How does Restoration 1 operate after opening?
A Restoration 1 Business is a locally managed property-restoration operation that receives emergency and referral-driven jobs, documents the loss, dispatches trained personnel, performs authorized mitigation or remediation, invoices the customer or insurer, and reports activity through required Technology Systems. Restoration 1 Franchise Holding, LLC controls System Standards, approved inputs, digital channels, National Account Clients, and inspection rights.
What does the franchisee sell, and who buys it?
The Franchised Business provides residential and commercial water, fire, smoke and mold restoration plus other products and services approved by Restoration 1 Franchise Holding, LLC. The official Restoration 1 services catalog also presents storm recovery, sewage cleanup and related property-restoration work. Item 16 controls the offer: unrelated products, wholesale sales and alternative distribution require franchisor approval.
Customers include property owners and commercial clients, while demand can arrive through local marketing, referral partners, digital channels and insurance-related relationships. The commercial loss page addresses business customers; the FDD says residential and commercial restoration is often paid under property-and-casualty insurance. National Account Clients use franchisor-negotiated program terms, pricing and claims-management processes rather than ordinary local pricing.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 1, pp. 1-3; Item 12, pp. 29-30; Item 16, pp. 35-36; Franchise Agreement Sections 11.1, 11.2 and 11.11-11.12.
How does a Restoration 1 job move through the unit?
The Confidential Operations Manual table of contents defines the “Restoration 1 Experience” from phone greeting and First Notice of Loss through dispatch, inspections, mitigation, estimating, completion, invoicing and post-completion activity. The workflow below consolidates that disclosed sequence; service-specific pages for water damage, fire damage and mold remediation show how field tasks vary by loss type.
Intake and First Notice of Loss
- Actor
- Local personnel or designated call-center provider
- Action
- Answer the inquiry, capture the loss and begin the job record.
- System/asset
- CallRail and required intake channels
- Output
- Qualified job information ready for system entry.
Record, schedule and dispatch
- Actor
- Administrator, manager or other assigned unit personnel
- Action
- Enter the job in Xcelerate, create the Encircle customer link, schedule and dispatch.
- System/asset
- Xcelerate, Encircle and connected Technology Systems
- Output
- Documented assignment for field response.
Inspect and scope the loss
- Actor
- Certified Service Technician or other qualified field personnel
- Action
- Follow arrival protocols, meet the customer and perform initial and detailed inspections.
- System/asset
- Service vehicle, field equipment and job-documentation tools
- Output
- Documented scope and service requirements.
Perform authorized restoration work
- Actor
- Qualified employees or approved subcontractors
- Action
- Perform mitigation or remediation under System Standards and applicable certifications.
- System/asset
- Approved chemicals, air movers, dehumidifiers and required field assets
- Output
- Completed field work with supporting documentation.
Estimate and communicate
- Actor
- Assigned unit personnel
- Action
- Create the estimate and maintain customer, insurer or other stakeholder communication.
- System/asset
- Xactimate, Encircle/Docusketch and designated claims-management software
- Output
- Priced, documented job moving toward completion approval.
Complete, invoice and report
- Actor
- Franchisee management and administrative personnel
- Action
- Close the job, invoice and collect, maintain records and complete required reporting.
- System/asset
- Xactimate, QuickBooks, Qvinci and Xcelerate
- Output
- Recorded Collected Gross Revenue, retained job records and follow-up activity.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 11, pp. 21-28; Exhibit D Sections 6-8; Franchise Agreement Sections 10.1-10.3 and 11.9.
Who manages the business and who performs the work?
The equity owner does not have to supervise every day, but full-time continuous supervision is required. An approved Designated Owner can fill that role, or the franchisee can request an approved Designated Manager. New Designated Managers and replacement Designated Owners must complete the then-current Training Program before providing services to the Franchised Business.
Employment stays with the franchisee. Franchise Agreement Section 11.5 assigns recruiting, hiring, firing, training, compensation, schedules, assignments, safety and supervision to the franchisee. The Confidential Operations Manual names Operations Manager, Business Development Manager, Certified Service Technician and Administrator functions, but neither the FDD nor the current franchise FAQ establishes a fixed contractual headcount.
Applicable IICRC certifications are required before corresponding services are performed. The franchisee also trains its personnel. Subcontractors require prior written franchisor approval and insurance compliance, and the franchisee remains responsible for their work.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 15, pp. 34-35; Item 11, pp. 27-28; Franchise Agreement Sections 11.4-11.6 and 11.16; Exhibit D Section 5.7.
Which suppliers, systems and assets are mandatory?
Restoration 1 Franchise Holding, LLC can specify equipment, supplies, inventory, Technology Systems, service vehicles, signage and third-party services, and can require designated or approved suppliers. Alternative suppliers require prior review and may be rejected; prior approval can also be revoked. Item 8 currently identifies exclusive designated vendors for several operating categories, including claims management, accounting, CRM, learning, reputation, digital presence, job management, documentation, invoicing, lead tracking, air movers, dehumidifiers and certain chemicals.
Job and customer systems
Finance and learning
Field assets and inputs
The franchisor can require replacements, upgrades and integrations, while the franchisee maintains connectivity and system reliability. Franchise Agreement Section 10.3 gives the franchisor independent access to designated data, including Collected Gross Revenue, customer and completed-job information, and permits it to require user IDs and passwords.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 8, pp. 17-19; Item 11, pp. 25-26; Franchise Agreement Sections 10.1-10.3 and 11.1.
What does the franchisee control, and what does the franchisor control?
The franchisee controls local personnel, ordinary local pricing, daily job execution, customer obligations and local advertising spend. Those decisions operate inside System Standards: the franchisor controls approved offerings and suppliers, National Account Client pricing, digital properties, required Technology Systems, advertising approvals, reporting formats and inspection rights. The official Restoration 1 franchise site describes ongoing training and local-market support, but the FDD defines the contractual control boundary.
Franchisee
- Hire, schedule, train and supervise personnel.
- Perform authorized services and maintain certifications.
- Maintain records, insurance, vehicles, equipment and Service Warranties.
- Run approved local marketing within channel limits.
Franchisor
- Set and modify System Standards and the Confidential Operations Manual.
- Approve suppliers, Designated Managers and subcontractors.
- Control Franchise System Websites and Online Presence rules.
- Inspect job sites, audit records and access designated system data.
Third parties
- Approved vendors supply software, equipment, chemicals and services.
- IICRC supplies certification pathways for applicable work.
- Property-and-casualty insurers often fund covered restoration losses.
- National Account Clients impose program conditions through franchisor agreements.
Local advertising illustrates the boundary. The franchisee funds and executes local activity, while the franchisor can prescribe media, require directory or Online Presence participation, approve materials and require reporting. Franchise System Website data remains under franchisor control.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 11, pp. 23-26; Item 16, pp. 35-36; Franchise Agreement Sections 9.1-9.4, 10 and 11.
How do Market Territory, National Accounts and reconstruction change the model?
A Market Territory limits where the franchisee may market and solicit work; it is not exclusive. A qualifying add-on micro Market Territory covers 75,000-200,000 people and must be contiguous with an existing franchisee's territory. Without prior authorization, the franchisee cannot market outside its assigned area or solicit work to be performed outside it through Internet, telemarketing or other direct-marketing channels.
The franchisor and its affiliates may market, accept customers, use alternative distribution channels, authorize other franchisees and conduct services inside the Market Territory without compensating the local franchisee. National Account Clients are another exception to local discretion because the franchisor can set participation criteria, service standards, insurance requirements, acceptance rules and negotiated prices.
Reconstruction Services require a separate operating authorization. A franchisee or affiliated Reconstruction Party must sign the Reconstruction Services Addendum, separately report Construction Gross Revenue, use approved reconstruction subcontractors and accept job-site inspection and audit rights. The addendum places reconstruction-specific licensing, personnel training and execution on the franchisee because the franchisor does not undertake reconstruction-specific training or support.
Evidence: 2026 FDD Item 12, pp. 29-30; Item 16, pp. 35-36; Reconstruction Services Addendum Sections 1-8.
What does Item 20 show about the operating network?
Item 20 shows a fully franchised U.S. network across the 2023-2025 year-end series, with the outlet count reaching its three-year high in 2024 and declining in 2025. Company-owned outlets remained absent throughout the reported period.
After modest net growth in 2023 and 2024, the franchised network declined by 20 outlets in 2025: 10 openings, 21 terminations and 9 other cessations.
Source: Restoration 1 2026 FDD, Item 20, Tables 1, 3 and 4, pp. 47-52. Reporting date: December 31, 2025.
Item 20 also reports eight signed-but-not-open franchise agreements and eight projected franchised openings for the next fiscal year, with no projected company-owned openings. Eleven franchised outlets ceased operations after fiscal year-end. Because offsetting post-year-end openings are not disclosed, the FDD does not support a precise August 2026 outlet count.
Source: Restoration 1 2026 FDD, Item 20, Table 5 and post-year-end cessation footnote, pp. 51-52.
What should a buyer verify about day-to-day operations?
Verify the current versions of the systems, supplier designations, staffing assignments, call-routing rules and territory map before treating the operating model as fixed. The FDD grants Restoration 1 Franchise Holding, LLC discretion to change several of these inputs over time.
Official operational references
Operating-model synthesis
Restoration 1 turns emergency, referral, digital and National Account Client demand into documented restoration jobs billed to customers or insurance-related payors and recorded as Collected Gross Revenue. The franchisee's central responsibility is full-time management of service delivery, personnel, marketing, records and customer obligations. Mandated suppliers and Technology Systems, franchisor data access and National Account Client controls are the strongest dependencies; Market Territory restricts selling without exclusivity, while Reconstruction Services need separate authorization. The largest undisclosed question is the unit-level staffing and call-handling configuration for the proposed market.