IAQ RADIO+
Show Number: 764 DRAFT BLOG
Jake Avila, PhD
Middle Tennessee State University
The Restoration Industry’s 2nd Act with Higher Education
Good Day and welcome to IAQ Radio+ episode 764 blog. This week we welcomed Dr. Jacob Avilla of Middle Tennessee State University to discuss The Restoration Industry’s 2nd Act with Higher Education. In 2011 IAQradio interviewed Professor Randy Rapp to discuss the Disaster Restoration and Reconstruction Management program he oversaw at Purdue University.
Dr. Jake Avila, Associate Professor at Middle Tennessee State University, discussed his work at MTSU’s School of Concrete and Construction Management. The challenge for the restoration industry is, will this 2nd opportunity for higher education be more successful than the 1st and significantly advance recognition of the trade of damage repair.
Nuggets mind from today’s show:
Dr. Jake, please introduce yourself to our audience by giving us a brief overview of your family’s history with the industry as restoration contractors based in Southern California?
Dr. Avila’s father works in the restoration industry in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Jake’s father started his own restoration business which was run out the family’s home. Jake remembers his father’s recognition of the importance and value of Xactimate estimating software. Jake remembers using the DOS version of Xactimate.
Dr. Avila’s industry experience began with his immersion in his father’s restoration business. He walked fire and water damage worksites with his father. His restoration and construction experience spans 17 years, Prior to transitioning to academia, he served as executive VP and GM of California Construction, a family-owned business specializing in disaster restoration and government contracting. As GM he oversaw the business operation as well as construction and consulting services to government agencies, homeowners, property managers, law firms, AEC firms, 3rd party administrators and insurance carriers.
Jake got into academia through happenstance. As a business owner, Jake served on the advisory board of a local university. When another advisory board stakeholder who worked for the community college approached Jake to fill an open teaching position; Jake knew from teaching the first day that was what he wanted to do.
University Professors are required to do research and publish papers. Frustrated that most academic research is exposed to a limited audience of other researchers. Seeking a wider audience for his research, Jake seeks to involve restoration practitioners in both research and the findings of that research. Dr. Avila is a scholar practitioner who is committed to enhancing the work restoration industry professionals through applied research. The underlying goal in his work is to assist disaster restoration build capacity by systematically advancing the understanding of industry dynamics, improving the design and application of best practices, and strengthening connections between scholarly and professional activities. He has researched: family businesses, family dynamics within restoration firms, employee burnout and estimator burnout.
How has your research been financed? Jake explained that accessing validated research is expensive; pay-per-view basis. Jake credits Les Cunningham and his Business Networks group as a primary source of his research funding.
Randy Rapp? Jake’s relationship with Dr. Randy Rapp, PhD goes back to 2014ish when he encountered Randy’s body of academic work while doing research. Jake has cooperated with Randy Rapp and Francois Jacobs, PhD on research and industry projects. Jake and Randy are writing the 2nd edition Disaster Recovery Project Management: Bringing Order from Chaos (Purdue Handbooks in Building Construction). After a 15 year run at Purdue, Dr. Rapp retired, essentially ending the restoration industry’s foray as Act 1 with higher education.
When you speak at disaster restoration industry events, what is the audience’s biggest concerns? Getting more workforce into the pipeline.
What suggestions or strategies do you have for getting more workforce into the pipeline? Restoration firms seeking workers should attend work fairs, meet and engage with college freshman students from day 1. Invest time and money in creating relationships with students. Jake is confident that restoration contractors can outsell other trades seeking workers.
The concrete industry story? 25 years ago, the concrete industry sought to get more people into their employment pipeline. Now graduates fill every needed role with an 84% retention rate.
From College Day 1, today’s MTSU students are more informed about opportunities and are making more informed career decisions and committing to careers.
The concrete program at MTSU was an idea born from industry. The US concrete industry is $120B. By contrast the restoration industry is twice that size.
Jake’s Elevator pitch: In order to get more young people into the restoration industry pipeline everyone needs to pitch in. Educating young people about our industry is important. When recruiting students at MTSU for the concrete industry, the industry brings in large concrete equipment, demonstrates how concrete is made, and concrete is tested for compression strength. The restoration industry should learn for the concrete industry’s success to do the same thing.
What are your financial requirements? The first $1M will put the faculty into place. $2M will be used for student scholarships. Elon Musk and DOGE (Dept of Govt. Efficiency) exposed that major universities charge high overhead/administration fees on research (Harvard University charges the government 69% of the money it receives for research to cover "indirect costs," also known as "overhead charges." Yale is 67.5% and Johns Hopkins is 63.7%) *
https://www.michigannewssource.com/2025 ... ead-costs/
MTSU’s administrative fees are 31%-43%. MTSU has agreed to charge -0%- overhead on the restoration program. Scholarship funds will be used to send students to conferences, attend IICRC and RIA courses. The university has committed to match $4.7M
Can restoration contractors compete with other trades for hiring college graduates? Starting salaries for outgoing MTSU concrete program graduates ranges between $50 and $85K with the averages between $65K and $70K.
RoundUp
Pete Consigli, Disaster Restoration Industry Watchdog and Historian
• Pete visited MTSU and had a tour of the campus, he was particularly impressed by their concrete laboratory. Perhaps MTSU could have a disaster restoration laboratory? A disaster restoration lab was discussed for Purdue and never came to fruition.
• Act 1 at Purdue was 20 years ago when Drew Brees was the Purdue Boilermakers QB. Martin King spoke of disaster repair becoming a profession
• Bob Bonwell dream was to establish a disaster restoration graduate degree program at a major university. Bob’s first cousin was a dean at Purdue. The Purdue disaster restoration program under Randy Rapp’s leadership did result in internships, scholarships, and student trips.
• A Gathering of Eagles event at MTSU in October will coincide with MTSU Job Fair.
• The Purdue Disaster Restoration Program had an Advisory Council.
• DKI, Rainbow Restoration, BELFOR, TPAs (Code Blue) attended Purdue Job Fairs
• Texas A&M is the big dog working with trades and industry.
• The Act 2 analogy is analogous with 2006 dialogue to create a better relationship with the insurance industry followed by 3 major events: Donnybrook, Closing the Gap and Narrowing the Divide.
• New leadership Mark Springer penned “Take a Stand” and “Greatest Need”. RIA has had success in recruiting succeeding leaders.
• Who will emerge to be the next industry leaders, they are probably in their 40s now with 20 years of restoration experience.
• In order for the government to acknowledge a trade it is important for th trade to have a Body of Knowledge and an Affiliation with an Institute of Higher Learning.
• RIA is lobbying for SIC code for restoration.
• We need advocates to take the message.
• Les Cunningham has done fabulous work with his collaboration and support of the MTSU disaster restoration program! Pete applauds him!
• Thanks Jake for his passion!
• Opines that Jake is the right guy to star in Act 2.
• Suggests Jake learn lessons from experiences and challenges of the Purdue program.
Dr. Jakes’s final thoughts:
• Gathering of Eagles event at MTSU Jan 27-29. Restoration contractors, workshops, mergers acquisitions, CEU credits, opportunity to meet students.
• Jake’s big question?: Does the industry want the MTSU disaster restoration program?
•
Jacob.Avila@mtsu.edu
Z-Man signing off
Trivia Question:
According to the popularity of their Wikipedia pages, who is Mid Tennessee State University’s #1 alumnus”
Answer: Prince Rogers Nelson AKA PRINCE
Answered by: Luis Suarez, Restorright Bilingual Academy, Edinburg, Texas
