What’s the first thing to do after your business is damaged by a flood or fire? Protect yourself and your employees: evacuate safely and don’t reenter the ravaged premises. Only professionals are trained to handle disaster-damaged buildings without risking structural collapse, electrocution, biological contamination or worse.
Next: find a qualified IICRC (Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) mitigation and restoration contractor to lend assistance pronto. “We recommend asking contractors if they meet these nine critical criteria,” advises Ross Kollenberg, Chief Operating Officer of Paul Davis. “If the company can do so, you’re in good hands.”
- Insurance Carrier Approved: Insurers maintain lists of mitigation and restoration contractors that meet their requirements and with whom they have worked successfully in the past. If your contractor appears on this list, you’re on the right track.
- Proximity Counts: Restoration contractors nearby are more likely to get to disaster sites sooner, know high quality local partners and easily provide a trained team with sufficient equipment and a reliable supply chain. Further, local companies track progress more closely and visit sites quickly if necessary.
- 24/7 Availability: Disasters rarely occur on convenient schedules. They strike on weekends, holidays, nighttime or during violent storms. Companies like Paul Davis, with 24/7/365 availability, can arrive within a few short hours of a call for help.
- Written Budget and Schedule: Reliable companies inspect the disaster site thoroughly, estimate budgets accurately and create realistic schedules. They rapidly provide detailed pricing and schedules in writing without pressuring customers for decisions.
- Excellent Communications: Exceptional restoration contractors communicate well and often, giving specific, timely, accurate information. They adjust to customers’ individual communications needs, too.
- Thorough Inspections with Written Reports: Reliable companies track their work carefully and record what they find in written reports that they regularly provide to your business. Further, they provide this information on your preferred schedule.
- Advanced Equipment: Paul Davis, for example, continually upgrades equipment and services to suit diverse restoration activities and adjusts equipment deployment as conditions change. When the pandemic hit, for instance, Paul Davis expanded its digital capabilities and protective equipment to support social distancing and safeguard personnel and customers.
- Sufficient Staff: Excellent restoration contractors field a full team of appropriately trained technicians from project start through completion. Projects rarely suffer delays due to staff unavailability. Further, management teams are skilled, easily available and very organized.
- Sound References: Finally, outstanding companies provide recent references that validate their work. They encourage potential customers to speak with these references, too, knowing that satisfied customers strongly advocate for their services.
Need help after a flood or fire damages your business? Paul Davis promises to respond within four hours of a call for help. This phone number - 844 215 7898 - will put you in touch with emergency response specialists who can help commercial customers overcome their most challenging situations.