Greg Cole
Member
After 20 years in this indusrty, I have seen alot of people lose their shirts by going storm chasing when they are NOT prepared.
Storm chasing is a serious business. One that can make or break a company, depnding on it's management team and resources.
Here are a few things to be wary of and i invite readers to contribute their experiences and/or observations.
1. Renting equipment by the truck/trailer load can be good but if a job using a portion of the equipment takes longer than the specified period, you can easily go upside down if you are forced to pay a extended daily rate for the entire trailer.
2. Don't be naive enough to think you can hire people off the street. Usually the bigger companies have beat you there and secured the temp labor. Bring Staff with you. Pay them hourly wages. Resist the urge to OVERCOMPENSATE!
3. You need a command center and lodging close by. This can be hard depending on the location and the devastation. Companies that are skilled at this already have play books for most of the major cities.
4. Contracting for companies sounds like a great idea, but I have seen hundreds of guys get screwed by the contractor.
5. Failure to have proper licensing, contracts, etc can result in huge fines, and potential lawsuits.
6. Keep track of your costs. Buying equipment to perform jobs can easily get you upside down.
7. Buying H2O drying equipment is fine in the first 1-4 days, but resist the urge to buy after the 4 day period- It's hard to get your money back out of the equipment if it only rents for 3-4 days.
8. Have a copy of xactimate loaded on your laptop. if you don't have it or don't know what it is- you REALLY have no business playing with the BIG BOYS!
you can easily lose your shirt as you don't understand how to properly bill your jobs.
9. Commercial jobs are the most lucrative but are the most coveted. If you choose to storm chase - you need to target these within hours of the storm hitting. Have a salesman (either yourself or someone with experience) who does NOTHING but lock down jobs.
10. If what I am saying sounds like Greek to you, it might be a good idea to stay home.
There are people who are VERY good at storm chasing and make a ton of $ at it. There are also others with a large amount of equipment for their local businesses but the just RENT the equipment to other restorers during catastrophes. There is a reason for this- THEY GET PAID IMMEDIATELY! They don't wait for insurance checks or incur any expenses other than the labor to drive their trucks to the restorer.
If you are fortunate enough to live where this happens. Sign every job you possibly can. There will be contractors coming out of the woodwork trying to sub for you.
Storm chasing is a serious business. One that can make or break a company, depnding on it's management team and resources.
Here are a few things to be wary of and i invite readers to contribute their experiences and/or observations.
1. Renting equipment by the truck/trailer load can be good but if a job using a portion of the equipment takes longer than the specified period, you can easily go upside down if you are forced to pay a extended daily rate for the entire trailer.
2. Don't be naive enough to think you can hire people off the street. Usually the bigger companies have beat you there and secured the temp labor. Bring Staff with you. Pay them hourly wages. Resist the urge to OVERCOMPENSATE!
3. You need a command center and lodging close by. This can be hard depending on the location and the devastation. Companies that are skilled at this already have play books for most of the major cities.
4. Contracting for companies sounds like a great idea, but I have seen hundreds of guys get screwed by the contractor.
5. Failure to have proper licensing, contracts, etc can result in huge fines, and potential lawsuits.
6. Keep track of your costs. Buying equipment to perform jobs can easily get you upside down.
7. Buying H2O drying equipment is fine in the first 1-4 days, but resist the urge to buy after the 4 day period- It's hard to get your money back out of the equipment if it only rents for 3-4 days.
8. Have a copy of xactimate loaded on your laptop. if you don't have it or don't know what it is- you REALLY have no business playing with the BIG BOYS!
you can easily lose your shirt as you don't understand how to properly bill your jobs.
9. Commercial jobs are the most lucrative but are the most coveted. If you choose to storm chase - you need to target these within hours of the storm hitting. Have a salesman (either yourself or someone with experience) who does NOTHING but lock down jobs.
10. If what I am saying sounds like Greek to you, it might be a good idea to stay home.
There are people who are VERY good at storm chasing and make a ton of $ at it. There are also others with a large amount of equipment for their local businesses but the just RENT the equipment to other restorers during catastrophes. There is a reason for this- THEY GET PAID IMMEDIATELY! They don't wait for insurance checks or incur any expenses other than the labor to drive their trucks to the restorer.
If you are fortunate enough to live where this happens. Sign every job you possibly can. There will be contractors coming out of the woodwork trying to sub for you.
