Does your business have emergency contingency planning in
place? What will your business do if a
major property damage situation occurs? What if your business has a fire, a
large water damage situation? Though
these scenarios are seldom on the forefront of our mind in our day to day
business dealings, they are all too much a reality. Take this scenario for instance.
During third shift operations at an equipment manufacturing
facility, a piece of equipment fails and overheats. Fire and flames are not an issue, however
electrical wiring within the machine overheats and smolders. This causes just enough smoke within the
facility to activate the fire suppression system. Now, water from multiple sprinkler heads are
dousing other non-affected equipment causing additional equipment damage and
wide spread flooding. At this point, all
operations are ceased.
What is the first order of business? Of course, ensuring that all personnel are
safely evacuated! Next calling emergency
help. Then? How do we get our business back up and
running! Very seldom can a business
afford to be down for any extended period of time. Customer orders need to be
filled, production deadlines need to be met, etc. Thankfully, most insurance policies include
business interruption coverage, though there is usually a cap limit.
Having a complete emergency contingency plan should
include having a professional restoration resource at the ready to swiftly
begin restoration and recovery. Knowing
in advance that your restoration vendor is one call away to begin the recovery
process can be peace of mind. Consider
this another form of insurance. Swift
and professional disaster mitigation will minimize downtime and also minimize
clean-up and repair costs.
If your business does not include a restoration vendor
resource, don’t wait until an emergency happens. Be prepared, partner with a resource now and
have peace of mind that you will have professional help should you ever have an
emergency. Ungerman Inc. is such a
resource that you can count on to be there 24/7/365 in the event of an
emergency commercial property damage, whether it is water, fire or storm
related. Ungerman provides free
emergency contingency consultation and preferred customer agreements. Contact us at 612-825-2800 to schedule your free
consultation and have peace of mind that you can recover from a disaster.
Nobody goes into homeownership expecting to lose everything in a fire. Nobody opens their business assuming that one day they’ll need to rebuild after a fire. For the most part, nobody thinks that they will be affected by fire damage.
We assume everything in our home or company is set up
correctly with no issues. We take advantage of our appliances and believe they
were made properly up to standards. But the real world can be cruel without
caring about our plans and needs.
Appliances can be faulty. The electrical wiring of your home
or business may have been
installed poorly or damaged. Humans can make errors and neglect their
food while it’s cooking. These are only a few things that can go wrong and end
up causing a fire.
People should always be the number one priority when it comes
to a fire. If one day you find yourself in a situation where your home or
business is on fire, the most important thing to do is get your family or
colleagues to safety. The next step is to call 9-1-1 to have the fire
department put out the fire as soon as possible.
But what comes next? The challenging task of getting your
household or company back on track. After the fire fighters get their job done,
you’ll need to move onto mitigation and restoration. The following are seven
steps Ungerman will take to help you get back on your feet.
1) Board-Up
Fire can destroy windows, doors, or openings in your house
or business. When this happens, it’s important to board-up any holes left in
the building. This keeps your home or office safe from the elements, but it
also ensures protection against potential looters and even critters.
2) Dry Out
When you think of fire, your first thought probably isn’t, “Water damage.” However, fire can lead to serious water damage for numerous reasons, including:
• Water getting into a home or business when firefighters are putting out the fire.
• Fire damaging your pipes and other plumbing components.
• Depending on the weather, rain and snow getting inside the house when a fire is happening, or after a fire has caused its devastation.
Fire damage mitigation crews bring in specialized equipment
to help dry out water residue and humidity to prevent further damage to your
home or business.
3) Deodorization And Emergency
Pre-Cleaning
Just because a fire has been extinguished, that doesn’t mean
that the damage is done. Water is one thing that can cause further damage, but
another is soot residue. The acidic and corrosive traits of the soot can cause
secondary damage to your property surfaces. Emergency pre-cleaning of your home
or business and your belongings needs to happen immediately.
Who you hire to do this job matters a lot because not every
company uses the same strategy. At Ungerman, our crews use safe and specialized
deodorizing techniques that reach into small areas to neutralize odors caused
by fire and soot residue.
4) Contents Pack-Outs
The structure of your home or business isn’t the only thing
that gets destroyed by a fire. Any belongings in your house can and will be
damaged as well. Unfortunately, sometimes this means losing things with rich
histories or great sentimental value. Items like these are simply
irreplaceable, and it’s one of the struggles you’ll need to overcome if you’re
in this terrible situation.
However, some items are not beyond fixing, so it’s important
to carefully pack up your contents in order to facilitate necessary repairs.
Depending on your insurance, repairs or replacements might be covered without
you having to pay out of pocket.
5) Contents Inventory
Each mitigation company is different, especially with how
they handle your possessions after fire damage. In some cases, families and
business owners need to facilitate the storage of their contents. As you might imagine,
this can be extremely stressful when you’re dealing with the fallout of a fire
damaging your home or business.
There’s so much that needs to be done and too much to
coordinate that needing to find storage is just another burden. We help our
clients alleviate this stress by offering to create an itemized inventory of
all of their personal property. Then, we remove and store their contents in our
secure, climate-controlled facility.
6) Dry Cleaning and Garment
Restoration
Electronics, appliances, and furniture are a few things that
get damaged during a fire, but one of the big things that doesn’t get taken
into consideration is clothing. The brutal reality is that your life isn’t
going to stop because of a tragedy.
You’ll need clothing to continue functioning in your
day-to-day activities. The problem is that the smoke and soot from a fire
leaves clothing unwearable. In order to get your clothing restored, you’ll need
to find a professional laundry and dry cleaning company to do the job.
We help our clients by connecting them with a professional
laundry and dry cleaning company to determine their clothing restoration. It’s
a small gesture, but people are thankful for it because it saves time and
stress.
7) Contents Cleaning and
Restoration
For any possessions that haven’t been destroyed beyond repair, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Soot and smoke damage to things like:
• Photographs
• Paintings, statues, and other types of art
• Furniture such as couches, recliners, desk chairs, etc.
Cleaning and restoring these types of things is difficult. Generally,
it isn’t something most people can do on their own. It requires experience and
professional-grade tools to fully clean and restore these contents back to
their original quality.
Outside of restoring the structure of their homes, offices,
or warehouses, one of our services that we offer to our clients is to have our specialized
professionals clean and restore all aspects of their possessions. This could
include anything from photos, art restoration, furniture, and more.
It’s also important to note that sometimes fires can cause
additional damage, and cleaning alone isn’t enough to fix the problem. If the
fire damages the structure of your home or business, we can also offer reconstruction
services. Reconstruction may seem scary, but it’s worth it to avoid completely
starting from scratch by finding a new home or business location.
Finding the Right Fire Restoration Company
These seven steps can be overwhelming. Nobody can do them on
their own, which is why it’s necessary to hire an experienced mitigation and
restoration company. If you’re looking for a mitigation, restoration, and
renovation partner, we can offer emergency and non-emergency services for all your
needs.
How We Can Help You
UNGERMAN is a family-owned company providing full-service
mitigation, restoration, reconstruction, and renovation. We have spent over 40
years perfecting our soot damage cleanup, fire cleanup, and smoke odor removal.
We are experienced in cleaning techniques for wall, floors, cabinetry,
appliances and many other specialized items. We also have the know-how to
attack smoke odors hidden in carpets, clothing and furniture upholstery.
Our crews use safe and specialized deodorizing techniques that
will reach into small areas to neutralize odors caused by fire and soot
residue. Our fire and smoke technicians understand the effects of heat, smoke,
and residues left behind from a tragedy. Mitigating the loss immediately can
help save the insured personal belongings.
We have the proper certification, training, and extensive
experience to assess and resolve your emergency damage needs 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. We are licensed, bonded, and insured and will work directly with
your insurance company to restore your damaged property with the highest
quality.
Contact Us Today To Learn About Our Fire Damage Mitigation
And Restoration Services
Residential property claims and Commercial property claims can share many similarities. For instance, water, fire or storm damage can equally affect both types of property. They may also share many of the same building materials. When a business is shut down, business interruption insurance may kick in to help cover loss of income. When a homeowner is displaced from their home, they may require “Additional Living Expense” (ALE) coverage to pay for extraordinary costs such as hotel and food. Another commonality, all insurance carriers want to minimize claim costs!
First things first!
How can you minimize the cost on a property claim? First it’s minimizing the damage. Next, restore the property to functionality as quickly as possible. For a business, minimizing damage may involve having a disaster mitigation plan in place to quickly begin minimizing damage to property and operations. For a homeowner, this may entail shutting off the main water supply to mitigate further water damage. In either case, minimizing damage to structure and personal or business property is the first step!
What’s next?
In most instances depending on the severity of damage, homeowners or businesses may require further assistance to restore their property. Water and fire damage is tricky. Finding and drying everything that is wet or cleaning and eliminating soot and smoke damage requires expertise and resources. This means trained professionals, special equipment or specialty sub-contractors. If a business has properly prepared for a disaster, their plan may already include a qualified restoration contractor resource. For homeowners, knowing who to call can be an unknown. Helpful friends or family members might pass along a suggestion. Perhaps the insurance carrier is aligned with restoration resources to recommend. Then again, an insurance agent or perhaps even the insurance adjuster may provide references.
The bottom line?
All restoration contractors are not created equally. Many can perform standard water damage mitigation services in a residential setting. However, not nearly as many can potentially mitigate thousands of square feet of commercial space effectively.
What to do?
Be prepared! As a homeowner start with your agent. See if he or she has knowledge of other clients experience with local restoration contractors. If you are a business, ensure you have a disaster contingency plan. Contact your broker for references or contact contractors directly to set up interviews. Hopefully you will never have to make a call to a restoration contractor. However, in the event of an emergency, being prepared and knowing who to call will put your mind at ease and get you on the course to recovery quickly.
This past week we started restoration for a grocery store that sustained fire and smoke damage throughout. Ungerman has always been known as a top notch residential restoration company, however we also provide expert service for any commercial loss involving water damage, fire damage and more. Ungerman can respond to commercial losses 24/7.
On October 10th, Hurricane Michael brought devastation to parts of the Florida panhandle and the southeastern US. Like with Hurricane Florence, we’re partnering with myTalk 107.1 and Miami Diaper Bank to help families with young children in the affected cities. [Read More]
We strive to provide high quality in all aspects of our business. This includes our restoration services, as well as our knowledge and expertise, and our customer service. Our goal is to not only make your residential or commercial property better, but to also provide you with prompt, neighborly communication. [Read More]
