We’ve discussed in the past what you should do in the event of a water claim in previous news stories such as What To Expect When You Have a Water Damage, or How Asbestos Can Impact Your Water Damage. Now we would like to take the opportunity to discuss what you should expect from the Mitigation Company you’ve just contacted to properly dry your Emergency Water Claim?
For starters, any company you contact should act as if this is an Emergency to them too…
Professional Mitigation and Restoration Companies should have someone available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to your property and begin the drying process. Fast response is necessary to prevent further and continued damage to your home or business. Failure to respond quickly can result in Mold growth, wicking / secondary water damage, unnecessary Repairs, and even structural issues. Though the average homeowner may not always realize the urgency when dealing with a water issue, Professional Mitigation Companies should; and should return phone calls and dispatch crews promptly regardless of the time of day.
In a recent situation, we were asked to help a customer out with a mold situation that resulted from water mitigation that was improperly performed by another company. In the course of working with the customer to resolve this matter for them, the customer (Who was out of town when the water issue occurred) discovered that the mitigation company waited 6 days from the date contacted to respond to their Emergency Water Claim… This is WAY too long a delay and greatly exacerbated the damages at their home. As a result this customer is now looking at a complete gut of the rooms involved and a complete mold remediation. Though this was an emergency to the customer, it unfortunately was not to the mitigation company.
Further, when performing work at this customer’s home, this other mitigation company removed and disposed of a tremendous amount of content (Some of which was very sentimental) without discussion or approval of the customer. In this industry, there are occasions where some things are unfortunately not salvageable. However, nothing should ever be disposed of without the customer’s understanding and approval. It is your property, and any contractor working in your home should have respect for that.
So, what should you expect from a Professional Mitigation Company?
• Ideally you should reach a live person local to your area, not a call center in another part of the country.
• If leaving a message, you should get a return phone call within 15 minutes.
• They should understand and respect that this is a very traumatic time for you and your family and have a desire to return things back to normal as soon as possible.
• When speaking to a representative from this company, they should be willing to answer any questions that you have to the best of their ability, not rush you off the phone.
• They should contact and dispatch their crew immediately in order to prevent further damage.
• When their crew arrives, they should be capable of and prepared to do what’s necessary to begin the drying process.
• They should have equipment to read moisture levels in your home and check thoroughly to make sure there is no hidden moisture. Not all water damage is visible.
• Should you have questions while the crew is on site, a manager should be available to address those questions over the phone.
• They should explain the drying process and what will be done going forward.
• They should treat your property with respect, and discuss any tear out or the disposal of any content items prior to doing so.
Disaster Blaster is a leader in the mitigation and restoration industry and strives to provide exceptional response and service in the event you have an Emergency Water Claim. We understand how stressful an Emergency Water Damage can be, and consider it an emergency as well. Should you have a need for Emergency Water Damage Response and Drying, please don’t hesitate to contact your local Disaster Blaster.
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