Contractors who specialize in property restoration and insurance claims are invited to join the Fellowship of Construction Knowledge and Entrepreneurial Development (FoCKED) for a monthly networking meeting. On Tuesday, April 11, 2023 the group will gather at Arken Restoration in Tacoma, Washington to  discuss Valuing Your Business (Even If You Aren't Selling). This construction focused discussion will be facilitated by guest presenter Ryan Hemmert of Washington Business Brokers (Seattle, WA). 

Find out how you can be invovled and more events for contractors by checking out the FoCKED Events Calendar. 

Training The Next Generation of Restorers​
Hiring and retaining quality staff is consistently listed among the toughest challenges in the skilled trades. Restoration owners and managers will share their experiences recruiting, hiring, training, and developing the next generation of water damage professionals. 

Using Technology In To Elevate Restoration
How can modern restorers utilize technology to increase their ability to deliver quality service in their local markets? Restoration owners and managers will share their experiences with which technologies have been effective in elevating the services within their companies. 

Creative Solutions For Challenging Scenarios
It’s one thing to learn how to dry a structure within a controlled environment, but how do restorers train their teams to problem solve for an endless variety of complications on the job site? Restoration owners and managers will share their experiences with sourcing creative solutions from the industry and within their own teams to meet challenging water damage scenarios. 

Understanding and Implementing Industry Standards
Restorers express frustration over the lack of knowledge from many service providers claiming to be water damage mitigation experts. Restoration owners and managers will share their experiences with understanding and implementing standards within their organization as well as ways they have worked to help their peers do the same.

Getting Involved
If you are a contractor, property restoration business owner, or water damage professional, please reach out to The DYOJO to hear more about our monthly education and networking meetings for contractors in Washington State. We look forward to meeting with you on the second Tuesday of every month. Check out our FoCKED Events Calendar for more information on our regular meetings and special events. ​​

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

​We would like your feedback on the content that The DYOJO creates to help contractors shorten their DANG learning curve. You can fill this out anonymously if you prefer.

*One entry per person

I just wanted to make you aware, if you are on The DYOJO mailing list, I have sent out an end of year survey. We'd love to get your feedback what we're doing well as well as what we could improve in our content delivery. 

If you consume podcasts, especially those that are for free, one thing you could do that helps any podcaster out, whether it's our podcast, one of the many great podcasts from within our industry; whether it's YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, all of the above,

• If you subscribe, that really helps.
• If you watch a video, just click that dang like button, that helps a lot.
• If you leave a review, that helps even more. 

On The DYOJO Podcast Episode 94 I read a review. The input advised that we should be more like all the other podcasts. I do take in the input. I know for the longest time, we've had a lot of trouble getting the audio correct. I have fixed I believe most of that.

Currently a lot of the feedback from the most vociferous listeners of our podcast are asking for us to dial it back on some of the craziness. Their voices are going to be the ones that get heard and I will have to consider and contemplate whether I need to alter anything. So, if you listen to The DYOJO Podcast and you like the craziness, now is the time to speak up.

If you have some constructive feedback, we want to hear it. A one star and a three star review have equal value to a five star in the sense that it gives feedback to the artist. Once you leave feedback, you should loop back to see whether the content creator is receiving your feedback.

Remember, we are creating content delivered to you for free. Your feedback is appreciated. Your feedback is read and listened to. I already have several people that have reported back in from The DYOJO End of Year Survey that we sent out. So thank you for that. Your input is helpful. You can find the link to this survey above. 

• In 2020, the first year of SOCKTember, four teams in Washington State raised over 5,500 pairs of socks and donated them to local charities. 
• In 2021, the second year of SOCKTember, 39 teams in 2 countries raised over 66,000 pairs of socks and donated them to local charities. 
• In 2021, On Side Restoration joined the competition to expand The DYOJO Podcast annual SOCKTember to an international event. 

Next year our goals are to:

• Expand this event to Europe and Australia to increase our competitors at the international level
• Increase the regional level competition - East, Mid, and West
• Double the state-by-state competition by bringing back and adding several states 
• Increase the team-by-team levels with local offices, franchises, and national organizations 

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SOCKTember fits well into the fall plans for those participating in Restoring Kindness as a means of team building as well as community involvement. Keep your eyes and ears open as The DYOJO and C&R Magazine will continue to share the plans for SOCKTember 2023. 

In our third year of competitive sock-raising the leader board for most socks raised in a single season by a single team looks like this:

1. On Side Restoration - Laval - 11,160 (2022)  
2. Sisters for Socks - 8,506 (2021) 
3. The Best DANG Sock-Raising Team in Pierce County - 8,502 (2021) 
4. On Side Restoration - Red Deer - 8,144 (2022) 
5. Sock Unicorns - 7,012 (2022) 
6. Sock Unicorns - 5,974 (2021)
7. The Best DANG Sock-Raising Team in Pierce County - 4,968 (2022) 
8. Sisters for Socks - 4,666 (2021)
   
9. On Side Restoration - Red Deer - 4,532 (2021)
10. On Side Restoration - Edmonton - 4,520 (2021) 

The DYOJO Podcast SOCKTember is an annual competitive community involvement event (see video). It was designed as a team-building exercise as well as a great outreach tool for local restoration contractors. Would you believe that SOCKTember started with four teams in Washington State raising over 5,500 pairs of NEW socks for local charities in 2020?  ​