 Josh Winton (IAQ JOSH) (remediation) and Michael Symula (assessment) helmed the Remediation Panel for our Lessons Learned from Storm Response Workshop. They shared how important safety is for all involved as well as setting clear and grounded expectations. Assessors and remediators should work with, not against each other. Thank you to sponsor AEML, Inc as well as all of our sponsors, presenters, and participants. Watch the pre-workshop interview with Jeff Cross and Cleanfax magazine
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 Bob Blochinger (Boca Raton, FL) and Casey Clark, Capital Restoration (Atlanta, GA) teamed up to share their Lessons Learned from Storm Response as our workshop Restoration Panel.
Thank you to all of the sponsors, presenters, and participants of the first workshop collaboration between Pete Consigil and The DYOJO. Lessons Learned from Storm Response and Hurricane Recovery Naples, Florida and online Thursday, January 26, 2023 Listen to IAQ Radio for a recap of this event with Joe Hughes and Cliff Zlotnik. This week on The DYOJO Podcast we discuss:
 IN THIS EPISODE: 0:00 The Power of the Postcard 1:46 An Unnamed Adjuster Talks Matching Materials 8:08 What Are We Working On - Workshop 11:06 Book 5 - Challenge Accepted 19:10 The Government’s Plan to Save Us From Gas Stoves 29:15 One More Tidbit - 1980’s Prisons 34:26 Cutting Edge Tools - The Sony Mavica NEW book for young people entering the workforceJon Isaacson is working on book number five. The working title is Challenge Accepted: An Open Letter To Young People Entering The Workforce. In this episode of The DYOJO Podcast, Jon reads from the Introduction. What is this book about? I am not the brightest bulb in the bunch. I did pretty well in my school studies but wasn’t a standout in the sense that I had scholarship offers from colleges begging me to continue my scholastic journey with their institution. I enjoyed playing sports but wasn’t the most talented. I did “win” a few best-effort awards. I played mostly B (JV) or C (Intramural) team sports. Once I acquired my license and tasted the freedom that making my own money brought, I committed to working. At work, I found that accepting the challenge of doing my best wherever I was employed helped me enjoy the work and achieve better results. Life is difficult and many things can seem impossible, but if things were easy they would not be as exciting to overcome. If making a better life for yourself were easy, everyone would be doing it.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after high school, other than I had some general ideas which I will explain further in this book. I was fortunate enough during my youth to have been provided some basic ideas about how to work (aka work ethic), exposed to people who made positive career choices and hadn’t made significant mistakes with long-term consequences (see Three Internal Holdbacks). These items helped me land some early jobs, achieve some initial success in those entry-level positions, and build confidence for seizing upon advancement opportunities. If the idea of living with the challenge of entering the workforce and advancing your career appeals to you, I believe this book will be helpful. You can read this book all the way through or you can keep in on your bookshelf until you need a small spark when you are facing a challenging scenario. Just in case this introduction is all that you ever read, I would like you to remember these three things. The Three Be’s Challenge yourself to build a foundation for life by developing these core character traits, I call them the Three Be’s:
I have hired, trained, and promoted numerous young people who came to my businesses with little to no prior skills. It is my ongoing belief that if you are honest, hardworking, and willing to learn, we can teach you to be successful in anything. On the other hand, if you are not willing to be honest, aren’t willing to work hard, and you aren’t willing to learn, there is little that we can do for you.
One thing you should consider if you are not exercising these three character traits now, it will be that much more difficult to develop them later in life. What you do now will become a habit. Bad habits are hard to break. So, if you aren’t being honest, you aren’t working hard, and you are not willing to learn, those negative habits will become rooted in your life. The longer you practice these three things, one way or the other, the more natural they become. Good habits take consistency to form. Being honest, hardworking, and willing to learn will not guarantee success but they will set you up for greater opportunities. This short book was written to encourage young people entering the workforce to keep working hard, recognize your opportunities, and provide you with a few tools that will help you along the way. I challenge you to read this book, do you accept?  The government’s plan to save us all from gas stovesHave you heard about the government’s plan to save us all from the health and environmental hazards of natural gas-burning stoves?
Are gas stoves bad for our health? According to Scientific American, “Broadly speaking, there are two categories of concerning emissions related to gas stoves. First, there is the unburned natural gas that can escape before the flame ignites or leak from a gas hook-up. This gas is more than 90 percent methane. Second, there are the pollutants created by combustion when a burner is on, most notably nitrogen oxides, which can irritate the lungs.” Are gas stoves more energy efficient? According to Constellation, “It takes three times as much energy to deliver electricity to your stove than gas, so buying a gas range could save you money in the long run. Your final bill will depend on how much time you spend cooking, but if you have an electric ignition, you can expect to pay less than half as much per month to run a gas range.” Lessons learned from a missing beam in a 1980’s prisonAccording to an article in Engineering News-Record, a contractor created a plan based upon the as-builts showing a beam being in place. When the contractor opened the structure they discovered that the beam did not exist. “The missing bond beam was discovered by contractor ABM Building Solutions LLC, which the county hired in 2021 for a $9.4-million renovation of the jail. ABM had planned to attach new decking to the bond beam, but instead found a void and learned the roof was floating on top of the building, according to the suit.” This story points to the importance of having contingencies in your renovation plan (new contractor) as well as the critical nature of quality control to ensure that the full scope of work is completed according to the contractual agreement (prior contractor).  On a daily basis, intentional restorers are flooded (pun intended) with tidal waves of information. If a restoration contractor wants to learn and perform their duties in a manner that is instep with the best practices in their industry, they have to filter through a lot of misinformation (dare we say, BS). Founding Father, Cliff Zlotnik, shares his perspective on how modern restorers can get a clearer grasp on solid information so they can form and train stellar habits for serving their clients in need.  Mr. Zlotnik says, “In our industry, people look for the highest-tech solution rather than the lowest-tech solution. We should look for the lowest-tech solution that'll work first before we go to any higher-tech solution.” Cliff Zlotnik, or the Z-Man as he is known by his peers and those who listen to his weekly IAQ Radio show, is one of four key people that industry historian Pete Consigli chisled into Mount Restoration with his March 2007 C&R Magazine article. Of his friend and fellow watchdog, Pete says, “Perhaps Cliff’s greatest lasting legacy is as the pioneer who introduced and popularized the concept of hands-on restoration training. In 1985, he converted a vacant church rectory into a hands-on training site for fire and water damage restoration, a place which became known as the Unhouse training facility.” Restorers who enjoy history and want to develop their knowledge of the industry will be happy to see Cliff share training slides from his time at Unhouse in Episode 96 of The DYOJO Podcast. In the clip included with this article, host Jon Isaacson asks: “Say that the new guy coming in really wants to try to learn to do things the right way. Do you have anything that might help that person to decipher when they're being fed a line of bull?” In his storylike fashion, Cliff opens with, “I want to talk about two animals to answer your question.” Albert Einstein's Business AdviceMr. Zlotnik goes on to share:
If you take a baby elephant and you put a rope around his leg and you tie that rope to a tree. The elephant is going to learn to stay in a tight radius. You can actually remove the tree and still leave the rope on the elephant's leg and he will still stay there. He is kind of lost and helpless. If you take a honeybee and you put it in a jar, the honeybee will fly around for a while. It will try to get out. When it realizes it can't get out, it's going to feel helpless and will not try to get out anymore. In a video clip from The DYOJO Podcast, Cliff says, “I think a lot about complication. People can be made to feel helpless. I think that's what happens with a lot of these products. They give you this really sophisticated sales pitch. There are all kinds of numbers with equations and math, and none of us are good at math. People figure that they don't understand it. Therefore, the person who invented it is smarter than them. But it’s not necessarily true.” Cliff, who has heard it all in his decades of working in this industry, says that filtering through industry information begins with a simple question. He says, “Ask them to explain to you simply. How does it work? Imagine that I'm a six-year-old and explain it to me.” Mr. Zlotnik says if this test was good enough for Albert Einstein it should be good enough for our industry. He continues, “If these people cannot explain it to a six-year-old, they don't understand it themselves.” Simple Solutions Are Often The Best OnesWhen it comes to sales pitches for new innovations, techniques, and strategies for success, Cliff remarks, “I think there's a tremendous amount of complicated solutions, and the simpler the better oftentimes. I think in our industry, people look for the highest-tech solution, rather than the lowest-tech solution. We should look for the lowest-tech solution first before we go to any higher tech solution.” Whenever there is an opportunity to hear Cliff speak about the history of the industry in is interesting to hear how first, the issues of today are not that different from 30 years ago and, secondly that history has a way of repeating itself. For those who are interested in diving into the technical details of the property restoration industry from people who have “been there and done that,” Cliff co-hosts IAQ Radio every Friday with Joe Hughes. This is the cleaning and restoration industry’s longest running podcast. IAQ Radio was podcasting before that was even a term, using internet radio for their weekly broadcasts. Opportunities to Meet with CliffIn January 2023, Cliff will be with us for the Andrew Ask Building Science Symposium (Tuesday and Wednesday, January 24-25, 2023) and then for the one-day workshop, Lessons Learned from Storm Response and Hurricane Recovery (Thursday, January 26, 2023). The workshop is being produced by Pete Consigli and The DYOJO, it is available for in-person attendance as well as remote participation via Zoom. How do you make great content that connects with people, especially in the trades? How do you start out with content creation for your business? Join Podcast Host and Author, Jon Isaacson, as he discusses these points and more on this episode of Specified Growth Podcast! Host Tats Nakagawa (CEO/Co-Founder at Castagra Products, Inc.) talks to experts from inside and outside the industry. In this episode of Specified Growth Podcast, Tat's is joined by Jon Isaacson, a Restoration Operations Expert, Author, and Podcast Host. Jon talks about his background in the property restoration industry and how he got into content creation and podcasting. He discusses how to properly qualify opportunities and say no to the right things. Listeners will hear Tats and Jon discuss how they are leaning to create content that connects with people, and much more. The fourth week of January 2023 is going to be a week of networking and education LIKE NO OTHER. As course presenter Robert Blochinger says, "Come here and have a lot of fun and gain some education." For those planning to be in Naples, Florida on January 23rd through the 26th of 2023, we've go three events for you!
Early Bird Discounts for Remote Hurricane Recovery WorkshopInterested participants who will not be in Florida, do not fear! The DYOJO has a remote option available for the one-day "Lessons Learned from Storm Response and Hurricane Recovery" workshop. Early bird discounts expire SOON. Register yourself or your team to participate in this one-of-a-kind one-day workshop TODAY. MORE INFORMATION: Visit thedyojo.com about this event and how to register. Also check out our media sponsors and supporters including
Online Storm Response WorkshopWHO: Property restoration contractors, insurance claims professionals, environmental assessors, and building science service providers. WHAT: One-day workshop, in-person and remote, "Lesson Learned from Storm Reponse and Hurricane Recovery" WHERE: In-person in Naples, Florida; Remote via Zoom WHEN: Thursday, January 26, 2023 730am - 530pm EST HOW: Register via Eventbrite through The DYOJO  Workshop Agenda for Online Disaster Recovery WorkshopThis one-day workshop includes presentations from industry leaders such as: * The Legal Eagles - David Popper and Justin Peterson * Remediation Panel - Michael Symula (Assessment) and IAQ Josh Winton (Remediation) * Restoration Panel - Robert Bloechinger (Third-party consultant) and Casey Clark (Contractor) * Science Panel - Dr. Ralph Moon (Expert witness and researcher) and Jeremy Beagle (Hygienist, IAQA 1st Vice President) * Shane Bailey (Mechanical contractor) * Edward Cross (The Restoration Lawyer) * Peter Crosa (Independent adjuster) * Special preview presentation of Encircle 's data regarding Industry Response from Hurricane Ian (What went Wrong, What went Right?) * Interactive Workshop Special Guest Moderator Cliff "Z-man" Zlotnik This event is approved for continuing education credits (CECs): * American Council for Accredited Certification (ACAC) * IICRC - Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification * Restoration Industry Association (RIA) |
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