How RestoPros of Central Arkansas Gets 95% of Its Jobs by Word of Mouth and Doubled Its Reviews

How did Trey Breeding get into the restoration business?

Through a business opportunity that connected to something he had lived through. Trey was a process engineering manager at a manufacturing facility when the people who are now his business partners approached him about a RestoPros franchise.

He already knew what a flood does to a family. When he was a teenager his grandmother’s house flooded a couple of times, with water thigh to waist high through the whole house. He had seen “the good, bad, and the ugly” of how the industry could go, and wanted people in that position taken care of.

He left his job and went full-time in June 2022, then started building a crew around August. RestoPros of Central Arkansas handles water, mold, fire, smoke and odor mitigation. Trey is one of the owners and the operations manager, and he is also involved in a Northwest Arkansas territory that is six to eight months old.

How does a new restoration company get its first jobs?

Almost entirely through relationships. Trey said about 95% of the company’s work comes from word of mouth, built with what he called boots on the ground marketing. He went to see anyone who might come across water damage before he does:

• insurance agents
• plumbing shops and plumbing supply houses
• realtors

He did all of it himself at first. About a year in, he hired someone to do business development full-time. The start was slow, he said, until they figured out how to talk to people and get them to send work. Since then the company has grown steadily year over year.

What does going above and beyond look like on a restoration job?

Honesty up front, and making the disruption livable. Trey tells most customers the same thing on day one: “I’m going to try to inconvenience you as least as I possibly can, but this process is not going to be fun.”

His example was a job where a fiber company drilled through a sewer line and sewage came up through every plumbing fixture in a disabled veteran’s home, flooding half the house. All the kitchen cabinets had to come out. Instead of leaving an empty room, the crew:

• worked with a plumber to install a temporary sink, so the homeowner never lost water
• set up plastic tables to serve as countertop space
• put the boxed pots and pans under the table where each cabinet had been

They do the same in bathrooms when they can. “People don’t realize how much you use your sinks and stuff until you don’t have it,” he said.

Customers also deal directly with an owner. They have his personal cell number and are told a text at 10 at night will not bother him.

What is the hardest part of running a restoration company?

Emergencies do not keep a schedule. “The calls come at noon, the calls come at midnight, the calls come at 4:00 a.m.,” Trey said. They also come on vacation and during his daughter’s choir concert, and balancing that with home life is the thing he has struggled with most.

The second challenge is volatility. The company runs one or two crews all year, and then a hard freeze or a tornado hits and 30 crews would not be enough. That means triaging jobs, turning some people down, and finding staff, equipment and hours in the day on zero notice.

What should homeowners do to avoid a big restoration bill?

Pay attention and act early. Trey’s advice:

• Use the inspection programs that plumbing and HVAC companies offer once or twice a year. They are affordable next to a restoration bill.
• Do not ignore anything. “If something looks off, it probably is.”
• Use the day two rule. A wet spot on the carpet could be a spilled glass of water. If it is still there on the second day, call someone.

Most jobs, he said, are not houses flooded chest high. They are a fixture that leaked, damaged part of a bathroom and soaked the bedroom carpet next to it. The sooner someone looks, the smaller the job. RestoPros of Central Arkansas offers free inspections, and he tells callers what he would do if it were his own house.

What would he tell an owner who is struggling to grow?

Stop trying to do everything. The advice was given to Trey about a year in, and it is the reason he hired for business development: “Figure out where you provide the most value, hire everything else.”

He decided he was most valuable in front of customers, so he hired someone else to knock on doors. He said the company would have gotten off to a better start if he had filled roles earlier “instead of trying to be Superman.”

Next for the Central Arkansas location is another crew and more staff to shorten emergency response times. Nearly four years in, he said, there are still plenty of doors to knock on.