Payment Chasing Frustrations
Prior to creating iink, Ken Lollar was and is still today, a public adjuster. Our co-founder, president, and chief revenue officer Ryan Holliday was a roofing contractor. The two worked together on property restoration jobs and dealt with the frustrations of chasing down payments—doing so was a time consuming process that they were tired of. They wanted a better way to get properties restored after natural disasters.
Property Restoration Delays
The paper checks always say pay to the order of the property owner and the bank. This pay to order naming convention delays property owners from getting their homes repaired due to them not being able to get checks endorsed efficiently enough so that they can go to their bank and deposit their check. Multiple payees need to sign the check and there’s a system of checks and balances needed to secure the payment process.
A Life That Revolved Around in Person Check Endorsements
Ryan Holliday scheduled his roofing contracting jobs around where he had to meet up with customers on any given day to get checks endorsed. They met up at grocery stores, in parking lots—all over. Ryan was often driving hours each day just to get checks endorsed so he could get the funds he needed to purchase materials, pay his staff, and ultimately get property owners back in their homes.
No More Check Holding
Ken ended up taking property owners’ checks and holding them for 25 to 30 days while he waited on mortgage companies to respond and send checks directly to property owners, which still never guaranteed when checks would land in their accounts or how long it would be until he and his team would get paid. The two knew there had to be a better way and brought on co-founders Tom McGrath as Chief Executive Officer and Ryan Wetzel as Head of Operations.