Paul Davis Team Members Care About One Another and Results, Making the Franchisor a Top 10 Franchise to Open in 2021

Most everyone lives by a few guiding principles that influence how they conduct their daily lives. Parents, grandparents, coaches, mentors – virtually anyone – set an example or said something that struck a chord. In the case of Paul Woodall Davis, two guiding principles were the bedrock for him founding a company in the 1960s that became Paul Davis Restoration, one of North America’s most trusted brands in the insurance restoration industry with 325 independently owned franchises in the United States and Canada.

For more than 55 years, Paul Davis has restored residential and commercial properties damaged by fire, water, storms, mold and other disasters and has offered cleaning services for biohazards such as COVID-19. Paul Davis is a one-stop disaster mitigation and restoration company. It is the insurance industry’s restoration expert and recognized as one of The Best Franchises to Open in 2021.

“At Paul Davis, our vision is to ‘provide extraordinary care while serving people in their time of need,’” said Mike Hopkins, Sr. Chief Operating Officer with Paul Davis. “This occurs 24 hours a day, seven days a week and all year-round. It’s a responsibility and it is the centerpiece of our company. Our inspirational founder set us firmly on this course.”

Said Hopkins: “At Paul Davis, when homes and businesses are damaged, we provide meaningful action that shepherds people and property back to the places and lives they love.”

Davis founded Paul W. Davis Contracting in 1966. It was also during this time that insurance restoration contracting was a “niche market.” Property insurance adjusters were looking for ways to settle claims and Davis saw this fragmented niche for what it is today: a multi-billion-dollar, stand-alone industry.

The company began franchising in 1970. That’s when Davis began teaching and is credited with building a system that benefited early franchisees and carries forward even today. In 1997 the company was acquired by FirstService Brands, the leading North American brand in the category of property services, which it delivers through its extensive franchise networks.

As a result of its company-wide commitment to excellence, Paul Davis has become the insurance industry’s restoration expert and a trusted source before, during or following an event. Paul Davis offers multiple services through one point of contact, including working with clients to streamline the catastrophe response process, ensuring even the largest of projects are addressed expeditiously, thus minimizing business interruption. In addition, pre-loss planning programs can be created with Paul Davis teams to reduce loss frequency and severity. Paul Davis specializes in work with property management, REIT, multi-family, hospitality, healthcare and manufacturing sectors by partnering with insurance carriers.

“Our training and launch teams are the best in the industry. Our state-of-the-art training facility is visited by peers and the media. We have developed marketing strategies and tactics that our franchisees implement to increase brand awareness and market share,” Hopkins said.

“Through the hard work of our skilled franchisees, Paul Davis has the respect of the top insurance providers. And because of our ‘best in class’ delivery, we have quality relationships with those providers and that equates to more jobs for our franchisees.”

As a result of the powerful systems and support, a highly respected brand, and larger-than-industry average businesses, franchisees experience the benefit of becoming a Paul Davis franchisee both now, and when they decide it is time to sell. Paul Davis offices are nearly four times the size of competitors, allowing franchisees to handle any need.

Hopkins has been involved with FirstService Brands – parent company of Paul Davis – for almost 30 years in a number of roles including franchisee, franchisor, business consultant and coach. As a CertaPro Painters franchise owner, Hopkins’ office became one of the top producing franchises during his 14-year tenure. He was recruited to join the team at Paul Davis in 2015.

“I’m very passionate about serving people in their time of need and doing it alongside great people who deliver best-in-class results. I have a strong belief in respecting the individual, delivering what we promise, having pride in what we do, and practicing continuous improvement – the focus is always to be people centered. I stand by a mantra: ‘What gets celebrated, gets accelerated.’ With this, results matter and are celebrated. When there is an issue, because of the respect for one another, it gets discussed and solved. I expect all team members to live the vision, mission and values and to deliver on the brand promise and I am to be held to those same Paul Davis standards.”

While Paul Davis was founded and still thrives today based on old-fashioned values, it is an industry pacesetter when it comes to using technology to constantly evolve its business practices, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

“Technology has moved forward quickly in our industry for the purpose of better supporting our carrier partners and affected customers,” Hopkins said. “We are leaders in this space as we were moving forward with adoption of tools that allowed us to communicate with those affected by a loss at their business or home. The use of technology also allowed us to have less physical contact with people in businesses and homes, creating a safer project during the pandemic while still remining personal.

“Our offices fared well during the pandemic because we are essential. Issues arising from broken pipes, fires, storms, or mold continue to happen regardless of world health issues. We also have teams uniquely prepared to clean and treat businesses and homes from COVID contamination because we are properly trained and careful to do so with the utmost care. Our teams deal with dangerous pathogens on a daily basis and made only slight adjustments to safe chemicals used in order to treat against the virus.”

And while some industries were hit hard by the pandemic, Paul Davis proved a stalwart because of both its business model and its people, Hopkins said.

“Many people know that Paul Davis is recession resistant and now they know that we are also pandemic resistant,” Hopkins said. “We have experienced growth in our number of offices like never before. We also added 21 new franchise locations in this year of pandemic and cutbacks. We are seeing great success with our offices as we carefully qualify, vet, then train, launch and support our franchisees to become indispensable to their communities both in the service they provide and also as the employer of choice.”

The decades have only proven that there is a formula for success at Paul Davis, one that was instilled in 1966 and still carries the company forward some 55 years later.

“Our team of great people delivers best-in-class service,” Hopkins said. “This is because great people know the score and want to serve on a winning team. Our team cares about one another and results. The culture Mr. Paul Davis instilled is alive and well today. We never stop looking for ways to give back and exceed expectations.”

About Paul Davis Restoration

For more than 55 years, Paul Davis Restoration, Inc. has restored residential and commercial properties damaged by fire, water, mold, storms and disasters. Paul Davis is a one-stop shop for disaster damage and restoration and has 325 independently owned franchises in the United States and Canada. The professionals at Paul Davis are certified in emergency restoration, reconstruction and remodeling. For more information, visit the company website at www.pauldavis.com.