John Reasoner always knew he wanted to work in an industry that helps people in their time of need. He considered health care but eventually found his true calling in the restoration industry with Paul Davis Restoration. However, his path to his current role as senior director of catastrophe services wasn’t typical. By Kelsi Trinidad
A Franchise That Rebuilds With Heart
John Reasoner always knew he wanted to work in an industry that helps people in their time of need. He considered health care but eventually found his true calling in the restoration industry with Paul Davis Restoration. However, his path to his current role as senior director of catastrophe services wasn’t typical.
Before coming to Paul Davis Restoration, Reasoner owned his own roofing company and worked at a different restoration company. In 2016, he became an employee at a Paul Davis Restoration franchise in Atlanta, and over eight years, he worked in almost every department as far as operations at that location. When the director of catastrophe services role became available at the corporate office, the owner of the franchise recommended him for the job.
“I’ve always been a helper-type person,” said Reasoner. “My whole life is about wanting to help people. Specifically, with Paul Davis, I’m directly affecting people and their ability to carry on with their lives. It just is so satisfying for me to be able to do that.”
Since his promotion, Reasoner has worked with the corporate office and its wide network of franchisees to coordinate and direct preemptive and responsive strategies, addressing disasters across the nation.
“Our new motto is, ‘When things go wrong, we do what’s right,’” said Reasoner. “Time and time again with franchises, with the corporate employees and with the corporate leadership, when something comes up, whether it’s a problem or a situation that needs to be solved, no matter who is right in the situation, they just do what they feel is the right thing to do.”
This year, Reasoner’s focus is on maximizing Paul Davis Restoration’s ability to handle spike events, or small-scale disasters that require help from outside the affected community. This includes events like localized hurricanes, tornados, freezes and wildfires. As the U.S. has seen in recent years, there’s no shortage of natural disasters, and Paul Davis’s franchisees get a chance to work with Reasoner to play a pivotal role in the on-the-ground response, aiding those affected by these events.
“With Helene hitting and then Milton right behind it, that was probably the most challenging aspect,” recalled Reasoner. “We did deploy so many people down there to the area as well as to North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Georgia. It was already a big storm for Florida alone, but then when it came and hit the Carolinas and came up through Georgia, it was really spread out. I was thankful for the response that we had because we had a historic level of response for that area.”
The work is undeniably tough, but for Reasoner, the sense of purpose he gets by helping people is worth it.
“I feel so blessed that I’m able to do what I’m passionate about, help people, collect a paycheck and provide for my family at the same time,” said Reasoner.
Kelsi Trinidad