S&P Global Ratings today took the rating actions listed below. The downgrade reflects the increased leverage, to about 4.5x over the next 12 months from about 2.7x, and S&P Global Ratings' expectation that aggressive financial policy decisions from the new ownership could increase leverage further.

The promise of automated job data collection goes back many years, but it’s finally happening, thanks to Bluetooth technology.

In the March issue of R&R, Phil walked through his industry predictions from 2018 and revealed how he scored on each. His predictions included labor shortages and wage increases, industry pricing challenges, more TPA influence, growth of outside groups, and projections on weather-related events. To see how he fared, check out his March article! This month, he’s sharing his predictions for 2019!

It seems like almost weekly we turn on the news and hear of some type of natural disaster. An earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood, severe weather event, or a wildfire seem to be causing devastation in some part of the world. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives are affected every year.

It’s been a busy weather start to 2019 for restorers across the U.S. In the Northwest, there was the deep freeze; the Midwest has been experiencing record-breaking and deadly flooding and before that some major snow and ice storms; some of the Central States – and Georgia – have seen deadly tornadoes. And that was all just through the month of March.

Heat drying is a topic that is often discussed with almost a cult style narrative that usually alarms my critical reader mind instantly and I move on since it seems to scream sales ad disguised as technical info.

It goes without question the use of drones – both in business and for recreation – has truly taken off over the last few years. Now equipped with technology like cameras, thermal imaging capabilities, and even computers, drones are being used in industries across the board.

Libraries, courthouses, police evidence rooms, universities, museums, law offices, financial institutions – they all have one thing in common: paper. Whether it’s boxes of vital records, archives, books, or paper files, maintaining these documents is essential to their respective operations. 

Welcome to my {mostly} annual restoration trends update. I have spent more than 30 years working in the restoration industry which gives me a relevant perspective on the business of restoration. The following list is meant to help restoration contractors assess their business strategies – and just be an overall interesting read. I believe these issues will be the top drivers of change, not only in 2019, but into the future.