Disaster Recovery Is A Team Sport

Whether your facility is hit by fire, flood, hurricane, or a frozen pipe, a successful response requires participation from many professionals to work together to bring the facility back to pre-loss condition. The team generally consists of restoration contractors, insurance stakeholders, building owners, property managers, construction trades, and tenants. Understanding previous tenant improvements is critical, and some contractors will be involved that may not be familiar with the property. 

From a restoration and building perspective, the key goals come down to:

• Speed of recovery

• A safe work environment

• Reducing business interruption costs

• The long-term health of the building

• Like-kind replacement of materials

Many times, the speed of recovery is affected by those procedures that need to take place to ensure the restoration vendor’s safety as well as the long-term health of the building and its employees. When a building’s materials are wetted down by the water, many concerns come into play. 

What is the source of the water? How long has it been wet? If the materials need to come out, are there concerns about asbestos and other harmful contaminants? Cutting out more than 10 square feet can bring state and federal laws into play. Certified industrial hygienists are critical to protecting the players involved and determining the correct protocols for testing, removal if necessary, and a clean clear area for installing new materials. The rush to cut may be the source of the delay you were not looking for.

It also requires a team of insurance professionals. The broker is a critical piece of the relationship, helping to work with the carrier where the insurance is placed. Understanding coverages and the limits of the policies is critical as it will guide important decisions. Sometimes the cost of downtime is higher than the cost of materials and labor to bring a building back to pre-loss condition. All these factors help to pave the decision trail to recovery. That said, communication is another critical part of a successful recovery. Priorities may change over the life of recovery. Understanding daily goals and decisions when all parties understand the why’s and the what’s of the recovery process helps the team win!

To win, many times the key to success is pre-planning to help the building owner/tenant to be successful. It is always better to be proactive rather than reactive. When your vendor knows your building and perhaps your power needs ahead of time, they can also help to reduce downtime. Putting the team together prior to an event is never a bad idea. If this happens, then call these guys! This is especially true in the event of a regional disaster. A major flooding event, a hurricane, those storms that test the limits of local resources and supply chains. Getting the terms and conditions covered and reviewed prior to an event will help to reduce downtime. Most large losses will be performed on a time and material cost basis. Having pre-agreed rates and an understanding of the backup detail of the bill will help when trying to collect from your insurance provider. This lack of documentation can result in delays in payment from your insurance provider. They may not pay as quickly as we would all like, but they do in fact pay claims providing the coverage sufficient for the loss incurred. 

Winning teams practice hard. They are proactive and know what to do in certain situations. We all did it back in elementary school with fire drills, so why not in a building filled with professional business people? Most of the time, we cannot afford to lose.