How to Build a Resilient Restoration Business Based on IICRC and OSHA

 Are you planning to start your own restoration business? Or maybe you already launched your own business, and now you’re looking for tips to grow it. Either way, one thing is certain: investing in professional certifications and training can make your business more sustainable and successful. Among the options available to you, certifications offered by the nonprofit Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) and restoration training programs approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stand out as invaluable assets.

How IICRC Certification and OSHA Training Can Benefit Your Business 

Learning how to adhere to IICRC and OSHA standards may seem difficult and overwhelming initially. Yet, doing so can actually be a worthwhile process that provides multiple benefits.

IICRC training and certification can:

• provide a framework for consistency
• ensure comprehensive documentation
• significantly reduce risks associated with subpar workmanship or non-compliance
• enhance your marketing efforts
• give assurance that you and your employees have adequate knowledge, skills and practices
• build your reputation among insurers who have the power to recommend you
• differentiate your business from lesser-qualified competitors
• instill confidence in prospective clients
• help people find you (If your company, as a whole, is an IICRC-certified business, it will be listed on the IICRC website, where anyone can find and access certified restoration companies in their respective state)

OSHA training can:

• promote safe and healthy working conditions for your field team
• lead to safe restoration outcomes for clients
• ensure compliance with safety regulations
• protect your company's reputation

Overall, pursuing both IICRC courses and OSHA training can enhance your company’s credibility, profitability and growth potential.

IICRC Certification

Achieving IICRC certification is not just about obtaining a piece of paper. It's about committing to excellence in the restoration industry. All IICRC-certified professionals are expected to uphold the Institute’s principal values of respect, responsibility, integrity, excellence, and expertise.

IICRC offers a range of foundational certification courses that are particularly relevant to restoration contractors, including:

- Applied Microbial Remediation Technician (AMRT)

- Applied Structural Drying Technician (ASD)

- Building Moisture Inspection (BMI)

- Commercial Drying Specialist (CDS)

- Contents Processing Technician (CPT)

- Fire and Smoke Damage Restoration Technician (FSRT)

- Health and Safety Technician (HST)

- Mold Remediation Specialist (MRS)

- Odor Control Technician (OCT)

- Carpet Repair and Reinstallation Technician (RRT)

- Trauma and Crime Scene Technician (TCST)

- Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT certification)

You can read more about these individual IICRC classes HERE. (FYI: As a certifying body, IICRC owns no schools and has no instructors on staff. Rather, IICRC certifications are available through approved schools and instructors that apply to and meet criteria established by the organization’s board of directors.)

You can also purchase IICRC-issued manuals for updates on a range of remediation and restoration tasks.

How to Prove Your Business Is Meeting IICRC and OSHA Standards 

It all comes down to documentation. Comprehensive documentation can provide irrefutable evidence that your company is meeting industry-wide standards on a consistent basis. 

So, how do you go about it? Here are two important tips:

1. Develop a Documentation SOP – In the context of restoration, a Documentation SOP (which stands for ‘Standard Operating Procedure’) is a comprehensive guide that outlines the documentation steps and protocols to be followed during various stages of a project. In other words, it serves as a roadmap for capturing critical information from start to finish.

2. Use Digital Documentation – Significantly faster and better than paper documentation, this method streamlines document development and organization, making any file easy to create, store, find retrieve and share. The most efficient digital tool for this purpose is an all-in-one field documentation app, such as magicplan. A robust app will standardize the way your company collects and organizes project notes and data by:

- enabling fast, easy sketching of rooms that require restoration services

- permitting sketches to be enhanced with photos, notes and objects

- allowing easy creation of custom forms and custom attributes templates that can be set up to collect data in a uniform way across your entire team (for example, you could add a custom attribute to moisture-meter objects within floor plans, to document daily moisture readings)

- simplifying documentation of equipment placement and use at a job site (e.g., adding a custom attribute to dehumidifier objects within a floor plan, to document which days those were used)

- permitting easy creation of field photo reports that can be exported and shared

- integrating automatically with Xactimate®

Summary

Building a resilient restoration business requires a commitment to professionalism, safety, and continuous improvement. Obtaining IICRC certifications and OSHA training – and documenting your company’s adherence to those organizations’ standards – are essential steps toward achieving this goal. So, instead of viewing these initiatives as burdensome obligations, look to them as valuable investments that contribute to long-term success!

LEARN MORE ABOUT TWO KEY INDUSTRY STANDARDS:

ANSI/IICRC S500 Standard for Water Damage Restoration: What to Know About Its Past, Present and Future

All About the ANSI/IICRC S520 Standard for Professional Mold Remediation