Restoration Industry Statistics

The restoration industry is in the middle of unprecedented change. After a quieter-than-expected 2025, restoration contractors are facing a new reality shaped by climate unpredictability, workforce challenges, and evolving homeowner expectations.

Understanding where the industry is headed will help you position your restoration business to thrive, whether 2026 brings a storm surge or continues the trend of leaner operations and strategic adaptation.

Let's explore what the data tells us about restoration industry trends for 2026 and what it means for contractors planning ahead.

Market Size & Growth Forecast

The restoration industry experienced an unprecedented year in 2025. For the first time since 2015, no hurricanes made landfall in the continental U.S., resulting in reduced claims volume for many restoration contractors across the country, though regional impacts varied.

This period forced the industry to evolve rapidly. The most successful companies navigated 2025 by embracing operational efficiencies and preparing for whatever demand patterns emerge next. This downturn has given restoration companies something they rarely get: time to strategize.

"Companies are learning how to run leaner, do the same amount of work with fewer staff, and make themselves as efficient as possible in preparing for hypergrowth." — Kimberly Burdi-Dumas, DocuSketch

What This Means for Your Restoration Business:

The most successful restoration companies will use slow times strategically. Customer experience has become more important than ever. Make sure your customers feel heard and valued so you're top of mind when they need restoration services. Be timely in your communication and present for their concerns.

The most successful contractors are positioning themselves as strategic partners to insurance carriers. This means maintaining open communication about claim status, understanding carrier requirements, and proactively addressing issues before they become disputes.

When volume eventually increases, the contractors who maintained these relationships and invested in operational efficiency will be the ones who can scale quickly.

The New Normal: How Climate Is Reshaping Restoration Demand

The United States had 24 billion-dollar weather events in 2024, nearly three times the long-term average. Yet 2025 proved unpredictable, with no hurricane events making U.S. landfall.

What This Means for Your Restoration Business:

Research shows that 47% of Americans now say severe weather makes homeownership less appealing, with Gen Z and Millennials showing the most concern. This sentiment is reshaping where people choose to live and how they think about property risk.

In this unpredictable environment, restoration contractors can't afford to wait for the next big storm. The companies thriving in 2026 are the ones investing in systems that make their day-to-day operations more efficient.

When estimating technology like DocuSketch can reduce a 90-minute estimate to 5 minutes of review time, that PM or estimator can spend the rest of their day on sales calls, building adjuster relationships, and bringing in new work. Whether 2026 brings catastrophic storms or another quieter year, the contractors who've built efficient, scalable operations will be ready to capitalize on whatever comes next.

The Evolving Homeowner: Financial Strain, Low Awareness, High Expectations

DocuSketch surveyed 1,000+ US-based adults aged 25+ and uncovered that:

• Only 19% are very familiar with what a restoration professional actually does
• 76% would call their insurance company first, not a restoration firm
• 29% can't cover repairs over $5,000 out of pocket
• The average storm damage recovery cost is $12,315, which only 17% of homeowners could afford to cover independently

An added layer for contractors to consider: 94% of homeowners seek multiple quotes, but only 28% feel confident choosing the right contractor.

"It really is all about trust. The only way to set yourself apart is with relationship building." — Todd Sangid, DocuSketch

What Contractors Need to Know:

Most homeowners aren't comparing your technical capabilities. In fact, many don't know what to look for in a restoration company or how to evaluate contractor qualifications. They're comparing how professional you appear, how clearly you communicate, and whether they feel they can trust you during what is potentially one of the worst days of their life.

First impressions matter more than ever. Showing up with a documentation process you can operate with confidence signals competence and care. It gives homeowners peace of mind that their loss is being taken seriously. This means using 360° tools that enable you to get full coverage of the loss site quickly on your first visit.

Build Trust at the Community Level

So how do you build that trust before a loss even happens?

Start local. Get involved in community events and local business groups. Chambers of commerce can be a starting point, but they're often too broad and corporate to make a real impact. "If you really want to make a dent, find what your team's niche is and who you speak best to. That's where you build credibility," Todd suggests.

Finding your team's niche can look like:

• Sponsoring local events or charities that align with your values
• Taking on acts of service like building ramps or fences for people in need
• Volunteering at a soup kitchen during the holidays

The restoration contractors who thrive have built strong community relationships that generate direct business when disaster strikes. Showing up consistently, and investing time where your team connects best with the community helps you stay top of mind.

Homeowner Misunderstandings About Insurance

Homeowner confusion about insurance coverage creates friction throughout the restoration process:

• 54% of Americans believe insurers lack transparency in how claims are calculated, pointing to widespread skepticism about fairness in claim outcomes
• Trust in brokers is weak: 45% don't trust insurance brokers to act in their best interest
• Despite 74% saying they feel confident they understand their policy coverage, many still struggle:
  
  • 26% don't know what questions to ask when buying a policy
  • 23% say policy language confuses them

Why This Matters for Contractors:

You're often caught in the middle, explaining policy limitations to frustrated homeowners while navigating carrier requirements yourself. The more you can educate homeowners upfront about the process, the smoother the job goes.

As Todd Sangid explains, restoration contractors need to lead with clarity and help homeowners understand what to expect throughout the process. When homeowners understand the claims process, timeline expectations, and their role in it, everyone benefits.

"More often than not, if you're in this line of work, you're dealing with an individual that's having the worst day of their life," says Robert Harrell, of DocuSketch. During these situations, empathy and consistency ensure nothing gets missed and communication stays clear. A reliable process protects both you and the homeowner.

This dynamic is what the industry calls the restoration triangle: the three-way relationship between homeowner, insurance company, and restoration contractor. The homeowner is stressed and uncertain about the process. The insurance company must fulfill their obligation to make the policyholder whole while managing costs responsibly. And the restoration contractor sits in the middle, trying to serve both parties while getting paid fairly.

When communication breaks down at any point in this triangle, the entire restoration process suffers. Digital documentation platforms, like DocuSketch, help bridge this communication gap by giving all three parties access to the same visual record of the property, reducing disputes about what damage exists and what work is needed.

Workforce Challenges & Inflation: The Other Storms Hitting Restoration

The restoration industry faces a workforce challenge that will reshape the sector for years to come. More than 20% of construction workers are 55 or older, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning retirement will continue contracting the industry's most experienced workforce. These aren't just numbers walking out the door. This is decades of knowledge about proper techniques, carrier requirements, and problem-solving that can't be easily replaced through training manuals.

The Strategic Shift: Revenue-Generation vs. Administrative Work

The solution to doing more with fewer people comes down to operational efficiency.

Todd Sangid sees a fundamental shift happening: tasks that don't directly generate revenue are disappearing. Companies are pulling their teams away from administrative screens and putting them in front of customers instead.

The shift reflects a broader industry evolution. The old-school approach had estimators going on-site, writing estimates, settling jobs, and running projects. The new approach leverages technology for data entry and administrative tasks, freeing skilled team members for relationship-building and business development.

"Now you're able to limit your expenses by generating higher ROI because your opportunity is higher," Todd notes. This becomes especially critical during slow periods. Contractors who can pivot their teams toward proactive sales and relationship-building survive.

DocuSketch Estimating exemplifies this shift. Field teams capture comprehensive 360° documentation in minutes, then submit it for a complete estimate. The PM or estimator who used to spend time writing that estimate can now spend 5 minutes reviewing it and the rest of their day on tasks that drive revenue.

What's Working:

According to the 2024 R&R 360 Industry Outlook, leading contractors are addressing workforce challenges through comprehensive approaches that include training investments and technology adoption. Industry surveys show that the most successful companies are investing an average of 14% of their budgets in training programs, including apprenticeships and hands-on field training, which contractors favor over classroom learning. They're offering enhanced benefits packages that go beyond wages, including improved PTO, healthcare, and retirement plans. Technology investments that make existing workers more productive give contractors justification to offer better compensation while maintaining margins. When you give your team better tools and processes, they can accomplish more, making them more valuable and creating a sustainable path to better wages.

Industry Realignment: The Shift Toward Full-Service Restoration

The restoration industry is experiencing a fundamental shift in how work gets structured, and it's being driven by insurance carriers and homeowner preferences.

For decades, the Canadian and U.S. restoration markets operated differently. "In Canada, restoration has always been full service. Meanwhile, the largest U.S. restoration companies built entire business models around mitigation only, leaving reconstruction to other contractors," explains Nelson Higgins, of DocuSketch.

That's changing fast. According to analysis of industry trends, carriers are increasingly favoring full-service providers over specialized mitigation-only firms. The shift isn't cyclical like the industry's historical swings between demolition and drying. It's structural.

Why the change?

• Insurers prefer one-vendor accountability: Single entity owns the entire outcome, eliminating multi-vendor blame games
• Homeowners want one point of contact: The complexity of coordinating multiple contractors adds stress to an already traumatic experience
• Risk of fragmentation: Multiple vendors can create delayed projects and miscommunication which keeps the policyholder out of their home for longer than anticipated

What This Means for Your Restoration Business:

Carriers and homeowners increasingly favor contractors who can manage the entire lifecycle of the loss. For full-service contractors, this is your moment, but it requires operational excellence across all phases.

"The industry is changing rapidly, and the restoration world is in for major shifts in the years ahead." — Nelson Higgins, DocuSketch.

Specialization can still have a place in the restoration industry, but contractors who remain mitigation-only should be aware that carriers are increasingly favoring full-service providers. For specialized businesses not ready to expand to full-service, the path forward includes deepening carrier relationships, maintaining exceptional service quality, and exploring strategic partnerships with full-service firms that can provide the comprehensive capabilities carriers increasingly require.

The Tech Mandate: Why Digital Documentation Is the New Standard

Those building strong documentation workflows are quickly learning how digital documentation can help them increase revenue and cut costs by working smarter rather than harder.

The numbers tell the story. According to the DocuSketch Impact Report, restoration companies are transforming their operations through efficient documentation and DocuSketch Estimating. What once took up to 14 days for estimate uploads now happens in under 3 days. Overall cycle times drop from 22 days to 8.5 days, getting contractors paid in under 9 days.

Beyond speed, digital documentation solves several critical challenges:

• Fewer disputes. Comprehensive 360° tours eliminate arguments about damage extent, especially for subjective claims like smoke and wildfire damage. When you can virtually walk an adjuster through the property, approvals happen faster.
• Better cash flow. In an industry where cash flow problems cause more failures than any other factor, faster approvals mean survival.
• Scalable documentation. A traditional approach might require manually labeling and uploading 1,200+ individual photos per job. With 360° technology, the system automatically generates and labels 1,250+ unique images in about one minute. Your team spends time on revenue-generating work instead of administrative tasks.

Chris Tilkov, part of the leadership team at DocuSketch, emphasizes one crucial point: familiarize yourself with technology before catastrophe hits. The worst time to learn new workflows is when your team is under extreme pressure.

What Should Restoration Contractors Do Now?

2025 tested the restoration industry: with claims volume down substantially, contractors faced unprecedented downtime and operational pressure. The most successful contractors adapted by implementing technology efficiencies and refining their workflows. They invested strategically in digital documentation tools, better training programs, and systems that would allow them to scale quickly when volume returns.

Based on everything we've covered, here's your action plan:

• Prioritize customer retention. When claims volume is down, keeping existing relationships becomes survival. Make customers feel heard, communicate clearly, and position yourself as a true partner.
• Embrace technology. Digital documentation and workflow tools aren't optional anymore. The contractors who adopt technology during slower periods will be the ones who can scale when demand surges.
• Build community relationships. Invest downtime to build proactive relationships. Get involved locally, sponsor events, and invest time in your niche consistently.
• Invest in your people. Better tools, training, and workplace culture reduce turnover and increase productivity. Your workforce is your competitive advantage.

The contractors who act on these insights now will be the ones still standing when the industry inevitably shifts again.