Building a Disaster Recovery Business from the Ground Up – SkyWater’s Journey

Audio Transcript

Mark Lamberth:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Contractor Grow Show. My name is Mark. Today I have interesting guests, disaster. Dawn, it’s Dawn Marie Forest, Callahan from SkyWater on Call in Largo, Florida. Dawn, thanks for being on today.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
You’re welcome. Thank you for having me.

Mark Lamberth::
Yeah, very cool. So we’ve taken a look at SkyWater and what you guys are up to. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about just the history of the business and what you guys are up to these days.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Sure. Well, SkyWater on Call was established in 2022 by myself and my husband Mark Callahan. It was after 22 years in the business and my husband going into a retirement. He was 30 years a lieutenant in St. Petersburg fire Department, and him and his family are big entrepreneurs and he’s owned just companies in the past. So he started really talking about it in 2020. I had transitioned to another company in more of a director role and he had gone on a couple jobs with me and found it to not be rocket science to do. And so he started talking about wanting to open a company with me when he did retire and whenever he was ready to pull that trigger, we decided in 2022 to go ahead and open our own company. So I was ready but nervous, but obviously my client base of 20 years was a nice added bonus to start a company.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
I did have the relationships, we did it very organically. Unlike most restoration companies, most of the time you need a million dollars in the banks just to open the doors. Majority, if not all restoration companies start with the insurance program work where I’m more of an anomaly. 22 years ago when I was hired with Bay Area, actually it was called PLA Construction at the time. They specifically hired me to chase water and to strictly market the end user. And I was mentored by another DKI member called Fire Services. So I was very fortunate because I never had to deal with the insurance company or adjusters or third party TPAs.

Speaker 3:
So

Dawn Forest Callahan:
I found that to be the only way I’ve ever known how to do it. So whenever my husband and I decided to start our own company, I immediately reached out to my clients of 20 plus years that had traveled or followed me along with the different companies that I had worked for over the years. And to our surprise, immediately decided they immediately were willing to give us a shot. So it was a huge blessing to have their support. So without my client base of 20 plus years, I’m not sure we would’ve been able to open the doors, but we were, and we don’t have any investors. We invested all of it with our own money. So it’s kind of exciting. And recently, after a couple years we transitioned, so I’m 51% owner and we just got state certified women owned as well as government national and federal women owned as well.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
So still learning a lot about that. It’s all new to me, but the main blessing is that we are able to assist all of our customers in the commercial market. So I strictly worked with commercial, I don’t do residential work Now during Pauline, unfortunately we were hit with a hundred year flood in our area and at that time we did engage and help some residential homes through a client of ours who had asked us to assist their executives. And then after that, Milton hit right in our backyard and all of our MSAs master service agreements with our commercial clients kicked in. So we’ve been quite busy, to

Speaker 3:
Say the least.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
And we too were impacted. We have a home on Madeira Beach, so we got about four feet of water in. So I guess there was a silver lining to owning your own restoration company, even though it took my company eight days to get to my house. No, customers have priority. Alright,

Mark Lamberth::
I can see

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Dawn Forest Callahan:
You put your I had to my owner to my partner.

Mark Lamberth::
That’s great.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yeah, it’s been great. But yeah, so we’ve been pretty much just working nonstop since Debbie hit in August and assisting our commercial clients. So we’re very fortunate.

Mark Lamberth::
Amazing. And do you guys have a backlog of work with all?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yeah, we have a backlog for quite a while and probably for a couple of years with what’s going on in this area. But yeah, currently we have large jobs that we’re working, trying to just keep moving along, trying to get it done as quickly as we can. Unfortunately with storm damage related losses being flood and fema, you do have to pull permitting for typical remediation, mitigation if you will. Jobs you would normally not have to pull a permit. So not frustrated with it, just feel bad for the residents that we are working with because we are working with some condominiums. So we have some large projects that we’re working, which entails residential unit owners. Right. Condominium owners. So just that’s a little sad that it can go a little quicker, but I guess the counties can only do so much for the cities.

Mark Lamberth::
Right. Interesting. Okay, so just regarding your whole service that you offer, I saw here on your site in commercial properties, pipes burst flooding, the M word mold, I assume fire and smoke damage disasters occur all the time. An aftermath can be devastating in terms of property damage, business eruption and loss of customers or staff. You never know what disasters can occur, the impact it can have on your business, tenants, residents or staff, which you can take the steps to ensure a faster and more effective recovery if the unthinkable happens. And so disasters on as your clients and front affectionately referred to you help offer restoration with woman’s touch. So you guys work strictly with commercial clients, you said at this point,

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yes, we have done residential homes, but yeah, we strictly work with commercial. Just a lot more enjoyable. Is that right? Insurance work for sure.

Mark Lamberth::
Why is it more enjoyable doing commercial work than a residential? You said insurance.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Well, insurance, if you work, if you’re on a program, you have to pay them a percent and you use Xactimate and there’s a lot of things they don’t cover. They don’t always like to do it, in my opinion, the proper way. It’s more emotional when you’re dealing with a residential homeowner than you would commercial. Commercial, you have a master service agreement signed, you have time and materials, so your prices are already established ahead of time and whenever they have a loss, they want to get it done quickly and correctly. And the biggest challenge is just making sure you’re invoice ’em quick enough. So it’s something I’ve done for 20 plus years, so much more. Obviously it’s what I’m used to, but much more, like I said, less emotionally involved than a residential home. When you work with condos, it’s obviously residential. We’re engaged typically through the association. We do work with Carrier, but just the way that we like to do things, we do things, we follow the ICRC standard, we do things correctly. We are not going to cut corners in any way. And a lot of times insurance company don’t want to pay for things that they should. They’re trying to negotiate after you’ve already done the work and just grateful that I never had to deal with that as a

Mark Lamberth::
Yeah, right. What a pain

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Nor that. We have to rely on that for our day-to-day business. So most restoration companies you talk to just dream about getting into commercial because they start off in residential. Now of course program work will keep the doors open, but fortunately for us, we have other divisions in our company, so we’re able to get day-to-day work still outside to where we don’t have to rely on insurance programs to keep those lights on.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay. What are those other services or other programs you guys offer?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Well, we’ll do any type of outs for our commercial clients or any type of drywall repairs that they might need. Doesn’t matter how small or large. We are a full service general contractor. We also offer carpet cleaning and interior painting.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay. Okay, interesting. So what are the most common types of disasters in your area that require your restoration services?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Flooding or typically it’s water losses as well as mold remediation would probably be the top two. And then you have seasonal things like hurricane season where you may have a wind-driven event or a flood, what happened with Helene. But typically it’s mold remediation or water losses.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay. Alright, great. And then I mean, what are some of the biggest challenges that you guys typically face on a restoration project?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Challenges, I mean, obviously making sure that conveying to the client exactly what needs to be done and making sure they have the correct information from us to present to their ownership or to their tenants because a lot of times people don’t want to do the right thing or they don’t really understand. Sometimes the challenge is making sure people understand the laws. For example, in our county and in Pinellas and Hillsborough County, you have to pull as asbestos test, you can’t start any demo until the asbestos test is complete or you can get fined up to $10,000 a day. And a lot of people are not aware of that. They think, oh, well the building was built after this date, it’s fine. That’s not the case. Oh, I just built the house yesterday, doesn’t matter. Oh kidding. Just trying to educate people whether they’re experienced property managers of 20 plus years that are arguing with you or even someone who has no idea.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
But that does delay moving forward with the job. So whenever Helene hit, we couldn’t do any demo until we had an asbestos test done. And of course people want action right away. So fortunately for us, we have a really good relationship with a company, industrial hygienist company. So they were pretty much at our beck and call to a degree. I mean obviously they were very busy, but they had a good system in place, so we were able to get that ball rolling pretty quickly, but you still have to wait or they will find you and you can go to jail. So that’s challenging, just educating people on that.

Mark Lamberth::
Interesting. Okay. And you said you guys are time and materials or you guys are always time materials or do you ever have to bid projects?

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Dawn Forest Callahan:
Sometimes we’ll bid projects and sometimes we do use Xactimate, so it’s not always time and materials, it’s only if we have that just depends on the project. But majority of the time with commercial it is time and materials. Obviously with reconstruction it’s a little different.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay. And did you say Xactimate?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yeah, Xactimate. If we are dealing with a condominium, for example, and it is going to go through insurance, they still sign our time and materials, but we’re working two large projects from Helene through fema and we are utilizing Xactimate. That’s the insurance software system that they require the contractors to use or encourage you to use, almost demand you to use.

Mark Lamberth::
Right, okay. Interesting, interesting. Have you seen over the years, have you been at this for a long time? I mean, have you seen that the disaster recovery industry has evolved over the years and how has that been? How has it changed?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
I think it’s evolved over the years as far as just from the beginning when I started probably 20 plus years ago, it was more just come in and tear everything out where it is a scientific method to drying and the goal is to do as minimal damage as possible even though people feel like we come in and we just want to tear everything out. But also the technology has advanced quite a bit since 20 plus years ago. I think the means of where you get your work has evolved a lot from 20 plus years ago. I think the end users are more involved taking more proactive approach than just waiting on insurance companies or just waiting until something happens.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay, interesting. And then Don, what’s the side of you guys team? Right now

Dawn Forest Callahan:
We have 12 team members and then within the 12 team members, they usually have about two to three subcontractors that would work with them as far as labor companies. So right now we have a lot because of our projects being so large, but it all depends on the workflow. But as far as SkyWater employees, we have 12 team members total. Wait, 13, I’m sorry.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay. 13. And then you say each one of those has two or three subs that work with them?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yeah. Hold on. Counting. Yeah, 13. Yeah, of the 13 though, you have seven of them that would have team members subcontractors with them, like labor. Okay.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay, great. And then our listeners in many cases are struggling with sort of recruiting and retaining team. It seems like it’s just kind an industry-wide trades kind of issue these days. Finding people that are motivated to learn your systems to jump on the career path that you’re offering for them and they stay with you guys for years until they actually produce, get past that sort of three or six month kind of training period where they actually start to create revenue profit for you guys. What are some of your secrets to finding recruiting and retaining team?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Well, we have been working with a recruiting company. We haven’t actually hired anyone through them yet, but we are looking for an operation manager and an estimator. But a lot of our team members came through either word of mouth or referrals from employees that currently work with us. One in particular actually was someone I had worked with before at a previous company and I kept telling my business partner husband for six months that I need a Ramone and then out of the pool people will call me because in restoration we all talk to each other. So a lot of guys that I’ve worked with in the past would reach out and be like, Hey, are you hiring? Do you know anyone who’s hiring? And this particular individual had called and I was like, no, I’m not hiring for that position, but I need a Ramon. And he’s like, I have his number. And so ironically I was able to hire him

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Mark Lamberth::
No way. Oh, that’s fantastic.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
He’s like, he’s my man. And then my other team members are young gentlemen, my son and another gentleman that we were able to hire after we had subcontracted with him through a temp labor. And he’s one of my best team members. Well, they’re all awesome. I really couldn’t categorize one above the other, but as a young gentleman, I am very impressed with him, very much have initiative, I’m willing to work the hours that are required. This is not really a normal general contractor remodel type of profession. You are more like an extension of a first responder because typically you’re the first one on the scene after the fire department leaves

Speaker 3:
And the

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Hours that are involved are quite extensive and it’s very impactful on your family. Working nights, weekends, you’re working whenever you need to. And since Helene hit, they pretty much worked nonstop. I mean, we are demanding everyone take off on Thanksgiving. And then another, again, my friends referring friends that come on board and fortunately so far it’s working. We do have a lot of family members that work with us, but so far so good because a lot of times people say, is there a challenge with that? But I think we are practicing pretty good boundaries regarding it. But what’s really nice is that right now we have a really good synergy with our team. I believe they all want to learn and they want to grow and a lot of ’em have self-initiative, which in this industry I think you need to have because you really have to want it, not the most enjoyable thing to be out there in the heat doing what you need to do within any type of commercial structure with mold remediation. And it is a very specialized field. You’re not just cleaning and carpet cleaning. You have to, there’s this scientific method to it. When you are dealing with mold, you have to be very mindful of what you’re doing and practice all the protocols, which we do.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
But it’s really hard as far as hiring, we just need to find the time to sit down and interview people, to hire them and spend time with them because I’ll find someone that my husband’s like, let’s interview more people than just one person. And then next thing you know, two weeks have gone by and we haven’t even had that time, but that’s simply because we’re in the peak season with the two catastrophic natural disasters that hit our area.

Mark Lamberth::
Wild. Interesting. I mean, it’s an extreme sort of business. This is not in any way a typical sort of general contracting operation, obviously, but the more you talk about it, the more I realize, wow, this is a really kind of a specialized field, huh?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Oh, for sure. No, definitely. And you have a lot of things you need to be careful about. You are making sure you’re wearing PPE gear and making sure you’re documenting everything. So if your client needs to turn that into the insurance company that you have to prove everything you’re doing. You can’t just be like, oh, I just did all this for a hundred grand. So we utilize the software system currently called Encircle. You can never have too many pictures. You’re basically telling a story every day. But it can be challenging because people, the first day you arrive, you’re their best friend, come out, you’re getting it stable, and then three weeks later they’re trying to get it buil and you’re trying to get approval from the ownership and delays happen and

Mark Lamberth::
Oh man, no kidding

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Meeting with this person or supplies, you’re two weeks out on cove base and they’re wondering why it’s not put up. So a little bit of you’re the saving grace, and then by the end it’s just they’re still grateful for you, but they’re just kind of anxious to get back to normal because it wasn’t like a planned situation.

Mark Lamberth::
Right, right. You’re the hero with the first day, but then a month later, this unexpected remodel project that’s happening in their living room, they didn’t want to have happened.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Yeah, exactly. My house had to be completely gutted for the most part, and everyone was like, oh, you must be so excited you get to remodel and all this. I’m like, well, I wasn’t really planning to, it wasn’t really on my schedule. Right.

Mark Lamberth::
I wasn’t going to do that this winter.

Speaker 3:
Yeah,

Mark Lamberth::
Right. Wild. Okay, well fantastic. Well, Dawn, this is great. I mean, it’s just great to learn about the business, to learn about on Call. It sounds like you guys are absolutely on call. Your website is great too. I took a look at that and I love, I talk about this a lot on the show, but just I love to see companies that get it and just sort of understand that they need to have a front facing website that looks good and really attracts people and doesn’t distract. And you guys have got a really nice site and really shows your offering. Well, what you guys do. So if you guys want to take a look at that, the website is SkyWater oncall.com, just like it sounds, and Donna folks want to get in touch with you, learn a little bit more about the business or certainly hire you guys. I mean, I think you’ve got your hands full for a little bit, but how’s the best way to get in touch with you?

Dawn Forest Callahan:
They can either reach us at 8 7 7 2 1 9 2900 or even, I think that’s the number. Let me make sure it’s one of those days, or they can even reach out at info at that goes directly to me. We also have social media where you can go onto our LinkedIn page, Facebook or Instagram, and then let me obviously, sorry. Yeah, like I said, it’s quite busy. Yep. Do I have the number? Sorry.

Mark Lamberth::
No problem. Sure, take your time.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
8 7 7 2 1 4 2900 is the best way to get ahold of us or even on our social media.

Mark Lamberth::
Okay, perfect. Yeah, and a lot of great photos, A lot of nice up-to-date stuff of the work that you guys are doing. Well, fantastic. Dawn, thank you for taking the time today to teach our listeners more about the restoration business and the history of SkyWater, and we will stay in touch. We’d love to talk with you again.

Dawn Forest Callahan:
Absolutely. Thank you, mark. Have a great day.