IP Insight: What's Your Plan to Recover From an Unforeseen Disaster Event?
Posted by [email protected] on Dec. 15, 2022 / Subscribe 0
by Joe Holman, Insight Restoration
It’s a typical Minnesota winter, but a polar vortex has dropped down from Canada and the temperatures have been well below zero with high winds. A main water pipe on the top floor freezes and bursts causing extensive water damage to your property. Several tenants are affected and displaced. You get onsite and everyone is looking at you for a plan…
Unfortunately, this is a real-life scenario and I have seen versions of it unfold time and time again.
CONSIDERATION #1
This is not the time to do an internet search for “disaster restoration near me”. Those without a plan find themselves in a very scary, very stressful and very lonely situation when all the fingers are pointing in their direction, looking for a solution. Unfortunately, we never know when, where or in what form a disaster will rear its ugly head, but one thing we do know is that it’s not a matter of “if”, it’s more a matter of “when”. Whether it’s this afternoon or 20 years from now, it’s imperative to have a plan in place to be able to recover quickly, and with as minimal business interruption as possible.
To achieve that, you need to choose, and build, a pre-event relationship with the right disaster restoration partner for YOUR needs. A property manager with 30 one-story properties spread across the suburbs is going to have different needs than a property manager with one 30-story building downtown Minneapolis. Know what YOUR needs are and then find the best solution for those needs ahead of time.
There are many different companies out there to choose from and they all come in different sizes, and offer different specialties. Treat this like an interview process and ask the right questions: “Have you ever handled a large commercial loss, like a commercial office building before? Do you have a list of references? Do you have a pre-event emergency program? What does your after-hours emergency process look like? Are you a member of IREM?”
CONSIDERATION #2
We all say that we’re 24/7, but you’ll find out very quickly who is telling the truth when you call at 3:00am on Christmas Eve! Set yourself up for success and have a backup plan with more than one partner in case one of them doesn’t answer, or doesn’t have the bandwidth to take care of all their customers during a large weather event.
CONSIDERATION #3
If their facility/warehouse is an unorganized mess, with junky equipment and beat up vehicles, why in the world would you expect them to treat your property any different? Don’t hesitate to ask for a tour of their office/warehouse.
CONSIDERATION #4
Ask what kind of pre-event services they offer. Some have an App, while others have a pre-event disaster recovery program. Whether a company does or doesn’t have something in place certainly doesn’t define them as a good or bad restoration partner, however these services can be the difference of receiving priority response or being put on a waiting list.
So…NOW what is your plan to recover from an unforeseen disaster event?
To learn more about Insight Restoration, visit www.insightrestoration.com.
The “Insight from an IREM Industry Partner” blog series is a series of short articles from IREM Minnesota Industry Partners sharing their expert insight on issues of interest to property managers. All IREM Minnesota Industry Partners are invited to participate. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
0 Comments