A restoration CEO leads a company that dries out, cleans and rebuilds homes and small businesses after water, fire, smoke and mold damage. Since insurers pay for most of the work, the CEO builds the carrier, agent and referral ties that keep jobs coming, and decides how fast to grow without running out of cash.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Serve as the strategic leader responsible for defining company strategy and ensuring profitable restoration operations. Foster partnerships with insurers and industry stakeholders to drive sustainable growth and operational excellence. Lead the organization with a visionary outlook while safeguarding the company’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Develop and implement strategic plans to drive profitable growth and operational effectiveness.
Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with insurer partners to secure sustainable business contracts.
Oversee all restoration operations to ensure high-quality project execution and customer satisfaction.
Represent the company at industry events and engage in public relations efforts to enhance brand reputation.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review daily performance metrics and financial reports to ensure targets are met.
Conduct executive leadership meetings to align on strategic goals and operational priorities.
Meet with insurer partners to discuss opportunities and resolve partnership-related issues.
Monitor restoration projects to guarantee adherence to company standards and regulatory requirements.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Revenue Growth: Achieve a year-over-year revenue increase of at least 10%.
Profit Margin: Maintain a gross profit margin of at least 25%.
New Business Leads: Generate a minimum of 15 new insurer partnerships per year.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: Attain an average rating of >4.8 stars in customer feedback surveys.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Master’s degree in Business Administration, Management, or related field.
Minimum of 10 years of executive leadership experience in a restoration or related home services industry.
Proven expertise in strategic planning, financial management, and operational leadership.
Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience working directly with restoration contractors and insurer partnerships.
Demonstrated history of transforming operational strategies to achieve sustainable profitability.
Background in managing complex projects within the home services industry or similar sectors.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to travel frequently to different project sites and insurer meetings.
Capacity to work in varied environments including construction sites and office settings.
Minimal physical exertion required; primarily focused on strategic decision-making and leadership.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard office-based environment with frequent travel to restoration worksites.
Typical work hours: 40-50 hours per week with flexibility for evening or weekend meetings when necessary.
Occasional on-call responsibilities for urgent strategic or operational issues.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Annual base salary range: $150,000 - $200,000 USD.
Annual performance bonus based on achieving strategic and financial KPIs.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
401(k) with company match and additional fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we believe in a culture of innovation, integrity, and inclusivity where every team member is empowered to make impactful decisions.
Our company is dedicated to continuous improvement and growth, fostering an environment where leaders thrive and success is shared.
We are passionate about restoring homes and rebuilding lives, ensuring every project reflects our commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A restoration company runs on other people's decisions: the insurer that approves the bill, the storm that brings the work, and the plumber or agent who makes the first call. The CEO plans around all three.
The insurer is a second customer
The homeowner signs your work order, but the carrier or a managed repair program often has the last word on the scope and price it will pay, and on how fast you get paid. These programs can send steady work if you meet their quality review and warranty terms. How much of the company to tie to them, and what happens if one stops sending jobs, is the CEO's call. Source: Contractor Connection: managed repair network for insurance carriers.
Two businesses under one roof
Emergency work moves in hours and days: a crew shows up, pulls out wet materials and sets up drying gear. Rebuild is slower. It has permits, subcontractors and a longer wait for the money. Some owners hand rebuild to partners to keep cash free; others keep it so more of each claim stays in-house. That choice shapes hiring, licensing and the credit line.
Weather writes the calendar
A hard freeze that bursts pipes across town, a hurricane, a wildfire or a week of floods can bring months of work in a few days. The CEO decides before it hits how far crews will travel and which other restorers to team up with for overflow. The plan also has to keep regular customers and referral partners served while storm work runs.
Claim laws limit what sales can promise
State insurance laws draw lines your team can't cross. Texas makes it illegal for a contractor to offer to skip, refund or cover the customer's deductible. A contractor that is doing or may do the repairs also can't act as the owner's public adjuster or offer that role in its ads. Since 2019 that rule names any contractor, not just roofers. The CEO puts these rules into training and marketing in each state you operate in. Source: Texas Department of Insurance: Roofing and insurance, know the law.
The first call often comes from a partner
Many jobs reach you through the plumber who found the leak, an insurance agent or a property manager, not an ad. The CEO owns those ties at the top. That means meeting agency owners, showing up at local insurance and trade groups, and making sure the company answers fast enough that partners keep calling.
How much restoration chief executive officers make
The closest BLS group for restoration chief executive officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for remediation companies earned a median of $215,510 a year ($103.61 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 170 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for remediation companies.
The template's package is base pay and a bonus for strategic and financial results. Consider setting the growth target against a year without a major storm, so one catastrophe doesn't pay out a bonus the business can't repeat.
Remediation companies
$215,510$215,510 median Middle half $104,400–$564,570 10th–90th $69,990–$642,050
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Remediation companies
$69,990
$104,400
$215,510
$564,570
$642,050
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for restoration contractors on their own. These figures cover remediation and other waste management services, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has led a contracting, insurance repair or restoration business, or a big branch of one, through several storm seasons
Knows how a work-in-progress report and carrier receivables tie back to cash in the bank
Can win and keep carrier program approvals and agency relationships
Has hired managers who kept the company running while they took a week off
Makes clear calls when a catastrophe floods the phones and every manager wants more crews
Handles a public complaint from an upset homeowner without making it worse
Teach these on the job
How your carrier programs assign, score and pay jobs
Reading an Xactimate estimate closely enough to see where money gets cut
The drying and mold terms that show up in job files
Who in your market sends which kinds of losses
Your state's rules on deductibles, contracts and public adjusting
Carriers grade you in their own systems, such as XactAnalysis, which insurers use to route assignments, audit estimates and keep scorecards on cycle time and estimate quality. A restoration CEO should read those results next to your job platform, like DASH or Albi, and your Xactimate estimates, so say in the posting which carrier portals you work in.
These four targets come from a generic template. Before you lock yours, look at last year's revenue by division and source, and how much of it came from one storm.
Revenue Growth
Line up this year's monthly revenue against last year's. Split it by mitigation, rebuild and contents, and by source, so one big storm doesn't hide a slow core business.
Profit Margin
Gross profit from job costing, by division and for the whole company. Make sure job costs are posted before each month closes, or the margin will read higher than it really is.
New Business Leads
Count new insurance relationships that send paid jobs: carrier and program approvals, plus agencies that refer their clients. Track property managers on a separate line. An approval means little until jobs arrive, so track the date of each partner's first job.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Survey every customer when the job closes. Each month, read the lowest scores yourself, call one or two of those customers, and ask the division leader what went wrong.
Plenty of owners keep the top job and bring in a GM or COO to run the jobs. A hired CEO makes sense once the company has outgrown the owner's network: a second market, new carrier programs, or a new division such as contents or rebuild that needs a leader. Agree in writing which carrier and agency contacts move to the new CEO, since those ties tend to follow the founder.
How much does a restoration chief executive officer make?
Chief executives who work for remediation companies earned a median of $215,510 a year ($103.61 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $104,400 and $564,570 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
What background should a restoration CEO have?
The template calls for a master's degree and at least ten years of executive work in restoration or home services. Past that, find a leader who has grown a contracting company through a few storm seasons, kept cash steady while insurers paid late, and built managers who stayed. Have them explain their own results line by line, not just their titles.
How much does a restoration CEO need to know about insurance claims?
Enough to see where money leaks. That means how a loss gets assigned, how an estimate is reviewed and cut, why a supplement can take weeks, and where the deductible and the mortgage company fit in. They don't need to write estimates, but they need to follow every word of a tough carrier call.
Should a restoration company join a franchise or stay independent?
It's a CEO-level call. A franchise can bring a known name, training and the brand's insurance relationships, in exchange for fees and rules on territory and branding. An independent keeps more of each job and its freedom, but has to win every carrier and agent alone. Get a franchise attorney to read the contract before anyone signs.
What should a new restoration CEO tackle first?
Learn how work arrives and where it stalls. Pull a year of jobs by referral source and carrier, see how long each took from first call to final payment, and meet your top referral partners in person. Then shadow one large loss from the first night through dry-out, so the numbers have faces.
