A lot of people think you need a crew, a box truck and a warehouse full of equipment to start a water restoration company. You don’t. One person can absolutely run a small water restoration business, especially in the beginning. But you need to know what you can do alone, what you should hand off, and when it’s time to grow.
What one person can handle
A typical residential water job is very doable on your own:
- Answering the call and setting the appointment
- Inspecting the damage with a moisture meter and, ideally, an infrared camera
- Extracting standing water
- Removing wet baseboards, the bottom of the drywall, or wet carpet pad
- Setting air movers and dehumidifiers
- Daily monitoring visits to take readings and adjust equipment
- Documenting everything with photos and moisture logs
- Pulling the equipment when the job is dry and sending the invoice
A bathroom leak, a water heater that let go, a kitchen sink supply line, an AC drain line overflow. These are the jobs that build a one-person company, and they happen every day in every town in America.
What you shouldn’t try to do alone
Know your limits. Some jobs need more hands than you have.
Big losses
A whole house underwater, a commercial building, or multiple units in a condo is too much for one person. Some of the biggest jobs I’ve been part of, like a hurricane flood and mold loss of more than $1 million across about 40 units, took multiple companies working together. Big jobs are where you partner up, not where you prove you can do it all yourself.
Heavy demo and contents
Pulling out cabinets, tearing out a lot of flooring, or packing up a family’s belongings goes faster and safer with help.
Work outside your license
Mold removal and rebuild work may need licenses in your state. Read do you need a license for water damage restoration.
The secret: rent and subcontract
This is how a one-person company punches above its weight. I teach people to rent equipment and subcontract labor when they’re starting out. You don’t need to own 30 air movers to take a job that needs 30 air movers. Rent what you need, bring in a helper or a subcontractor for demo day, and keep your overhead low. You’re the one who owns the customer relationship, runs the job and makes sure it’s done to standard.
Read more in what equipment you need to start and how much it costs to start.
The real challenge: you are the whole company
The work isn’t the hardest part. Being everything at once is. When you’re solo, you’re the tech, the salesperson, the bookkeeper and the person who answers the phone at midnight. A few things make that manageable:
- Use templates. Work authorizations, moisture logs, invoices and follow-up texts should be ready to go, not written from scratch every time.
- Document like your payday depends on it, because it does. Read how to document a water job so you get paid.
- Have a backup. Someone who can do a monitoring visit if you’re sick or stuck on another job.
- Don’t take every job. A job you can’t do well hurts your reviews and your reputation more than a job you passed on.
When to hire your first person
You’ll know it’s time when you’re turning down work or the quality starts to slip because you’re stretched too thin. That’s a good problem. Your first hire is usually a technician who can run monitoring and demo while you sell and manage. Read hiring your first water restoration technician.
Today my restoration company has a team behind it, and we’ve handled jobs as big as a hospital. But every big company in this industry started with someone answering the phone and showing up to a wet floor.
The bottom line
One person can run a water restoration business, and it’s one of the smartest ways to start because your costs stay low and you learn every part of the job. Take the residential jobs you can handle, rent and subcontract for the bigger ones, stay inside your license, and hire when the work demands it.
Keep reading: Starting part-time, Water or mold: which to start with and 7 mistakes that cost new companies money. New to Damage to Dollars? Start on the home page.
The 6-Figure Launchpad shows you how to run your first jobs lean, including the templates I use. Have questions about your situation? Book a free 15-minute call.
Results vary. Not a promise of income. See our earnings disclaimer.
