How to hire a restoration marketing rep: requirements, pay to offer, where to find them and how to screen

You are not hiring someone to hand out flyers. The rep's output is a pipeline: referral relationships that send jobs your coordinators book and your estimators scope. Decide what that pipeline carries in your operation before you write the posting.

• Territory and sources. Name the service area and the referral partners the rep owns: plumbers for mitigation referrals, insurance agents, property managers, commercial building owners. A rep with a named list is coachable; a rep told to "get your name out there" is not.
• An outreach cadence you can inspect. Visits, calls and follow-ups logged in a CRM with next steps attached. You are buying activity you can review, not activity you have to take on faith.
• Service literacy. The rep describes water mitigation, contents and rebuild work to sources face to face, where your website is not in the room. Ride-alongs with your crews are how they learn what they sell — build them into the first weeks, not just the interview.
• A defined handoff. What happens when a source sends a job: who takes the call, who books it, and who keeps the source updated after the handoff. Decide it before the first referral arrives.
• Driving. If the rep runs in a company vehicle, license status and driving record belong in the screen from the start.
• Availability. Trade events, agent meetings and storm callbacks do not all happen between nine and five. Write the expectations into the posting instead of discovering them in the offer conversation.

The shape of the hire depends on the company. A small owner-run restorer may ask one rep to own the whole book, while a larger operation splits territory and loss type. A franchise location hires into its brand's marketing program and reporting, and a company chasing commercial work wants a rep who can sit across from a facility manager. Write down which version you are hiring before the first interview.

If you are still deciding whether this is the right hire at all — versus another tech, a coordinator or an estimator — start from hiring for your restoration company, then come back here for the role-specific screen.

The worker-side view of the job — how reps describe the work and where the career path leads — is the career guide to what a restoration marketing rep does. This page stays on your side of the hire.

Start by separating two things employers blur: certifications, which are credentials a company requires, and licenses, which are state law attached to specific work. A marketing rep's screen leans on the first and mostly stays clear of the second.

For credentials, this page's research did not surface a certification specific to restoration marketing or referral selling. Judge candidates on the relationships they have built and the results they can walk you through, rather than on letters after a name.

What does help is fluency in the service. A rep who has watched a crew extract a flooded basement or pack out a smoke job speaks to a plumber or an insurance agent with specifics; a rep who has only read your brochure does not. The coursework your technicians take, and the certifications behind it, are credentials your company can require or sponsor — they are not licenses — and the career guide linked above covers what they look like from the rep's side.

Licenses are a different question, and for this role the answer concerns the work your company performs rather than the person who sells it. The license regimes restoration companies work under — state mold assessment and remediation licenses, asbestos accreditation and licenses, lead certification, contractor licensing — attach to the remediation and abatement work itself.

This page's research did not identify a state license that names the marketing-representative job itself. Licensing rules vary by state and change; confirm with your state's licensing agencies before you finalize the requirements you will hire under.

One edge to keep clean: if you expect the rep to also perform or supervise remediation work — running drying equipment on a loss, signing off a mold job — the rules that attach to that work follow the work. Your screen then has to cover them. Keep the selling role and the remediation role separate unless you are prepared to hire for both.

Rules change. License requirements are state law and they move. Confirm the current requirements with the agencies named for your state and your loss types before you finalize the job's requirements.

Set the number from your market, not from a chart. This page's research holds no wage benchmark for the restoration marketing rep title and no commission split to copy. The range you can defend comes from the postings you compete against for the same sellers, and from what a produced job supports in your own job costing.

Then decide the structure. A base salary with commission keeps the rep selling your service rather than only the largest job; commission-only shifts the risk onto the rep and narrows the candidate pool to people who can afford the wait. That tradeoff is yours to make. What the law does is set the rules the structure runs under, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces, applies to this role like any other:

• Bonuses in the overtime math. Under 29 CFR 778.211, promised or announced bonuses — attendance, production, retention, hiring-agreement bonuses — are not discretionary and must be included in the regular rate for overtime. If your plan promises incentive pay, budget the overtime cost that comes with it.
• The exempt salary floor. If you classify the rep as exempt under the FLSA's executive, administrative or professional exemptions, the federal salary level currently reads $684 per week. Exemption classification is fact-specific, so confirm it with counsel or the Wage and Hour Division before you assume a commissioned rep is exempt.
• Drive time. Under 29 CFR 785.38, job-site-to-job-site travel during the workday is hours worked, and travel from a required shop or meeting point to the job is part of the day's work. If your rep's week is heavy on windshield time, how those routes count is fact-specific — set the pay plan after you have confirmed the treatment with the Wage and Hour Division or counsel.

Commission-only also tempts owners toward a 1099 arrangement, and that is where the structure decision meets employment law. Status is decided by tests, not by the form you file. Under the FLSA, the Department of Labor applies an economic-reality test: a worker economically dependent on the company is an employee, and one in business for themself is an independent contractor. The IRS groups the evidence into behavioral control, financial control and type of relationship. As of October 2026, the DOL's February 26, 2026 rulemaking on the test is a proposal, not a final rule. Confirm classification with counsel before you staff the role on 1099s.

Whatever you decide, the posting itself carries legal content requirements in the states below. California employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting. New York requires businesses with four or more employees to list a compensation range and to say whether the job is commission-based — the line that matters for this hire. Washington employers with 15 or more employees must disclose the wage scale or salary range plus a general description of benefits. Illinois employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale and benefits, which a hyperlink can satisfy. Colorado requires compensation, benefits and how to apply in all job postings, and bars asking about or relying on an applicant's pay history. That list is where this page's research verified a rule, not an exhaustive one — check your own state labor agency before you post.

Compete on more than the number, too: define the territory, set a base that survives the ramp you built into the plan, and don't leave the rep alone on an island. Replacing a rep can reset the relationships they carried, so the package you write is also a retention decision.

Work these pools before you spend anything on reach:

• Sellers already selling to the trades. If a home improvement, home services, roofing or security salesperson's book already runs on booked appointments and referral relationships, the calendar discipline you are hiring for is there; the restoration part is trainable.
• Insurance-side candidates. An agent, a producer or someone from the adjuster side has worked inside the workflow your sources live in — test in the interview whether they speak it well enough to open doors.
• Property-management and real-estate circles. A candidate who already calls on the buildings you want to work starts with the map drawn — ask in the interview which buildings, and how warm.
• Your own bench. Your estimators, project managers and coordinators know which plumbers and agents already call the office. A referral program with a defined payout puts them to work as recruiters.
• Inside promotions. A coordinator who wants off the desk already knows your job files, your software and your sources' names — and hiring from inside skips half the screen.

Post where restoration candidates — and restoration-curious sellers — will actually see the listing. A general board lists your opening among unrelated trades; a restoration-focused board keeps it next to restoration work. You can browse the restoration business development rep jobs page to see the postings yours will sit next to before you write it.

For the channel-by-channel detail — boards, trade groups, your careers page — see where to post the job.

Then check the wording. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) bars help-wanted ads that show a preference for or discourage applicants based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 and up), disability or genetic information. The EEOC's own example is an ad seeking 'females' or 'recent college graduates', which may discourage men and people over 40 from applying. Describe the work, the territory and the pay plan instead of the person you imagine doing it.

Run the screen in one order, and keep it lawful at every step:

1. Phone screen. Availability, driving record status, whether they have carried a book of referral relationships before, and what they expect the pay plan to look like. Ten minutes here saves a week later.
2. Structured interview. Same questions for every candidate, so you can compare answers. Ask about work they have actually done: walk me through a referral relationship you built — how did you find the source, what did you do in the first month, how did you keep the account?
3. Work sample. Have them leave a voicemail, write the follow-up email, or present your service while you play a skeptical property manager. Thirty minutes of real selling tells you more than a résumé.
4. Ride-along. Half a day with a crew on a real job — extraction, contents, the walk-through with the estimator. This is where a candidate sees what they would be selling. One legal note first: under 29 CFR 785.11, work the employer did not request but suffers or permits — where the employer knows or has reason to believe it is happening — is work time. Whether a candidate's ride-along time must be paid is fact-specific, and this page's research holds no DOL source saying every ride-along must be paid. Where the candidate is doing the job's work, pay for the time and confirm the treatment with the Wage and Hour Division.
5. Checks. Driving record first for this role — the rep lives in a company vehicle — then background and references, in the order the law requires (below).
6. Offer. Conditional on the checks, with the pay plan, territory and CRM expectations in writing.

The interview itself has edges. Under the ADA, as the EEOC reads it, an employer may not ask medical or disability questions or require a medical exam before a job offer — but may ask whether and how a candidate can perform the job. For this role the functions are driving, presenting to rooms of referral partners and working trade events; phrase them as functions, not as medical questions.

Criminal history is another edge. The EEOC says employers can consider criminal records in hiring but may not treat applicants differently by race or national origin when doing so. The agency's page also notes that some states restrict when criminal history may be asked during the hiring process. Check your state's rule before you put the question on the application.

Background reports and driving records are consumer reports when you buy them from a screening company. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires, before you order one, a written disclosure that stands alone — it cannot live inside the application — and the applicant's written permission. Before rejecting an applicant based on the report, the FTC requires a pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of the applicant's rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Set your driving-record criteria with your insurance agent and your auto carrier: this page's research did not establish an industry-wide standard.

Pay history is a third edge. California generally bars employers from seeking an applicant's salary history but allows questions about salary expectations. Illinois bars asking about or screening applicants on wage or salary history, and also allows expectation questions. Colorado bars asking about or relying on an applicant's pay history. Ask what a candidate is looking for rather than what they made, and check your own state before the interview script is final.

Order matters. Disclosure and consent before the report; the report and the rights summary before any rejection. Run the sequence past counsel or your state labor agency once — it is the same sequence for every future hire.

The hire is made — or lost — in the first weeks. Start with the writing:

Paperwork first. Form I-9, Section 2 is due within 3 business days of the employee's first day. Hire on a Monday and Section 2 is due by Thursday; for a job lasting fewer than 3 business days, it is due on the first day.

The pay plan in writing before day one. Base, commission schedule, what counts as a produced job, what happens on storm work, and when it pays — signed before the first appointment. Pay disputes turn on what the plan says; leave it verbal and there is nothing to point to when a commission check is contested.

Literacy weeks. First weeks ride with crews, not with a pitch deck: extraction, contents, rebuild walk-throughs. Sit the rep with a coordinator for the intake flow and with an estimator for the handoff, so they know what happens after a source's job enters your system.

A book to start from. Load the CRM with the sources your company already has — the plumbers who call dispatch, the agents who email files — so day one starts with names, not a blank map. Set the CRM expectations at the same time: logged contacts and named next steps are what you will inspect in the weekly pipeline review.

Keep them with a visible path. Put pay reviews on a scheduled calendar, protect the base during the ramp you set, and name the next rung — senior rep, sales lead, or a seat in operations. The retention mechanics that hold for crews — schedules you publish in advance, reviews you actually hold, exits you debrief honestly — apply to your rep too, and are covered in the restoration employee retention guide.

Employer information, not licensing, legal, insurance, health or tax advice. Confirm requirements with the state agencies named for your work, and with the Department of Labor, an insurance professional or counsel where the question is theirs.