Restoration Reimagined: Best Option Restoration’s AI Investment for Franchise Success

The process of restoring a home that’s been ravaged by fire, destroyed by a tornado, or consumed by mold can be an arduous one. Best Option Restoration has streamlined the procedure for restoring the homes themselves. Now, thanks to the company’s new integration of AI-based job management technology, it’s making the day-to-day realities of running a business easier for franchisees.

Every owner of a franchised business knows you need to invest in your company if you want it to succeed. From the very start of Best Option Restoration (BOR), founder Nick-Anthony Zamucen has been committed to going the extra mile for franchisees.

Best Option Restoration was founded in Colorado in 2016, and in less than 10 years, it’s added more than 75 franchise locations across the country. Despite looming economic uncertainty, the company’s growth shows no signs of slowing.

“I think it's the training. It's kind of holding people's hand and babying them beyond when most people that come to our franchise systems are coming from,” says Zamucen when asked how he’s been able to expand the company so quickly.

Zamucen has mastered the art of rapidly growing a franchise while still giving each franchisee what they need to succeed. It’s an enviable skill, one he’s cultivated over decades.

“It's my fourth franchise organization, so I kind of know what I'm doing,” he says. “I know what I'm looking for. Before that, it was a lot of years of just trial and error.” Prior to starting BOR, Zamucen developed and sold franchise organizations Uncle Vito's Pizzeria, Saint Home Care, and Bio-One Inc.

One of the advantages of opening a franchise location is that owners aren’t starting completely from scratch — they have a proven business model to follow and the mentorship of someone who’s been where they are before. Now, BOR franchisees can also benefit from a state-of-the-art, industry-specific job management system powered by AI.

The system is Zamucen’s latest major investment in his company and his franchisees. Existing franchisees are given access to (and training for) the program free of charge, which is no small gift. AI is a rapidly evolving technology, and that means state-of-the-art programs like BOR’s new system can command significant prices.

Despite the startup costs Zamucen is footing, the new software is already saving money for individual franchisees and the company as a whole. The new AI job management system addresses many industry-specific challenges that Best Option Restoration franchisees face on a daily basis.

One of these challenges is the disconnect between on-site contractors and the company’s main office. To prevent delays and communication issues, the system creates a centralized file for each project. Instead of taking photos and notes and bringing them back, individual contractors can upload them to the system, and employees back at the office can view them immediately.

Another challenge the new software addresses is the loss of documentation. BOR often coordinates directly with insurance companies, and a large part of that is thoroughly documenting the damage to homes and commercial buildings. When BOR employees photograph wind, fire, and water damage before getting to work, the job management program automatically tags images, saving time and decreasing the chances of denied claims and other insurance-related complications.

There’s a lot of logistical back-and-forth in the restoration and disaster remediation field, and loss documentation is just the start of it. The new AI system makes it possible to send quotes, estimates, invoices, and any necessary follow-up communications in just a few clicks. It also streamlines the billing process. Insurance companies and individual property owners can access project portals and make online payments 24/7.

Additionally, the new system brings every franchisee the power of continual analytics. Owners no longer have to wait for monthly financial audits — they can simply log in and view their location’s past and present financial data. And thanks to the power of predictive analytics, they can also get an idea of what the next quarter’s profits might look like. Location-specific analytics can also monitor trends and alert owners and managers to potential risks long before they happen.

AI is playing a major part in Best Option Restoration’s new era. However, Zamucen notes that employees shouldn’t worry about losing their jobs to technology. The company’s project management software might be cutting-edge, but there’s a timelessness to the restoration business that won’t be changing anytime soon.

“You need men and women to go physically suck up water, pop up baseboards, cut out drywall,” he says. “It’s not something computers are going to take over.”