration, it's got one thing led to another, and that's what we came up with, and like it it just worked easy enough.

SPEAKER_00

Um, now you did a little over 1.2 million dollars your first year in business, and that was all from referrals, right? Yeah, 1.6 actually is to be the exact number. Oh, fair. Sorry, I didn't mean to undervalue the revenue. Um, how did how did those relationships that you have uh come in and how did that really help accelerate your growth that first year?

SPEAKER_01

So that there's an interesting part of this because you know, we started calling, uh, didn't you know? I put a thing on Facebook. Hey, I need a commercial insurance agent to uh that does commercial insurance for the restoration industry. I need some help with getting GL insurance and work comp and those types of things. So I hooked up with my current agent, which is still my agent today. Uh, I'm super faithful to just because he helped me through the trenches of what I didn't know.

SPEAKER_00

Uh so one thing, you're wait, you're burying the lead. That's you know, he helped you so much in that first year. Uh, you mentioned what is it, a no audit insurance policy that you had? Correct.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know what a no audit general liability policy even was at the time. So tell the audience what that is. All right. So so your GL insurance is based off of your gross revenue. So whatever you do, gross revenue, typically we get audited in the year. And if we anticipated that we're gonna do this amount at the beginning of the year, then if we did any more of that, we would get audited at the end of the year and we would pay the premium on that difference. So I told him that I was gonna do $250,000 the first year. Um, and he said, Well, let's be safe and let's do this. He's like, I I can get you with a care that has a no-audit insurance policy that means they can't come back at the end of the year and audit you and charge you premiums on the difference on whatever you do. So I literally paid GL insurance on $250,000 the first year. Uh, and we did $1.6. So in a normal insurance situation, we would pay, go back and pay the premium on the difference, the $1.2 million. That's a big check to write. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah. Uh now if you're driving and you're listening to this, this does not mean you own a restoration company. This does not mean you can, you know, call your insurance agent and say, hey, I want to sign up for the Michael Harrison no audit insurance policy for the next year.

SPEAKER_01

Correct, correct. So we rolled that. We were able, they allowed us to roll a no audit policy after they looked at our books the first year. Yeah, obviously, we had to anticipate doing more than the 1.6 because we're gonna grow. So I think we set it to like 2.2. Um, got to be realistic with it. Second year, we bought a no audit insurance policy. The third year, the insurance carrier came back and said, That's it, your no audit insurance policy days are over with. Um, we're gonna you're gonna get audited every year and we're gonna you're gonna pay premiums on what you physically do. So great help from my agent on that because I would have never known. Um, you know, and there's still things today that pop up, and I'm like, let me call my agent. I gotta, I gotta figure this out. Like um, you know, so so having built the good relationships that we have with people and you know, having the right people to lean on, it's not all about what you know, a lot of times it's about who you know. Absolutely. Um but yeah, so we're we were we're 100% referral-based, okay. Um, agents and adjusters, and you know, obviously we do a little bit of Google here and there, but most of our in our work is insurance agents and adjusters.

SPEAKER_00

So not not TPA work, not program work. You've got relationships with the insurance agents and they're referring um their their uh their book of business your way.

SPEAKER_01

Correct, correct. And it it is a little different. I know a lot of people don't navigate that way, but it's the way we've built it um is really to um we offer free inspections to all of our agents um across the board and say, hey, we'll go out, we'll look at it, we'll say, hey, this is claim worthy, this isn't claim worthy. Uh we'll, you know, we'll use my our my crew has to combine, we probably have you know 50 or 60 years worth of experience in the restoration industry. Um, so we will use that to best navigate that customer through the process. Should they make a claim? Should they not? Is this going to be a denied claim? Is this gonna be a covered feral? You know, we can't 100% tell you because we're not an adjuster, but we can help guide you based off of our previous experiences. Yes, this is a $15,000 loss, you have a thousand dollar deductible, we need to make a claim, you know, or this is a $500 loss, you have a thousand dollar deductible, it's not worth making a claim. So we help them with getting those zero dollar claim payouts off of their because that follows your random. Sure. You know, so we've really been successful in that. And then just really taking care of people um when they need it most and building those relationships is what really has worked for us.

SPEAKER_00

I like that. Now, fast forward a few years, right? You guys are in year four, in year five, you guys are you know went from make it a million 1.6 to now you're up to almost a five, six million dollar company, but you were barely making any money. Um, what was actually happening inside the business that you really couldn't see that was slowing you down?

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know, we we hooked up with a couple of commercial agents. We started our size of jobs were were growing. We were doing more commercial, um, still hitting the residential hard, but really doing more commercial. Um, and we there was a couple of different things that happened. We growing so fast, we were kind of kind of behind the A-ball a little bit with you know, needing equipment and needing trucks and needing people, and you know, we probably overstaffed a little bit trying to accommodate. We had a couple of really big projects um going on. And uh, so there was a factor of a lot of things that led to that six million dollar year that was not as profitable as some of our lower gross volume years. Um when we figured it out and we stopped and we backed up and we're all right, next year we're not gonna push new business as much as we are. Let's figure out where we really messed up. Like um, thankfully, we've never been in the red, we never been in the negative, we've been profitable every year, but there's a difference in being profitable and being where you want to be profitably. Sure. You know, um, so we figured out that we needed to back up a little bit and we needed to kind of uh I got some coaching personally, I got my team some coaching uh as far as leadership goes and management goes, and we kind of re-evaluated the system a little bit uh and got organized more or less.

SPEAKER_00

Michael, you mentioned you know, getting some coaching for yourself, uh your team members to kind of write the ship. Um, you've got decades now of experience in the restoration space. Was it a little difficult for you to, you know, kind of take a step back and say, hey, may maybe I could bring in somebody that knows the the inner workings of actually running a successful restoration company as opposed to you who've been in the field, a GM, you've run all these functions. Was there any like hesitation? Like, why am I going to go pay a coach? I've been in this industry for for a long time. I should know how to to to to generate a really profitable business.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so it took a minute to swallow it, and it took a minute for the team because everyone, you know, wants to us to think that they're the greatest at what they do. But at some time we have to humble ourselves and realize we only know what we know and we're only good at what we're good at. We're not good at everything. Um, I was really good at the operations part of it, getting the putting the right people and on the right jobs to get the job done, get it done efficiently. And uh, but I wasn't so good at leading the team, which I still struggle with daily, but it's coming from operations and in the field, you know, it's kind of a cross between that leadership versus that worker mentality. So I still struggle with it today. Um you know, but we figured out that once we opened up and we look back and like systems really do work, you know. You know, um the guy that we hooked up with that did my coaching really dug me into things about my business that I didn't even know. Like uh from the books to the operations to allowing managers to be managers and not having to make every single decision. Uh we never really had an issue with like the quality of work we were producing to the customer. Uh we we always have been really well with like producing that clean job, drying it correctly, you know, the customer being happy with the end outcome. But did we spend too much labor on it? Did we spend too much on materials? Did we keep the customer within budget on their materials they selected? You know, those types of things where you really can bleed we weren't doing very well at. So uh, you know, we really keen in on those things. If you send four people to that job, could two people have really done it, you know, things like that that can really cost you money and you don't even realize it.

SPEAKER_00

What what would you say to the restorator that's you know in the truck with a little windshield time today, listening to the podcast, driving to the next on site visit, um, that kind of feels similar. Hey man, I've been at this for decades. Uh yeah, I'm not as profitable as I want to be. Um, should should he pick up the phone or or reach out to a coach or consultant and and look for some help in riding the ship and and just making his business more efficient and more profitable? 100%.

SPEAKER_01

100%. So You can ask my team that my entire mentality of who I am as a person changed when I started getting coaching for the better. Uh you know, they seen more growth in me than I seen in myself. And it's the same with my team. I seen more growth in my team than they did in themselves. So and it's not so much that it's really weird how it worked because we don't notice it as individuals, how much we grow uh with with coaching in place, you know, talking about things, talking about the right things at the right time, and really setting a plan out for the future. Um and that could be anyway from anywhere from a operation standpoint to a marketing standpoint. You know, everybody uh there's so many different moving parts in what we do that there can be really everybody says it's one train, but it's I don't think it is. I think it's multiple trains on multiple tracks that have to get everybody to the same destination at the end.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, makes a lot of sense. All right. So you have grown the majority of your business, 90% or so, on agent referrals. Um, you have avoided TPA work at all costs. And I I talk to restoration companies on the agency side every single day. And a lot of the guys that built their business almost exclusively on TPA work, they're hurting right now, right? Um, claim volume is down. Uh, there's more uh restoration companies uh in that TPA in their service area. So they're taking the same 10 jobs and spreading them out where they used to spread it out with two uh restorers, now they're spreading it out to five, 10 restorers there. Um, what would you say to the restorer that has historically built their business on TPA and is looking to make a change? Where should they invest their time in kind of growing their sales numbers? Um, maybe not abandon the TPAs, because they still need a little bit of that job flow coming in. But what would you say should be the thing that they look at next to really uh grow their business?

SPEAKER_01

Um, I think that's a hard struggle to turn back from. Uh for me, I think it's easier to stay away from it when you never got into the into that. We actually looked into getting to that at one point in time. The only thing that steered me away from it and what made me walk away was I had no issue giving up a percentage uh of the work that you're gonna send me. What I had a problem with is knowing that 90% of my business was agent referrals, they wanted me also to run the agent referrals through the program and them get a percentage of that. We all know that TPA, we call it beat you up. I mean, you gotta follow the SOPs. Uh, and I really think you gotta have somebody that knows the SOPs almost better than the TPA program does. Uh, but but really, when they said we want you to give us a percentage of what we want everything you get through the front door to come through the TPA program if it's for these carriers. I wasn't willing to do that. Why should I give you? I've paid for the marketing, I've paid the marketing person to go give me that job. Why can't they get the commission for bringing the job in? Why should you get that for for not get for me doing all the work to get the job and then you're gonna get a cut of it? I really didn't agree with that.

SPEAKER_00

You're you're adding new um agent relationships every single year, right? So talk about what it takes to actually build and maintain new agent relationships in 2026. That's tough. That's tough.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, sometimes we gotta eat some crow. You know. Um, I think that being consistent, um, having the right marketing team to visit these people. Um and and with agent referrals, I think it mixes your your uh operations team and your marketing team mixes together because you've got a person going out there selling to this agent that we're gonna do good service, we're gonna take care of your client, we're gonna do this for you. Um, they're gonna come back and make sure that crew, like my salesperson was actually out on a job today with my mitigation crew, making sure that that job went the way it needed to go. Like that that she could get back to that agent and say, Hey, I was on site, we took care of this lady. Um, you know, so I think that they kind of mingle together and they'll hold each other accountable if you allow them to. Uh, but you have to have that marketing person involved in somewhat of the communication and operations part of it because they're gonna be the one going by to the agent. The agent's gonna be calling them asking questions. Um, so communication is key. Um and then, you know, uh just be open with people. I mean, if you if you if I don't think it's covered, I'm gonna tell you I don't think it's covered. If I think that it's a gray area, I'm gonna be the first one to tell the agent. I'd say I think it's a gray area. I had this conversation with uh one of my big agents yesterday, and I was like, Look, you know, we you I can't tell her it's covered or not covered. I'm not an insurance adjuster. I said, but uh in my experience in the last 20 years, it's a gray area. So we need to turn a claim in to find out. Let's turn a claim in, let's get an adjuster on site, let's figure out what's going on. You know, so uh you know, and and and knowing when to push and when not to, you know, is a big part of it, I think, too. Because you gotta keep the I I tell my crew, I was like, you got five customers, really. You got the insured, you got the adjuster, you got the agent, you got my sales lady, and then you got me. So there's about five customers you got to keep happy at the end of the day. So uh it's definitely a a very fine navigational point um to keep everybody and and to tell you it's not always unit points and rainbows. I mean, it's not uh always easy. I mean, there's there's disagreements that I've had with agents. We respect each other, I respect the the position they're coming from, they respect mine. Um same thing with my marketing lady. I mean, we don't always agree upon everything, but we're here as a team, we gotta work together. What's at the end of the day, the solution is what does it take to take care of the customer? I like that.

SPEAKER_00

I like that a lot. Um, so you have um kind of rided the ship, uh made the business uh a lot more profitable moving forward. Um, you took a portion of those profits last year and invested in a franchise. I can see the pink shirt, I can see the plunger on the wall. Um, you took the plunge, no pun intended, and invested in a one-to-plumber franchise. So uh walk me through what that courting process looked like uh in terms of getting you to actually buy into the franchise model. Because you, my friend, in our conversations, are not a big fan of franchising.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not, I'm not. I think that they have the right place for the right people. Um, especially if you don't have a lot of experience in that industry you're getting into, I think they can be really beneficial. Uh, but it was hard for me to go that way, not seeing what I was gonna receive back out of it, you know, having the experience I had in the relationship already built. Uh, but yes, I jumped into a one-time plumber franchise. And if you ask the um CEO at the time, I was probably one of the hardest sales he ever had. Um was that Rocky? Yeah, it was Rocky. Okay, all right. We've had Rocky on the show before. He says that I'm one of the hardest sales he ever had. So uh, you know, in our area, there's a lot of plumbing referrals. There's a lot of people playing plumbers high dollar for their referrals. Um, you know, and I've never got into that game. Never, I'm not a big cash referral guy. I prefer I'll take care of your customer if you call me with a with a job and um and I'll take you to lunch, we'll go to dinner, we'll go hang out, whatever. But I'm not a big money changing hands guy. That's not really what I've ever been about. But that's a game in a city like Memphis. That's the game. That's the game. That's the game. And some people are realizing it's hard to give $600 away on a job that's only $500. It's catching up. Uh, so the biggest thing for me is is getting more into the commercial work. You know, we go out on a flooded building and uh the customer be like, You got a plumber? And I'm like, Well, I got a guy I can call, but I call him at nine o'clock on Saturday and he says, I can't be there till Tuesday. I mean, yeah, that customer doesn't really want to hear that. They're trying to get back open again.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, so uh we jumped feet first into it. Um we we literally cash funded out of our profits last uh year for last. Um to start up the one-time thing, no SBA loans, no bank loans, straight up, cash funded it, bought the vans, equipment.

SPEAKER_00

Straight cash, homie. I don't know. I don't remember what movie that's from, but that's uh that's the way you did it. Um okay. Um tell me a little bit about what you thought um was going to be the um the byproduct of having your own plumbing franchise and tell me what the reality has actually been for you.

SPEAKER_01

So the the byproduct was hopefully to get more water damage leads. I mean, that's what the whole goal in this is is who's the first person you call when your house is flooded and you call plumbing. You know, so if we can get in there first, then we can we can get that referral over to Mid-South. And we train from the top to the bottom for that. You know, we train our dispatcher to answer the phone and says, Hey, I got tolled overflowed. Or you do you have any water on the floor? Uh, how many rooms got wet? You know, I'm when since when you call a plumbing coming in, they ask you how many rooms of water on the floor you got when you're calling to have a cold oct. You know, no. Uh so they get that information and she'll try to dispatch our sister uh restoration company at the same time. And then if she can't, and they say, No, I just want the plumbing fixed right now, that's fine. I might have a plumber come out on site, and that plumber's gonna get on site and figure out what's going on. He's gonna take care of your plumbing issues, but he's also gonna say, We really should probably get this planned up. You know, we can we can get our restoration company out here today, you know, 24-7. We're available. Um, so there's a second sales side of that. Um, so you kind of hit that customer twice. Um, you know, and we take care of the ones who who sell that referral back over and in-house. So um they got a little competition going who can get it. If the if the dispatcher can't get it, the tech's gonna work twice as hard to get it. So they got a little rivalry, which I like. Um but you know, that's the end goal. Um obviously we want to be profitable as a plumbing company, it's not all about the referrals, um, but it is that is what we do. I mean, that's what got us to where we're at.

SPEAKER_00

So but the last conversation you and I had uh had, you you really like the the plumbing stuff, right? That pays keeps the cash flow uh a moving, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, cash flow is very different. Both businesses are very, very different, I will promise you that. So uh they're both you know trade-oriented customer service roles, but but cash flow with the plumbing company is a lot different. Where you know, insurance, you're talking about 30, 60, 90 a day pay, sometimes longer. Uh with the plumbing, if it's residential, you're pretty much paid when you're done. If it's commercial, worst case, you're net 30. Um so your cash flow is much different. Obviously, your numbers are smaller and and you know, but but it is much simpler because you you know a job on a restoration site could be a month long uh with rebuilding everything, and sometimes longer. Uh plumbing, you're usually in and out. So your number of jobs is higher, but you're you know so uh they both have their pros and cons, but I do enjoy the plumbing. Um I think there's a quicker turnaround on satisfaction. So when I when I hire a salesperson, all my salespeople are dual branded, they sell both companies.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Uh so I we we call it long money, short money around here. Makes sense. Uh when I interview a market person, I I say, look, you you got the plumbing company, which is short money because it's quick turnaround, and then you got the restoration company, which is your long money. So you put that together and it it works out very, very well.

unknown

I like that.

SPEAKER_01

Um what you'll figure out though, that we figured out is your best plumbing customers aren't always your best restoration customers. Interesting. And your best restoration companies customers are not always your best plumbing customers. Why do you think that is? Um, I think it depends on the dynamic of the facility. Um, sometimes they work out together and they're great. Um, we do quite a bit of commercial clients that will use us for both, and it works out great. You know, I've got some uh commercial clients that love us for plumbing, but they're not looking for a retail, you know, a full service, like when they get water on the floor, they're looking for somebody to mop it up and tell a fan on it, and that's not really what we're about. We're a true restoration company, we're gonna do it right or not at all. So we're not a good fit for some of them, but we still love them and we they still send us plumbing jobs every day. So, you know, I think that finding the ones that fit and the ones that don't is is a key part of it, but they definitely uh do work well together.

SPEAKER_00

Good, glad to hear. Um, so what does the next few years look like for Mid South and your one-time plumber franchise? Where where are you trying to take these businesses?

SPEAKER_01

You know, that's that's funny you say that because we're currently uh working with a team to figure out where they want to take it because that's what it really boils down to. It's not as much about where I want to take it. Yes, I have a lot of influence in that, uh, and I have a vision, but they gotta have that same vision, you know, and they gotta have input on that vision too, because they're the ones that are building. You know, you're not doing it by yourself, not at this point. I mean, sure. You're doing a million dollars a year on a truck, you can do it by yourself. But when you're doing five, six million dollars a year and and another million plus in plumbing, I mean you you are gotta be team oriented and you gotta let the team have some buy. And so um, I have a great team right now and we're constantly we actually brought two one, two or four new people in recently that uh where we're gonna get trained up. Um we want the right people. We're at the point now where we don't want people, we want the right people with the right attitude and the right mentality. Uh I can teach you how to do restoration all day long. But you gotta you gotta wanna learn it and you gotta want to take care of the customer and you gotta be positive.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I like that. Um if if there's a lot of people out there struggling to find good people, what's the one piece of hiring advice that you would give that restorer that's trying to get that next uh technician, trying to get that next project manager, trying to get that next ex estimator? Um, what are some some nuggets that you can give them that maybe they can use?

SPEAKER_01

Let me tell you that I really the last week, and I'll be real vulnerable with you right now, sure, I had to look in the mirror and say, quick to fire, slow to hire. Because there was a couple people that uh when I let go this morning that was not a good culture fit for our company. Um, he did not come in with a positive attitude, he was not a team player on the job with the rest of the people. And I had a new guy that started on Monday and sent him out to a demo job. Most of my team was on a big demo job for a commercial client um that is really good to us. And he complained the whole time and just made it to the point where the I felt like the new guy didn't even want to come back to work the next day. You know, and I sat down uh and I really felt hard about it, and I'm like, is he a good fit for me and my company and what we're trying to do here? Um I don't think he's a bad guy. I think that um I wish him the best of luck wherever he's going, but you gotta get rid of the bad apples because they will spoil the bunch. And I've been the world's worst because we are busy and we are consistently doing jobs that it is hard to let go of somebody that shows up to work and you know does what you ask them to do, but those people aren't the really the people you want. You want people that are motivated, that want to do better, want to learn more, want to grow, and and want to come in positive and help the team, you know. Um so and that that's kind of what I'm looking for now. And I think that we've got a couple of new guys that are really gonna be really good. Awesome. Um, you know, but the biggest thing is we've held on to some way too long.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think that's a good lesson for all of us, right? I love that. Um quick to quick to quick to or I'm sorry, slow to hire, quick to fire, right? Yeah, uh, I should know it's it's easier to say it than it is to do it.

SPEAKER_01

I will promise you that. So that's fair. Um, you know, you just but you you've got to do what's best for your business, and uh we're not looking for mediocracy.

SPEAKER_00

Uh it sounds like you're you're on the in the process of getting the right people in the right seats, and that's gonna mean the world to mid-south and one timer as you grow both of those businesses there.

SPEAKER_01

Correct. And I knew yesterday when I let that um uh when I talked to my team yesterday about it, or about how I felt, and they every one of them went around the room and said, Look, I'm a project manager rebo side, but if you need help on mitigation, I got you. My sales girl's like, if you need me to put boots on and go suck water, I got you. You know, we're gonna do what we have to do to get our customers taken care of. We agree 100% with that decision. He's not a right fit, and we're gonna pick up the pieces and pick up the slack if we need to. It was a no-brainer for me at that point. Everybody else saw it, I just was too honorary to accept it. So uh big learning moment for me, even today, you know, at this point.

SPEAKER_00

So you might have been in this business for for for decades, but uh it's really nice that your team can uh can help you grow as a leader, right? As a business owner. Yeah. So well, man, I I really want to thank you, Michael, for for coming on here for being vulnerable and sharing that story because I'm sure you're not the only restorer that's like sitting in that seat, right? Having to make those hard decisions there. So um again, if anybody's interested in reaching out to you, having a conversation with you about your experience, um, maybe some insight, you know, maybe per potentially investing in a one Tom Plumber franchise. Where's the best people place for people to find you? Hey, shoot them my number, shoot them my email. They can read that. Probably won't give them your phone number, Michael, because I don't want you getting a bunch of phone calls, especially how good you're looking in that pink shirt. Um, so what we'll do is we'll we'll tag you uh on social media. Um, we'll put your contact information in the show notes, and uh and if somebody's interested in reaching out to you, we'll let them do it that way. So I'd love to help any way I can. I appreciate what it's all about. I appreciate you being on the podcast today, Michael, and sharing your experience, sharing your story. If you guys like what you heard today, make sure that you guys like and subscribe to the Restoration Pros Unplug podcast. We'll be back next week with another insightful guest like Michael, sharing some things that you can take, actionable items, put in place to help grow your restoration business. Um, again, thank you, Michael, for the time. And uh thank you, audience, for joining us. If you like what you heard, make sure you go leave us one of those five-star reviews. Say something nice about us so more restorers actually find our podcast there. So thanks again, Michael. Appreciate it. 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 the 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 waterrestorationmarketing.net. Again, that's water restoration marketing.net. I look forward to hearing from you still.