United Water Restoration Group Franchise Information

Executive Q&A with United Water Restoration Group’s President Bob Moore

Moore tells 1851 Franchise the story behind UWRG, what sets it apart from the competition, and where it plans to grow in the near future. 

Tell us about the history and founding of the United Water Restoration Group (UWRG). 

Bob Moore: United Water was founded in 2008, which was one of the worst hurricane seasons in Florida history. The owners, Lajos Nagy and Endre Banfi, were both from Hungary but didn’t meet until they were in the U.S. Both worked in-home services and had some exposure to restoration. Together they decided to start their own journey in the business and established UWRG. They filled one van with equipment and started knocking on doors, asking for the opportunity to serve. Within four years, they built up to 15 offices across Florida. In 2010, they brought on Zoltan Kurucz as a managing partner to help round out the locations in the southern division. In 2015, they began franchising the concepts.  

What void does UWRG fill? What was missing in the space before, and how could you identify that void? 

Moore: I would say what's missing in many areas is a reputable provider. You have a lot of people doing things in a lot of different ways because they're very small, independent businesses. And unfortunately, some of them are a little unethical as well. So being reputable providers is one of the gaps that we're filling. Our Franchise Owners also provide an excellent level of service to our customers. It is what I think helps them gain market share pretty quickly, even in markets where we have a fair amount of competition.

What are you doing well right now? What are your brand differentiators?

Moore:  Our owners are incredibly empathetic and always focus on the homeowner or business owner that we're going out there and serving, even though the insurance company writes the check 90% of the time. They always stress talking to that homeowner and keeping them informed, which has been huge. The second thing is our responsiveness. When our phone rings, people can be frantic because of what's happened in their home or business. Whoever's on call at night takes home a fully-stocked company vehicle so they can get up and go to wherever the call came in from, no matter what time. They get up and get in the van, and they go directly to that location. Our goal is to get there within 60 minutes of the call. 

What are your growth goals? 

Moore: A conservative goal would be 14 to 20 by the end of next year. But I'm looking at 40 or so. I think we're going to add six or so this year, internally. 

Do you have any specific markets you’re interested in? 

Moore: We have a lot of whitespace. Dallas is a huge opportunity, as well as Louisiana, because they're constantly getting hit by hurricanes and flooding. There’s also Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York – anywhere around any of the major metropolitan areas is a huge opportunity because of the density of people. 

What learning opportunities did UWRG leverage to get where it is now?

Moore: Picking the right internal team members to support Franchise Owners. Initially, the brand had people who were successful in the restoration space, but they didn't know how to recruit and develop Franchise Owners. The other thing was revamping the training program that we started out with. When I came on board, training was more about showing and not really hands-on. I hired someone who's successfully built a couple of restoration businesses, and our owners now get hands-on, structured training with the job software. We've also leveraged technology more in the last few years in terms of how our crews operate. Our job software is now all paperless, so there is no need to lug around clipboards and paperwork to sign. Overall, we’ve gotten better at development, with those being some of the key areas. 

What are some of UWGR’s most important milestones over the past five years? 

Moore: Since I started, hiring my director of operations, Chrissy Gregory, was a big milestone because she made an immediate impact in terms of how we train Franchise Owners. Since she's been on board, Franchise Owners coming out of training have been more successful, which has helped us grow. Many of our Franchise Owners have adopted our new training and new operational methodology. The second one was hiring Tiffany Browning, our Director of Franchise Marketing. This is a unique business; many people don't even know that there is something called the restoration business until they have a pipe burst, mold, or fire. Tiffany has been very successful in marketing and helping grow restoration businesses, and now she teaches our Franchise Owners how to do that.

What does your ideal franchisee look like in terms of how they run their business, what personal traits they have, what prior business experience they can claim, etc.?

Moore: Our franchise owners do not need experience in restoration or a home service background. They also do not need strong sales skills as this is a skill that a franchise owner can hire a person to do the sales role. We are looking for the skills and characteristics such as sales, management, business development, networking, and leadership experience. They should also be willing to provide outstanding customer service and be empathetic. 

What does an ideal franchisee look like? Are they semi-absentees? A passive investor or an active owner-operator? 

Moore: We offer both owner-operator and semi-absentee options. Our business model makes it easy to hire a small team of technicians and step back as a semi-absentee owner. 

How does UWRG support franchisees?

Moore: We offer a lot of corporate support. We also offer simple models that allow a franchisee to really understand what levers they need to pull in their business. In a restoration business, it's very easy to get overwhelmed, and you can be pulled in a lot of different directions. We recently had our first franchise conference, and, in preparation for it, the team came up with tools to help Franchise Owners look at their business and figure out what they need to improve. Another thing that is a huge competitive advantage for us is that we're still in the restoration space. We're not only selling franchises in this business. There are things that we learn and that we can pass along to our Franchise Owners. 

Why is now the time to buy into UWGR? 

Moore: Since we seem on the verge of a recession, or may already be in one, a key feature of our business is, that it's recession-resistant. The economy goes up, it goes down, but it has no impact on our business. The company was founded during the 2008 recession. Pipes burst, mold and fires happen, regardless of what's going on in the economy. The other thing I would say is that it's hard to turn on the TV today without hearing a story about aging infrastructure or weather disasters of some kind and those all drive business to us. Also, during the pandemic, when so many other businesses were harmed, our normal business was good, and we did COVID-19 cleaning. We had Franchise Owners who did very well above and beyond their normal business.