Bulletin 2 – May 2020
As previously advised the Restoration Industry Association USA (RIA) and our local chapter agree to maintain local funding towards the advocacy role in Australia.
This is excellent news for RIA Inc. Australasia members as this will enable a return on your membership fees, the local RIA Inc. advocate once engaged working for the legal and financial interests of all member restorers.
With sufficient support from our members through membership fees and attendance at local events, RIA Inc. will provide advocacy for restoration professionals across the country and seek to influence legislation and/or reform as needed.
RIA USA Advocacy is quoted as saying:
âWith growing frequency, restorers report frustration and exasperation with price-slashing, administrative burdens, and Monday-morning quarterbacking by third-party administrators (TPAs), insurance adjusters, and third-party claims consultants. Restorers suffer from stagnant or declining prices in standardized pricing/scoping platforms that do not reflect real world increases in labor and operating costs. They also struggle to comply with laws that fail to take into account the unique challenges faced by emergency service contractorsâŠ..The net effect of these problems is far-reaching. Some of the best and the brightest contractors are withdrawing from insurance company preferred vendor programs, or greatly limiting the geographic areas they will serve, in order to minimize travel expenses. Others are getting out of the business altogether. This attrition gradually forces insurers to assign work to contractors with less training, efficiency, and expertise, which lowers the quality of service received by insureds. When lower quality service is provided, the insurance companiesâ liability exposure increases because when customers take legal action for substandard work performed by a preferred vendor, they usually sue the insurance company as well. When insurance companies are sued, they raise premiums to offset the lossââand the insured suffers again. Obviously, when jobs are assigned to less efficient contractors, it delays the resolution of claims, which increases the insurance companiesâ expenditures for additional living expenses. This tarnishes the reputation of the restoration industry and decreases the confidence of the public and the insurance companies in the restoration industryâ
Sounds very familiar to most local restorers?
For the betterment of the industry and all its stakeholdersâ matters must change to avoid harm to restorers, their customers, insurers, and the industry.
RIA USA are well down the path of advocacy and there is evidence that the industry is listening. We here in Australasia are not as advanced yet, but the securing of the financial backing should place us in a position to start to recruit for an advocacy representative early in the new financial year.
The RIA Inc. wants to now unite the restoration industry and voice our issues through advocating for the best interests of restoration contractors. We will develop strategies to help create and maintain equity between restorers and insurers and their partners. RIA Inc. will advocate for the financial and legal interests of our restoration members while working collaboratively and fairly with insurers and the other stakeholders in the restoration process.
So Where to Now?
- Establish and advocacy sub-committee – Done
- Get member feedback on your issues and needs
- From your feedback agree and formalise position statements for our industry
- Recruit a restoration advocate
- Inform and update membership on progress
- Maintain advocacy momentum
Our aim is to raise locally in excess of $100,000 to enable RIA Inc. to have the confidence to recruit a suitable candidate knowing that we have the financial resources to sustain their efforts longer term.
We are well on the way to having this financial stability thanks to your ongoing membership and support of local activities, especially the annual conference. Regrettably 2020 has seen this yearâs conference postponed (due to Covid -19 restrictions) and therefore the associated additional funding for the advocacy from this event has also been temporarily lost.
Once RIA Inc. have secured adequate financial resource for this advocacy, we will hire a Restoration Advocate. Not volunteer speaking for RIA Inc. in their spare time, the Restoration Advocate will be a paid professional with specific goals. To ensure there are no conflicts of interest and fears of retaliation, we have decided that the successful candidate will not be currently engaged in the restoration industry. But the candidate will have industry experience and understand its history.
The candidate wont be easy to find, so please get the word out that RIA Inc. are interested in potential candidates and can be contacted initially at admin@restorationindustry.org.au for more information.
We Need Your Help
How?
- Through your ongoing membership of RIA Inc.
- Spreading the word to other restorers, that are not current RIA Inc. members, to get on board and support the advocacy cause.
- Consider a donation to RIA Inc. to support the advocacy movement.
- Look out for and nominate any potential candidates for the upcoming advocacy position.
Please ensure that when discussing the RIA Inc. advocacy with anyone you make it clear this is not a war of âus against themâ but rather a need for restorers and insurers (and their stakeholders) to have a clear and fair working position that allows for the sustainability of our industry with experienced and qualified providers.
We look forward to updating you as matter progress and seeking you individual input into the needs as you see them, so that we can get consensus on what need addressing as a priority for our members.
RIA Inc. Australasia
Advocacy Committee
Join the Movement
Become a member of the RIA Inc. and support the advocacy movement. Your membership will help the movement and will grant you access to a number of resources and benefits offered to RIA Inc. members.