Better training needed for those new to the restoration industry
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Narrator: Allen Booth, is a Co-founder of FirstOnSite restoration, and has over 50 years of experience in the construction/ restoration industry. He talks to ILSTV about the importance of proper training and the challenges of maintaining a skilled workforce.
Allen Booth: Depending on what marketplace you’re in, there was a period of time when the apprenticeship programs in the construction industry were very strong and well supported. Unfortunately that has not been as strong over the last fifteen years. Because of that, the skill isn’t what one would hope.
You hire the best you can in terms of men and women that have developed as much expertise as they can and look like they want to dedicate themselves to the trade, and then you have to take them the rest of the way. You have to groom people over time and because we get calls for many different losses; for instance we could be on a loss in an old building, or we could be on a loss in a very sophisticated, high-end home commercial building, or a high-rise building, and you have to be able to pick and choose which people to send where to fill specific needs.
Then over time if the person has the right attitude and the right work ethic, we can continue to invest time and money in their training so that they will be future leaders and we look to create career paths for people internally. Building your own, so-to-speak, is probably the best way to end up with a strong skill set coast to coast.
Narrator: However, before you can build internally, you need to get young people in the door. Like the insurance industry, this can be a challenge.
Allen Booth: I’m not so sure that construction and restoration is their first choice. It’s seems like there’s still an attraction to anything electronic, and that’s been going on for quite some time. The ones that do want to be in the construction or restoration industry typically come to us with the right attitude because they’ve tried other industries and have elected to give the restoration and construction industry the next shot, if you will, or they’ve determined that they really want to be a skilled tradesperson. And those that have made that choice through a process of elimination can typically have the right attitude; but I’m not we are the draw we’d like to be because we have some mighty forces that attract young people
