How Wade’s Restoration of California Was Born in California
We didn’t invent the brand. Wade’s Restoration has been around since 2007, built on a simple promise that most of this industry had walked away from: a real person answers the phone, shows up fast, and puts his name on the work. What we did was bring that promise to California, because this state needed it badly.
The moment it became clear happened during our first year serving the San Diego area. We got called to a home in Chula Vista where a water heater had let go on a Friday evening. The homeowner, a retired teacher, had already been through a national outfit that quoted one price over the phone, sent a crew that tore out drywall the inspector later said didn’t need to come out, and then handed her a bill nearly double what she’d been told. She was standing in her own living room, ankle deep in water, afraid to call anyone else because she figured every restoration company worked the same way.
That job changed how we run this branch. We set up our intake so a live coordinator answers, not a phone tree. We photograph everything before we touch it. We hand homeowners a moisture log at the end of the job, not a shrug. And we tell people when something can be saved instead of torn out, even when that means a smaller invoice for us. That’s the standard Wade Ferris built from the start, and it’s the standard we hold every job in California to.
Wade Ferris’s Personal Connection to the Damage Restoration Trade
Wade Ferris didn’t grow up dreaming about drywall and dehumidifiers. He got into this work the way a lot of people do: through someone else’s bad night. Years before the company had a name, he watched a family in his own neighborhood go through a flood, and he watched the crew that showed up do sloppy work with no urgency and no accountability. Nobody explained what was happening. Nobody wrote anything down. The homeowner had to chase the company for weeks just to get a straight answer about whether the floor was dry.
That stuck with him. The smell of a water-damaged room, that damp sour odor that gets into everything, is something he never got used to, but the feeling of watching someone get treated like a claim number instead of a neighbor was worse. He started doing the work himself, learning from tradesmen who had been in the field for years, figuring out what proper drying actually looks like when you care about the person living there. Not the fast way. The right way.
What gets him out of bed is the same thing that got him into this: someone is having the worst week of their year, and they deserve a straight answer from someone who will be there when they call back. He’s said more than once that if he weren’t doing this, he’d probably be doing something with his hands anyway, working a trade, fixing things, talking to people face to face. The work itself matters, but the accountability matters more. That’s personal for him. It always has been.
Meet Wade Ferris - The Person Behind Every Job
Wade Ferris is the Owner & Founder of Wade’s Restoration. He’s spent more than a decade in the damage restoration trade, but the credential that matters most isn’t on a wall, it’s in how he runs the business: he publishes his name and address, answers his own phone, and puts his name on every job we take in California. No anonymous dispatch. No disappearing act when something goes wrong.
He’s a straight-dealing, hands-on owner who would rather keep you as a customer for twenty years than win one big ticket off a bad experience. When he’s not working, you’ll find him close to home, in the community, the kind of person you run into at the hardware store on a Saturday. His commitment is simple and he means it literally: if we do work in your home, he’ll stand behind it. One call brings him back.
Our Promise to California Homeowners
Every promise we make comes from a real situation, not a marketing meeting.
- Honest pricing: We give you a written scope before work starts. That came from watching too many homeowners get a phone quote and a door quote that had nothing in common. The estimate you get is the number we work from. If something changes, we tell you before we touch it.
- Quality parts and work: We use equipment like XPOWER air movers and Injectidry systems because they hold up and they dry properly. We’d rather run a job an extra day and hand you a dry floor than rush and hand you mold six months later.
- Standing behind the job: Ninety days in writing on every water, fire and mold restoration job. That guarantee is old fashioned on purpose. It’s how Wade Ferris has always done it, and it’s how this California branch does it too.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed: Every pro working under our name in California is required to hold the license their state requires. No exceptions.
- Insured & bonded: Same standard. Insurance and bonding are non-negotiable for anyone we put in your home.
- Years of local experience: We’ve been serving San Diego County and the surrounding communities long enough to know how this climate behaves, and that matters when you’re drying a house.
- Strong local reputation: Ask around. We’re the kind of business where the truck carries the owner’s own name, and that’s the oldest accountability mechanism there is.
- IICRC-informed standards: Our drying and remediation work follows industry best practices so you get a job done to a documented standard, not someone’s guess.
Here’s why these matter when someone is working in your home. A license means the person has met a real bar to do the work. Insurance means if something goes wrong, you’re not holding the bag. And a local reputation means the person doing the work has to face you again at the grocery store. Those three things protect you more than any slogan.
Rooted in California
We serve San Diego, Coronado, National City, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove, Bonita, La Mesa, La Presa, Spring Valley, Imperial Beach, La Jolla and Casa de Oro-Mount Helix because those are our neighborhoods, not just dots on a service map. The marine layer in La Jolla means different drying conditions than the inland heat of Spring Valley. A slab foundation in Lemon Grove acts differently than a raised foundation in Bonita. That local knowledge isn’t something you can train into a crew from three states away. It comes from living here.
The L.O.C.A.L. code isn’t a poster on a wall. Local roots means an address in this county, not a call center somewhere else. On time means the window we give you is the window we keep. Community first means we hire here and buy here. Accountable means the owner answers the phone and puts his name on the work. Loyal means we want to keep you for twenty years. That’s how we run every job in California, and it’s how the brand has run since 2007.
Why the Name Matters
To wade is what you do through a flooded basement at two in the morning. It also happens to be Wade Ferris’s name. That’s not a clever slogan, it’s the truth of this work. When water is where it shouldn’t be, someone has to go in there. The brand was named for the man who does, and every branch of this company, including ours in California, carries that standard.
What It’s Like to Call Us
When you call (855) 915-0646, a live coordinator answers and connects you with our local team in California. You’ll get a straight answer about what we can do, when we can be there, and what it will cost. We photograph everything before we touch it. We take moisture readings every day and hand you the log at the end. We deal with your adjuster directly so you’re not the one relaying messages back and forth. And we’ll tell you when a floor can be saved instead of torn out, even when it’s not the answer that makes us more money.
If you’ve been burned by someone who quoted one price on the phone and another at the door, we understand why you’re cautious. Ask anyone in your neighborhood about us. Look us up. Then give us a call and see what it feels like when the person answering the phone is on your side.
Written by Wade Ferris, Owner at Wade’s Restoration of California, serving San Diego County since 2007.