Water Damage Fair Commision

[John Buxton]

I have a friend in our business who asked me to take care of all his water damage claims for a percentage. One if I use his truck and equipment, one if I use mine, or a combination of both.

Anyone have a situation like this?

What would be a fair %?

thanks

 

[steve g]

most companies in my area pay around 65% if you use your own equipment. however there is alot of little charges in xactimate that make it more like 30% when the final numbers come in. for instance a pickup load pays about $100, I put that in even if only a trash bag of pad is taken out. my service call is like 162 after hours. blocking a piece of furniture in a room is like $32, if I use a sub they don't make anywhere near that on those particular items for instance.

I have a buddy that uses my equipment too, and I just pay him the regular sub rate just like I pay the other guys that have their own stuff. if you are having to run the job I personally would want more, by running the job that is coming up with the price and dealing with the insurance.

 

[Hoody]

Part of this can get really tricky.

If you're by yourself and you only use your equipment 10-15% to them would be more than fair,simple finders fee is good.

If you're using only his equipment I think 40-50% is fair.

If you're using a combination of both, I would work with each other to come up on a fair rate. Say you need more extraction power but have enough equipment. He rents the machine out for x per hour, or x per day. Same thing with drying equipment dehus and airmovers x per day.

Another way is you bill the entire loss, and whatever labor, equipment rental charges his equipment made he gets to keep. That is a lot of tracking, not sure if it would be a big headache or not.

If he is wanting you to take care of all his clients' water damage it might be worth it looking at what it would take to buy some or all of his drying equipment off of him so that you can keep more at the end of the day.

If you're not in the position yet to invest a lot of money buying his equipment you can take the last option and work out a deal that he take half of the full rental as payment on the equipment. It all depends on what kind of business relationship you two have.

It seems to me he still wants to make money with none of the headache involved or liability.

 

[Desk Jockey]

What about paying him 20% of the total WDR loss and chalk it up to lead generation.

I think it would be easier to rent his TM and drying equipment on a "As needed basis" get rental prices down on paper, might as well address how damages are going to be handled, for both the truck and equipment.

Then he knows he will get 20% of every loss he turns over to you plus what ever rental you need from him. If you don't have equipment rent from him until you either buy from him or buy your own.

Sounds like it could be a nice arrangement for both of you! 8)

 

[steve g]

there are alot of expensive toys that must be bought in this trade. unless you or him have access to them, be very careful. it sounds like he just dabbles in it. meters, cameras, dehus, injectidrys, and all the accoutrements add up big time. I finally got a thermal camera recently, thats another expense.

 

[kmdineen]

Who would be liable if regulated or hazardous material is not handled correctly? Does either company carry pollution insurance?

 

[steve g]

other than lead based paint or mold thats the only hazardous stuff I know about, other than that I don't handle hazardous materials. oh yeah come to think of it, sometimes we do run into asbestos, in that case we have a company come test, and if necessary another company comes to remediate.

 

[kmdineen]

Yes Steve, there is a lot of asbestos out there. A friendly competitor was telling me he sent a crew out in the middle of the night and one of his guys pulled up some loose tile. The tile was later tested and found to contain asbestos. The insurance company went after him for a lot of money. Some sheetrock contains asbestos. Also water coming into a structure from outside could contain all different types of contaminates that might be over looked during initial mitigation. Sewage is also a law suit waiting to happen and the S-500 says little about it. I have been reading Patrick Moffet's books on Sewage Cleanup & Remediation and realize most Water Damage Remediation companies are sitting ducks for good layers and expert witnesses, including myself. Liability and court costs are what scare me.
My point being I would take a smaller percentage of a job I was doing if I was covered by a larger company's insurance, also if my services were C.O.D.