Friday, March 06, 2015
By John Voket
When disaster strikes, I know that property owners need to make a lot of decisions quickly and under pressure.Effective disaster remediation involves a lot of moving parts: remediation specialists, insurance companies, local codes, state codes, documentation and more-and all of this has to happen in an atmosphere charged with emotion and stress.
Edward White, a SERVPRO professional based in western Connecticut says efficiency is key when you are dealing with disaster remediation because it saves customers money and it makes restoration work more effective.
White utilizes SERVPRO's proprietary DryBook(tm) tool, which helps him improve efficiency and maintain cost controls to keep his client's projects in or under budget.
He says since remediation projects must be managed to both industry- and insurance-company standards, tools like DryBook helps White track and document progress on restoration, cleanup and repair services.
No matter what remediation or restoration company you choose, White says property owners can avoid regulatory headaches and paperwork pitfalls in the aftermath of a disaster by asking the following questions:
1. Does your remediation company deliver a product that meets:
- Standards set by The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC)?
- Most major insurance companies, including cycle times and deadline requirements?
2. Does your remediation company have a system in place to ensure accurate, complete and convenient benchmarking of each step of the remediation process, including:
- Capturing and updating data, including job diary notes, electronically real-time on the jobsite, with simultaneous updates saved at the central office?
- Using e-signatures to help eliminate lost paperwork and the need to scan documents?
- Providing a complete record of the damage and remediation efforts in images, with descriptions, start-to-finish?
3. Does your contractor have the ability, on-the-spot, to:For more renovation or remediation information, visit www.servpro.com.
- Identify the right equipment for the job, based on the damage description?
- Validate the use of each piece of equipment, automatically, as part of the remediation records?
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