Restoring Hope: How Rare Restoration Uses Encircle to Document Disasters

Based in Colorado, Rare Restoration has made an impressive mark in just four years. Led by industry veteran Doug Weatherman — whose resume spans Servpro, Restoration 1, and ServiceMaster — the company has grown to a 30-person team tackling everything from fire and mold mitigation to large-scale disaster recovery, with an even split between residential and commercial.

Doug’s long-term goal? To franchise Rare Restoration and continue raising the bar for how restoration should be done.

THE CHALLENGE: FAST GROWTH, BIG LOSSES, AND A NEED FOR BETTER DOCUMENTATION

In the early days, Doug and his team were quickly thrown into massive losses. In an industry where every detail must be documented and justified, they couldn’t afford to rely on pen-and-paper moisture maps. “We were doing them by hand — floor by floor,” Doug explains. “But on big jobs, that doesn’t hold up.”

Fortunately, Doug had used Encircle at a previous company. He knew what it could offer: professional-grade moisture maps, detailed notes, and comprehensive reporting. “We needed all of it. On jobs that size, you can’t miss a single detail. You need the right tools to back every line item and protect your invoice.”

WHY ENCIRCLE?

Over the years, Rare Restoration explored other options to ensure they were using the best. They looked at MagicPlan but found it lacking. “It’s a little wishy-washy,” Doug says. “Encircle has higher floor plan accuracy — which is huge for us. This business is built by the square foot and the linear foot. If you’re off, you’re in trouble.”

They also tested another platform but quickly ran into friction. “It takes about two weeks to get someone up to speed with Encircle,” he says. “With the other system, onboarding was way more complicated. Our team kept saying, ‘Encircle does this better. Encircle does that better.’”

After testing the waters, Doug and his team stuck with what worked. “Ultimately, Encircle was where we wanted to stay.”

THE SOLUTION: ORGANIZED FIELD DATA AND SAME-DAY ESTIMATES

During CAT events, Rare Restoration relies on Encircle to handle everything needed for the job.

“We use floor plans for our estimates. We'll walk through homes with Encircle, get the floor plans built, and send out an estimate that same day — when homeowners are at their most vulnerable and need reassurance things will be okay.”

Doug Weatherman, COO

On large losses, staying organized is key. Doug’s team uses features like talk-to-text notes, room-by-room labels and team tracking as part of their standard operating procedures. “These organization tools in Encircle help us stay on top of everything,” he says. “It’s all built into how we respond to disasters.”

Custom forms are just as essential. “We use them on every job — waivers, sign-offs — it all stays in the file,” Doug says. “Anything we need on the mitigation side is right there. It’s a one-stop shop.”

SPOTLIGHT: HURRICANE HELENE VS. ENCIRCLE

Hurricane Helene was one of the strongest storms on record to hit the southeastern U.S. Doug and his team headed to North Carolina with heavy hearts — but confidence in their tools.

“We did a couple restaurants and a ton of houses. It was absolute devastation,” Doug recalls. “But when you look at the before-and-afters, and see people getting their homes and businesses back — you think, damn. That’s restoration. That’s why this industry exists.”

Disaster zones bring their own challenges — especially when connectivity drops out. “Offline mode is huge,” he says. “There were places after Helene that didn’t have cell service the entire time we were there. But Encircle kept us working without glitching or losing data.”

And when it came time to justify the work, Encircle reports delivered. “These weren’t residential adjusters. These were seasoned pros handling multi-million-dollar losses. And Encircle’s reports held up under that level of scrutiny. In my opinion, they were better than a lot of others coming out of that storm.”

WHAT'S NEXT FOR RARE RESTORATION

Rare Restoration has used Encircle since day one — and Doug has seen it evolve firsthand.

“Take the moisture maps,” he says. “Now they automatically pull in more data from readings, and the equipment placement and calculations are all there too. It’s been really cool to watch it grow.”

With new advancements in technology and AI, Doug is excited for the future. “Encircle keeps a pulse on the industry and actually listens to restoration guys — so I know it’ll be great. It’s the kind of thing that can help Rare grow into a franchise.”