The New Infrastructure of Recovery: Inside Insurcomm's Midwest Blitz

COLUMBUS, OH – December 08, 2025 – While smart city conversations often gravitate toward the digital highways of 5G and fiber optics, a different, yet equally critical, form of infrastructure is being rapidly assembled across the American Midwest. This is the infrastructure of recovery—the network of skilled teams and resources essential for urban resilience in an era of increasing disruption. Exemplifying this trend, Insurcomm Restoration, a Fortify Company, today announced the opening of its new Columbus office, a move that, on the surface, is a simple business expansion. However, viewed in context, it represents a significant piece of a much larger strategic consolidation in the nation’s property restoration industry.

The Columbus launch is not an isolated event. It comes just two weeks after the company established a presence in Cincinnati and follows the early December acquisition of Rytech Restoration by parent company Fortify. This rapid succession of moves is part of a deliberate and aggressive strategy to build a comprehensive, national-scale platform for disaster recovery, transforming a traditionally fragmented market into a highly coordinated network. This network is foundational to a city’s ability to function, ensuring that when the unexpected happens—a pipe bursts in a data center, a fire strikes a commercial hub, or a storm floods a residential neighborhood—the path to normalcy is swift and efficient.

A Calculated Strategy of Consolidation

At the heart of this expansion is Fortify Companies, a national property services entity backed by global investment firm Summit Partners. Fortify’s strategy is clear: acquire and integrate leading regional and local restoration firms to create a unified national powerhouse. The acquisition of Rytech Restoration, announced just days before the Columbus opening, was a landmark move, merging Rytech’s formidable network of over 100 franchise locations with Insurcomm's company-owned operations. The result is a combined entity with a presence in over 100 markets across more than 30 states, capable of handling everything from residential water damage to complex, large-loss commercial incidents.

This model of acquisition-driven growth, fueled by private equity investment, is reshaping the competitive landscape. By consolidating resources, Fortify aims to deliver a level of consistency, technological investment, and large-scale coordination that smaller, independent operators may struggle to match. For national clients with properties in multiple states, a single point of contact for restoration services offers streamlined management and predictable service levels. This approach allows the organization to leverage national-level resources while maintaining the local expertise of the teams on the ground.

Leading the Midwest charge is Regional Vice President Rick Ohl, a 30-year industry veteran tasked with building out the Ohio operations. His focus is on creating high-performing teams adept at managing the complexities of emergency response and commercial projects. As Ohl noted, “In Ohio, dependability matters. Our teams show up, communicate clearly, and do the work right because people deserve everything going right when they've already been through enough.” This sentiment underscores a core tenet of the company's strategy: operational excellence is the baseline for customer trust.

Building the Infrastructure for Urban Resilience

The establishment of a robust recovery network is no longer a secondary concern for urban planners and leaders; it is a primary component of a city’s resilience strategy. As climate-related events and aging municipal infrastructure increase the frequency and severity of property damage, a city's ability to bounce back quickly is paramount. A delayed recovery can cascade through a local economy, shuttering businesses, displacing residents, and straining public resources. The presence of a sophisticated, well-equipped restoration provider acts as a crucial shock absorber.

Insurcomm's expansion into central Ohio enhances this local resilience infrastructure. With teams based directly in Columbus, response times for emergencies can be significantly reduced. More importantly, the backing of the larger Fortify and Rytech network means that in the event of a large-scale disaster, resources and personnel can be mobilized from across the region and the country, providing a surge capacity that local firms cannot muster alone. This scalability is vital for managing complex losses that can impact critical facilities like hospitals, manufacturing plants, or technology centers, ensuring minimal disruption to essential services.

This network functions as a foundational layer supporting the advanced systems of a modern city. A smart city’s sensors and automated systems are of little use if the physical structures housing them are compromised by water or fire. The next wave of mobility relies on charging networks and control centers that must be kept operational. In this context, the restoration industry is not just cleaning up messes; it is actively maintaining the operational integrity of the urban environment.

The Human Element in a High-Stakes Industry

Beyond the logistics and corporate strategy, Fortify and its brands are staking their reputation on a service model centered on empathy. Property damage is a deeply personal and stressful event, and the company’s leadership emphasizes a focus on the human impact. Kelly Brewer, CEO of Fortify Companies, framed the expansion not in terms of market share, but in terms of service to people.

“Expanding into Columbus means more people will have access to teams who understand and truly care about the human side of this work,” Brewer stated. “We are not just showing up to complete a job. We are showing up to guide people through something they did not ask for and could not prepare for. What defines us is how we support customers in those moments when life has been interrupted.”

This “empathy-first” approach is a calculated differentiator in an industry where the customer is often in a state of crisis. By emphasizing clear communication, transparency, and guidance through the complex insurance and reconstruction process, the company aims to build brand loyalty that transcends a single transaction. It reframes the service from a purely technical repair to a managed recovery experience. This philosophy—that people “deserve to know what's happening, who's handling it, and when it will be done, without surprises and without delays”—is a direct response to common pain points for property owners navigating a disaster.

As this model is deployed across Ohio and the greater Midwest, its success will depend on the ability to deliver on this promise of compassionate competence at scale. The challenge lies in maintaining a culture of genuine care and clear communication across a rapidly growing network of hundreds of teams, ensuring that the human element is not lost in the drive for national consolidation. This strategic blend of large-scale operational might and a deeply personal service philosophy may well set a new standard for the essential work of putting cities, and lives, back together.