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

You are not hiring a pair of hands. You are hiring the person who represents your company inside a customer's property on the worst day of that customer's year, and who produces the photos, moisture readings and daily logs your project managers and estimators bill from.

Before you write the posting, decide what the role carries in your operation:

• Hands-on restoration work. Extraction, tear-out of wet materials, setting air movers and dehumidifiers, packing contents, soot and odor work. The loss types you actually take determine the skills you need on day one.
• Documentation habits. Photos, moisture readings and daily logs are what the job file is built on. A tech who documents is worth more to your file — and your invoices — than a tech who only demos.
• Customer contact. The tech explains what happens next to the family or business owner standing in the doorway. Plain-language communication is part of the job, not a bonus trait.
• Driving. The day runs out of a shop and a company van or truck, so license status and driving record belong in the screen from the start.
• Availability. Losses do not schedule themselves. On-call rotations, after-hours call-outs and storm surges are part of the deal, and the posting should say so up front.
• Physical work. Crawl spaces, attics, stairs and heavy equipment are the job site. Ask whether and how a candidate can perform the work — there is a lawful way to do that, covered below.

The shape of the hire depends on the company. A small owner-run restorer needs a generalist who can touch water, fire, mold support and contents in the same week. A larger operation hiring into a mitigation crew can train to a narrower drying role. A franchise location hires into its brand's documentation and response process, and an abatement contractor is hiring for a different discipline entirely. If you are building the crew itself — first tech, rebuild after churn, storm staffing — start from hiring for your restoration company, then come back here for the role-specific screen.

The worker-side view of the job — the day-to-day, the training route, the physical reality — is the career guide to what a restoration technician does. This page stays on your side of the hire.

Start by separating two things employers blur: certifications, which are credentials your company requires, and licenses, which are state law attached to specific work.

For credentials, the certifications named below are IICRC certifications, and the IICRC is a certifying body, not a school and not a licensing agency — it approves independent schools and instructors that meet board criteria rather than teaching its own classes. To become certified, a person attends an IICRC-approved course, passes the written exam and documents skills in the subject. More on the credential is in the IICRC certification guide.

For water work, the entry credential is IICRC's Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT). It has no prerequisites, so it works as a requirement for a brand-new hire, not only for experienced techs. IICRC describes the course as 3 days and 19 hours, not counting exam time, lunch and breaks. IICRC says a WRT holder can handle a residential water loss and explain Category 2 versus Category 3 water to an adjuster. It also says a holder can adjust a drying plan based on the science of drying — a fair description of what you are buying when you require it.

Set the requirement the way that fits your bench: certified on hire, or hired for work habits and sponsored through the certification within a window you set. Either way, name it in the posting. The WRT is offered live-stream and in person, including in Spanish, which makes sponsoring it practical for a crew that cannot easily lose a tech for a multi-day class.

The rungs above it line up with the work you send techs to. Applied Structural Drying (ASD) requires the WRT first. The Applied Microbial Remediation Technician (AMRT) certification also requires the WRT and covers mold and sewage remediation — the credential that matches the work if your crews handle sewage or mold jobs.

Licenses are a different question, and the answer depends on the loss types you staff. Mold work is licensed in specific states — among them:

• Texas — mold assessment and remediation licensing moved from the Department of State Health Services to the Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) on November 1, 2017.
• Florida — the Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses mold assessors and remediators, and the license covers mold growth greater than 10 square feet.
• New York — mold assessment and remediation are licensed under Labor Law Article 32 through the Department of Labor.
• Louisiana — the State Licensing Board for Contractors requires a Mold Remediation license for projects valued at $7,500 or more.
• Washington, D.C. — residential indoor mold assessment and remediation require certification and a license under rules issued by the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE).

The state-by-state detail lives in the state mold licensing series. Asbestos work runs on the same logic: EPA's Model Accreditation Plan sets the accredited disciplines — worker, contractor/supervisor, inspector, management planner and project designer — and where a state runs its own program, the license or accreditation you verify for a hire is the state's. Not every state does: Wyoming has no state registration or licensure program for asbestos companies or individuals, though its Department of Environmental Quality still enforces state asbestos regulations for abatement projects. The asbestos abatement licensing series keeps the state detail.

Rules change. License and accreditation requirements are state law, and they move. Confirm the current requirements with the agency named for your state before you staff mold, sewage or asbestos-heavy work with a new hire.

Set the number from your market, not from a chart. This page's research holds no wage benchmark for the restoration technician title itself. The range you can defend comes from the postings you compete against for the same techs, and from your own job costing — what a billable hour supports after overhead, equipment and vehicle cost.

Then build the package so it survives contact with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces:

• Overtime. FLSA overtime is paid at not less than 1.5 times the employee's regular rate, and the extra half-time is owed for every hour over 40 in a workweek. Budget storm weeks on that math, not on flat rates that ignore it.
• Day rates and job rates. They are legal under the FLSA, but the regular rate is the week's day or job pay divided by total hours worked, and the extra half-time is still owed over 40.
• On-call time. Under 29 CFR 785.17, on-call time is hours worked when the tech must stay on the premises or so close that they cannot use the time for their own purposes; leaving word where they can be reached is not working time. Write the rotation so that line is visible before the tech takes the call-out.
• Travel time. Job-site-to-job-site travel during the workday is hours worked, and so is travel from a required shop or meeting point to the first job.
• Bonuses. Promised attendance, production, retention or hiring-agreement bonuses are not discretionary — they must be included in the regular rate for overtime. If you post a bonus, budget the overtime cost that comes with it.

In the states listed below, the posting itself has legal content requirements. 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 say whether the job is commission-based. 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. Sponsor the WRT for hires who arrive without it, publish the on-call rotation before the offer, and pay overtime honestly in storm season. Replacing a trained tech resets recruiting, onboarding and certification sponsorship all at once — and every refill runs the whole screen again.

Work these candidate pools before you spend anything on reach:

• The adjacent trades. Look at carpet cleaners, remodelers, construction workers and plumbing helpers. The move into restoration is a step up in scope, and the work habits you screen for anyway — showing up on time, working clean, dealing with customers — are what to probe in the interview.
• Your own bench. A referral program with a defined payout puts your existing techs to work as recruiters. Referrals also arrive pre-sold on the on-call reality, because their friend told them.
• People mid-course. Candidates sitting an IICRC class have already self-selected into the field. Sponsor the certification and hire for habits — the class is the short part of that trade's training.
• Career changers worth targeting directly. Veterans, firefighters and tradespeople changing fields are all pools worth writing a posting for. Write it so they can see the path: entry requirements, the training you sponsor, the ladder to crew lead.

Post where restoration candidates will see it. A general board lists your opening among unrelated trades; a restoration-focused board keeps it next to restoration work. You can browse the restoration technician jobs page to see the postings yours will sit next to before you write it.

Write the posting to carry the load: the pay range (required in the states covered above, at the employee counts each law sets), the on-call rotation, and the travel and storm expectations. Add the certifications you require versus sponsor, and the license line where your state requires one for the work you take. 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.

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

1. Phone screen. Availability for the on-call rotation, license status, trades background, certifications held or wanted. 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 through a water loss you worked — what did you set first, what did you photograph, what did you tell the customer? Probe the documentation habits the file depends on.
3. Ride-along or working interview. Half a day on a real job. Watch them take direction, set equipment, log a moisture reading and talk to a customer. One legal note first: under 29 CFR 785.11, work the employer suffers or permits is work time, even work it did not request — the rule applies where the employer knows or has reason to believe the work is happening. Whether a candidate's ride-along time is employment under the FLSA 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.
4. Checks. Background, driving record and references, run in the order the law requires (below).
5. Offer. Conditional on the checks, with pay, on-call terms and the training plan 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. Phrase the physical requirements as functions (crawl spaces, attics, ladders, equipment handling) and leave medical questions until after a conditional offer, where the EEOC allows them only if every new employee in the same job gets them.

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: 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, and most of it is writing things down:

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.

Safety programs next. A new tech steps into OSHA programs you already run, not ones you start after the first incident. Where respirators are required, OSHA's respiratory protection standard calls for a written program run by a suitably trained program administrator. Fit testing happens before first use, whenever a different facepiece is used, and at least annually after that — and the respirators, the training and the medical evaluations are provided at no cost to the employee. If your crews handle sewage or trauma scenes, work out which assignments involve the bloodborne pathogens standard's occupational exposure — the requirements follow that exposure, not the job title. Where it applies, the standard requires the hepatitis B vaccine to be made available within 10 working days of initial assignment, after training — with the standard's exceptions for a prior complete series, shown immunity or a medical contraindication. The same standard requires a written exposure control plan, reviewed and updated at least annually.

Then a ramp, not a trial by fire. First weeks ride with a lead tech. Own the documentation — photos, moisture readings, the daily log — before owning production. First solo jobs on straightforward water losses. If the hire arrived without the WRT, sponsor it now: the course runs 3 days and 19 hours, not counting exam time, lunch and breaks, and it is offered live-stream and in person, including in Spanish. The worker-side path is the restoration technician training guide.

Keep them with a visible ladder. Name the next step on day one: senior tech, then crew lead. Line the credential path up beside it: ASD builds on the WRT for drying work, and AMRT builds on it for mold and sewage. IICRC's designation ladder runs further: Journeyman Water Restorer takes CCT (or CCMT), RRT and WRT plus at least 12 months certified, and Master Water Restorer adds further certifications — AMRT, HST and ASD — plus at least 3 years certified. Put pay reviews on a scheduled calendar, keep the on-call rotation visible in advance, and ask departing techs the real reason rather than the polite one. None of that needs a budget line; all of it needs you to write it down.

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