Jim Thompson shares a funny story about the early days of the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) when it had the unfortunate acronym of AIDS (Association of Interior Design Specialists). Large loss specialist and trainer Jim Thompson sat down with Jon Isaacson to discuss his life experiences and the content of his new book, “My Life Is One Disaster After Another.” Jim started from the ground up as a public adjuster, moved into cleaning and property restoration, before taking some time away to work with NASA (yes, THAT NASA). Jim didn’t think he would return to the industry but found something he enjoyed training local contractors to market, win, and complete large losses. Projects for commercial, residential, industrial, and catastrophic disaster response, Mr. Thompson has done it all. He has compiled his 40 plus years of experience and is sharing it in written form with those willing to listen. Our conversation also touches on:
Guest appearances and shoutouts for:
0 Comments
John Downey calls himself a "formerly important person" but he is far from hanging up his hat and retiring. The founder of Cleanfax is busy with his work as the executive director of CIRI, the Cleaning Industry Research Institute. In this special on-location interview, Downey discusses his work and what he is doing to help promote the value of cleaning. John and interviewer Jeff Cross discuss some funny stories from the early days of Cleanfax Magazine. Pete Consigli, the Global Restoration Watchdog, and Jon Isaacson co-authored an article in Cleanfax Magazine.
Building A Bridge From Restoration's Founding Fathers To The Modern Restorer. Pete and Jon discuss how modern restorers can explore the restoration industry's rich history and use many of those mindsets and habits to build a strong future. Consigli says, “It is critical, following a loss, that a process starts with a meeting of the minds among the three parties that are central to a disaster restoration project,” what he refers to as the “Restoration Triangle,” made up of the property owner, insurance carrier, and restoration contractor of record. He humorously summarizes these parties as “who’s damaged,” “who’s fixin’ it,” and “who’s payin’ for it.” Read more, for free, in the latest print and online volume of Cleanfax Magazine. Jeff Cross is the host of Straight Talk from ISSA Media which is the group that publishes Cleanfax Magazine. While his show is normally fifteen minutes or less, he rolled extra tape to dive into the history of the Restoration Industry Watchdogs with Cliff Zlotnik and Pete Consigli. For nearly an hour, Jeff and his guests discuss some of the questions the two Watchdogs and others started asking when issues with the formation and revision of the standards came about. The symbol of the Restoration Industry Watchdogs is the German Shepard. When asked to define what a Watchdog is, Pete says. "We challenge what's out there. We ask a lot of questions. We don't always know the answers but we're curious." As the industry was developing the first S520 which is the Standard Reference Guide for Professional Mold Remediation Pete, Cliff, and several others began asking some probing questions about the behind the scenes process and the motivations of some of the players. Standards of Care for Property RestorationCliff believes there have been some key questions that need to be asked whenever standards of care are being composed. Cliff says that there is a problem when we abdicate responsibility from the contractor to a book. The voluntary standards for the restoration industry came as a response to some litigation issues. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. There are two approaches of standards:
As well as two types of standards:
The standards of care for the property restoration industry have been voluntary in that they are not compulsory such as OSHA standards. They are also prescriptive, outlining how something should be done but not always quantifying the performance outcomes. Asking Good QuestionsIn 2003 Pete and Cliff co-wrote an article, The Future of the Water Loss Industry: Joy and Prosperity or Gloom and Doom? for Cleaning and Restoration (C&R) Magazine. Some people took offense to the publication, as the pair share in this interview, but they were asking the right questions. Being contentious is not a bad thing, a good debate helps to refine the process and builds a better end product through "contentious collaboration."
The pair mentions in the article, "As professional restorers engaged in the sewage and mold remediation segment of Unnecessary Use of Big WordsCliff closes the discussion with a recap of his reservations about fear mongering that was used in the creation of prior standards and still being promulgated in the development of upcoming standards such as fire restoration. He mentions that some people like to hide behind big words in contrast to a pure sign of having a deep knowledge of a subject is whether you can explain it in simple terms to a six year old.
Additional resources on this topic:
We are working to track down and share the people, innovations, movements, and stories from the evolution of the property restoration industry. The goal of this site is to be a collection of shared memories, photographs, videos, audio segments, documents, relics, and stories. We want to learn from and honor our past and we need your help. Please reach out if you have something to add or a lead on an interesting fact.
|
AuthorWe are tracking down and sharing the people, innovations, movements, and other fun facts from the evolution of the property restoration industry. Please reach out if you have stories and relics to share. Archives
April 2022
Categories
All
Sponsors: |