Bulletin Five – September 2022
It was great to see so many new and familiar faces at the RIA Inc. conference and trade show. The event was a huge success and we have received lots of positive feedback about it. Thank you to all who organised, sponsored, promoted, supported and participated in the event.
In regard to the Advocacy Movement, we (the association and the membership) have made significant progress over the last few months.
As many of you are aware, we successfully met our fundraising goal of $100,000 at the conference to fund the hiring of a Restoration Advocate and for their advocacy related activities. This is an outstanding achievement for the group and a demonstration of what is possible when we unite to achieve a goal. Thank you to those who contributed and supported this funding activity.
We have commenced working on defining the ideal profile for the Advocate and on a job advertisement to be used during the hiring process. Once completed, we will seek input from the membership to recommend any candidates they believe align to the details presented and we will also commence the hiring process.
Two position statements have been released to the membership and to the public, one on job limitations and the other on microbial sampling requirements. Overall, the responses to these statements have been positive.
The position statements were also provided to executives of several major insurance companies, loss adjusting firms and brokers. The statements were very well received.
This activity has been a successful step to introduce the RIA Australasia brand to these organisations and to provide resources that promote ethical, professional and sustainable restoration practices for all stakeholders of the industry.
If you have not yet seen the position statements, you can find them here on our website: https://www.restorationindustry.org.au/advocacy/position-statements/
With the release of the position statements, the new RIA Inc. website and the RIA Inc. brand awareness campaign was launched.
A number of online ads are currently being run, promoting the RIA Inc. brand and messages for stakeholders across Australia and New Zealand. These include insurance professionals, brokers, facility managers, strata managers, property managers, restorers, industry related professionals and policyholders.
Over the last several weeks, the ads have reached over 60,000 people, with an average advertising frequency (ie. how many times a person sees an RIA Inc. branded ad) of 2.80 times. The ads will continue to promote the RIA Inc. brand and messages over the next few months.
15 new businesses have joined the RIA Inc. over the last few months. If you are not yet a member of RIA Inc., we invite you to join.
We continue the development of the new membership benefits and have made good progress. RIA Inc. anticipates releasing a number of these in the coming months.
So where to now?
- Establish an advocacy sub-committee – Done
- Get member feedback on your issues and needs – Done
- From your feedback agree and formalise position statements for our industry – Done
- Recruit a restoration advocate – In progress
- Inform and update membership on progress – Ongoing
Maintain advocacy momentum – Ongoing
The achievements summarised in this bulletin have been made possible with your continued support and participation in the RIA Inc., resulting in an increase in membership, funding available for advocacy activities and successes through your efforts as members and volunteers.
The committee’s current major task is to find and hire the right candidate for the Advocate role. Along with this, we will:
- Continue to increase contractor and vendor membership
- Continue the brand awareness campaign
- Develop and release additional position statements
We still need your help
You have seen what is possible when we unite and work together to get something done. Let’s continue to do so and get more done for the benefit of all stakeholders of the industry. 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 through joining RIA Inc.
- Look out for and nominate any potential candidates for the upcoming advocacy position.
- Consider joining one of RIAs specialist committee groups.
Once again, please ensure that when discussing the RIA Inc. advocacy with anyone you make it clear this is not a war of “us against them” but rather a need for restorers, builders, insurers and other 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 providing another update as we continue to work on our next steps and we hope to see you all shortly at our upcoming State Meetings, which are free for members, non-members and staff to attend.
Until then keep well and keep up your good work of offering superior RIA Inc. standard of work.
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.