THE
RESTORATION
ASSOCIATION
KYLE TAYLOR, CEO
Oops!... I founded a trade association
How this whole thing got started:
San Diego, CA. may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of the Restoration Industry. A dry desert climate, surfing and the pacific ocean typically come to mind first. In the small East San Diego County town of Lakeside, CA best known for its Rodeo and small town charm; the first meeting for The Restoration Association was held on March 21st, 2018 at 6:00pm.
Our first meeting was held at Christian Brothers Cleaning and Restoration where Gabe Matthew’s the company President once held quarterly meetings dubbed “The Restoration Club”. The Club was a casual group of restoration professionals meeting to discuss best practices and share ideas. In June of 2017 The Restoration Club met and in attendance was myself and Richie Robison, we had been invited by Kevin Jones the CEO of The Contents Specialists. As new business owners, Richie & I were looking for any opportunity to connect with Restoration Professionals as our company, MI-BOX, provides portable storage containers.
After several months without hearing of a club meeting, I reached out to Kevin Jones after an afternoon of flying drones together and asked “did I not make it into The Restoration Club or what?”. Kevin busted up with his infectious laugh and said “Are you kidding me? Gabe (Matthews) has a bunch of kids and runs a big business, he probably just hasn’t gotten around to planning the next meeting.”
The next day I reached out to Gabe and asked if could assist in helping out with The Restoration Club as I saw it could be very beneficial to the success of my business. Gabe scheduled a meeting between Kevin, himself, and I. It was at that meeting Gabe gave me his blessing to start a new organization and The Restoration Association was founded.
As a tribute to Gabe Matthews efforts, after the Pledge of Allegiance we recite Matthew’s Law which is our only meeting conduct rule:
Matthews Rule:
“We have gathered here as professionals of the restoration industry to learn, grow and become better stewards of the craft. We welcome all guests, members and associates to engage with one another and ask that you respect the absent. This is not an opportunity to gossip about those who were unable to attend or to throw anyone under the bus.”
When you attend a meeting for The Restoration Association you’ll find a very professionally run organization done very personally and you’ll never leave hungry. I believe that food makes people comfortable and should be served meal at every event. At each meeting you will be reminded that The Restoration Association does not exist to make a profit off memberships, it is
to build a community with local chapters that add value and harvest new ideas; a statement which I have said so often that is has become ingrained into the mission statement of The Restoration Association.
The Restoration Association Mission Statement:
The Restoration Association exists to build a community of restoration professional and affiliates with local chapters that add value and harvest new ideas, not to make a profit off of memberships.
Having been a board member for many trade association’s outside of the restoration industry, I have concluded that they all seem to have one common “closed door” agenda which is to make a profit off each event. Board meetings would always come down to how much profit each meeting would bring into a chapter and not how many members would be served. I wanted The Restoration Association to be different, which is why we are doing things different. We focus on addressing the needs and requests of those working as contractors and affiliates in the Restoration Industry, instead of trying to make a buck.
What’s next for The Restoration Association?:
The Restoration Association is preparing to expand into 5 major cities by the end of 2019 and host an expo for the industry in late August or Early September. Consistency is key, so each chapter will have a monthly chapter meeting, bi-monthly social’s, quarterly events like a baseball game or family friendly event and a holiday party.
I wanted to use this opportunity to say Thank You to several people and organizations in the association that have helped tremendously: Jason Barbeto, Allie Guidry, Kevin Jones, Mason Moore and Richie Robison. A special thank you to our founding sponsors: Patriot Environmental, FRSTEAM, Central Valley Environmental, MI-BOX of San Diego and The Contents Specialists.
The Restoration Association's first meeting March 21, 2018.