1. Didn't want the stress of multiple employees. Unless you're really big with multiple levels of management, your employees just hold way too much power over you.
2. If I did have the desire to grow a business, it would be in a different industry.
3. Wanted to keep things simple and have more flexibility/time off. This has proven true to a degree. I really try to limit nights and weekends, and spend as much time with family as possible, but the truth of the matter is, you need to grind out big days consistently to make real money.
4. I think building a saleable business in this industry is basically a myth unless you have restoration revenue. Sure, there are lots of examples of multi-truck, multi-million dollar businesses out there that we are all supposed to look up to, but if you actually got a look at their books I promise you that a huge part of their revenue is coming from restoration.
5. I would rather work at Wal-Mart than do water/fire/trauma restoration.
6. If building a business that is valuable enough to cash out some day is impossible without restoration revenue (and I say that it probably is), then why expand to 3-4 vans and let employees and overhead suck up all the profit?
Stay small, stay profitable, and grind it out just long enough to build a fat nest egg.
I will say that a FULL-TIME helper is an absolute must, though.