An overview of property restoration history is provided in this great discussion with Michelle Blevins (C&R Magazine) and Pete Consigli, The Restoration Watchdog - WATCH the full episode "The History of Restoration" on Restoration Today. ​

Cliff Zlotnik's nuggets mined from the show:

• The Z-Man first met Andy Ask at the first Building Science Summer Camp in 1996, where Andy kindly offered the Z-Man rides from the hotel to and from Summer Camp events held in Joe Lstiburek’s home and backyard.
• According to Andy, many conferences are supported by vendors who have proprietary as well as other products to sell. Andy labels ASHRAE conferences as nerdy. Andy is a life member of ASHRAE, which to him means a 50-year association member with a pulse. ASHRAE requires presenters only speak about the science. The audience wants to know what experts due, how they do it and what products they use, recommend and why?
• Speaking about what Andy uses and recommends. Andy has been an advocate of water source heat pumps/geothermal heat pumps and as recent as 4 years ago put them in a home he was remodeling. He has since ripped them out and installed Mitsubishi VRF zoning and ductless systems in his own home.
• According to Andy Ask, the motivation for what is now called Winter Break began with the local need to bring Building Science concepts to the southwest coast of Florida. From 1995-2005 Floridian homeowners, contractors and building trades learned that adding insulation and making homes tighter didn’t work.
• Andy has been hosting local Building Science events for 25 years.
• Andy’s 2023 two-day event is twice as big as his previous events.
• Rick Sims and his wife Rickie were the impetus to expanding Winter Break to its current size and focus, from a local event to regional event.
• Building Science Guru Joe Lstiburek is a strong magnet, always drawing a crowd of people interested in learning more about Building Science.
• Florida’s warm winter weather is a desirable alternative to New England weather either in August or in the winter.
• Andy and Rick pulled off a huge, never before done, industry accomplishment with the Pioneers Panel. Bringing Building Science Legends together on stage: Joe Lstiburek, John Tooley (Building Performance), Gary Nelson (engineer, inventor of the blower door, etc.) and Neil Moyer (duct leakage and system diagnostics). Andy credits Pete Consigli for the Pioneer Panel!
• Gary Nelson discussed blower door history. According to Andy Ask, the blower door is like a level in a tool box, it should be used on every job not just once. 
• Jon Isaacson Lost in the complex-become masters of the obvious?

Z-Man comments on Pioneer Panel

• To me watching the panel was like law enforcement eavesdropping on people under surveillance.
• The panel sat in comfortable chairs on stage.
• Transparency and honesty in entertaining and educational way.
• Common denominators, all of these guys had overcome business struggles.
• All were lucky enough to have mentors. 

Read more from the IAQ Radio blog
Watch IAQ Radio Episode 688

Cleaning and Restoration Categories include:

• Top Influencers
• Most Innovative Products
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• Nominations are open to anyone and any product within the cleaning industry
• A person can nominate themselves
• Individuals can submit multiple nominations

 
Make Your Nominations Today:

Nominations for all categories are open through September 30, 2023. The January/February issue of ISSA Today magazine will feature selected nominees from the Top Influencers category. Complete your Top Influencer nominations by December 30, 2022 for your chance to be included.

Follow this link to the ISSA webpage to make your nominations
 
Questions? Please email media@issa.com

Martin "Marty" L. King's vision was to, "See the business of insurance restoration and damage repair become a profession."  

In this video, which originally aired as part of The DYOJO Podcast Episode 85, we talk to John Pletcher. Mr. Pletcher was awarded the 2022 MLK Award at the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) Annual Convention. John shares his fond memories of being mentored by and working with Marty.   

In the mid-1980s the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration (ASCR), which would eventually be re-branded as RIA, recognized Marty with a lifetime achievement award for his pioneering work since the late 1960s to carve a restoration niche in the larger cleaning and restoration industry as a standalone discipline from remodeling and general contracting or carpet cleaners and janitorial companies who engaged in restoration work as a sideline business activity. In 1986, the lifetime achievement award was renamed the Martin L. King (MLK) Award given to an individual who has, over many years, made significant and conspicuous contributions to the restoration profession.   

The August 2015 issue of Cleaning and Restoration Magazine (C&R) featured property restoration industry icon Martin “Marty” L. King in remembrance of his passing earlier that year in May. The title of the video attached to this article, “Igniter of an industry,” is recognized as a concise summary of Marty’s contributions to fulfilling his vision for the craft of property restoration. Those four words were penned by another industry founding father, Cliff Zlotnik.    

For those interested in the history of our industry, Pete Consigli wrote an article recognizing the four faces on Mount Restoration for the same publication (C&R) in March of 2007 which the reader would do well to study.   

In the 2015 issue previously mentioned, Pete stated,   

​“Marty had a vision for a new and emerging industry he called “damage repair.” Marty’s life’s work was to see the business of damage repair evolve into a profession. Fifty years after Marty had that dream, the legacy of the restoration industry is in the hands of those he influenced and many of those people are preparing to pass on the stewardship of the industry to the next generation. It is the hope of many that the next generation will take the industry to a place never imagined by the industry’s founders.”  

As part of our ongoing commitment to research and share elements of property restoration history, you can read more and contribute historical content to PropertyRestorationHistory.com

As Mr. Consigli says, "Reflecting on Marty’s passing, it is my hope that his teachings and wisdom will be remembered with reverence. In this way, the industry will honor those who paved the path for its success today. This is how we will evolve as succeeding generations seek greatness in the restoration profession.”

Additional resources on this topic:

• March 2007 issue of Cleaning and Restoration (C&R) Founding Fathers of Restoration
• Appearance on IAQ Radio Episode 75
• A Brief Walk Through Restoration History (R&R Magazine)
• Building A Bridge From Restoration's Founding Fathers To The Modern Restorer (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. 

Cliff 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:

• Prescriptive based standards
• Performance based standards

As well as two types of standards:

• Voluntary standards 
• Compulsory 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. 

In 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." 

• Create awareness
• Be transparent
• Build true consensus
• Have differing viewpoint and healthy debate 

The pair mentions in the article,