Lyle Book

Since junior high school in the mid-’60s Lyle Book worked with his father at Warren W. Book General Building Contractor, then a 20-year-old company. When he became a partner in 1985 and saw the direction the business was headed, the younger Book changed the name to Arizona Fire & Water Restoration, a full-service restoration company that specializes in dealing with property damage of all kinds.

With updated standard operating procedures and a reliance on process and documentation, Book has created a nimble company that can follow up its disaster work with complete structural renovation for its clients. “They know it’s a great opportunity to make changes,” he says.

One differentiator from other restoration companies is AF&WR’s ability to do 24-hour emergency water extraction and property drying. Book also places great emphasis on customer service and training. To that end, he has purchased an audio program called “Healing the Loss” that considers damaged property from a customer’s point of view. It is mandatory for every new employee to go through the training and get tested and graded on it.

Book feels continuous education is so important that the company uses a “powerful video program [series] that is extremely educational” to provide in-house training on topics including estimating, water damage and property drying, mold remediation, and infrared thermography.