Lordy Lordy are they going to have a problem!

[Desk Jockey]

Yesterday we were called out to look at a home that had that roof off during a storm Tuesday. Nice home, homeowner was upset and crying, all this happened while her husband is away working out of state.

Stormed for an hour, rain water came in the attic, down to the top floor, main floor and basement all affected. Some of the insulation in the attic had been removed but lots of the remaining was still wet, plaster ceiling and walls, carpet, pad, hardwoods wet too.

Roofer said we want to take care of Mrs.****** , what ever is need, we just want it right. As our tech was doing the walk through with the roofer and homeowner showing them what was actually wet with the thermal camera (not just visible) they were in shock at the actual damage.

As the homeowner left the room the roofer turned to our tech and said "We're not turning this into our insurance, we are paying it out of our own pocket. I think we can handle it,how much for you to come back in a few days to check it?"

They had a few fans blowing at the carpet.

FOOLS! They have the perfect environment for a mold job with the attic wet and wall cavities wet.

Can't fix stoopid!

 

[tmdry]

Typical, would've pissed me off too.

They all stress out the carpet/pad as the main issue and cannot see passed it.

 

[Mark Saiger]

Absolute stupidity!!! I hate those!

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

 

[Desk Jockey]

It bothers me some to lose the 10K or so but really what bothers me most is the roofer is slighting the homeowner.

These are no cheap fly by night roofers either, the owner lives a mile down the road from me. He lives in the house I wish I could afford, big ass mansion with two huge barns, one for play and one for work. He has money, my kids went to school with his and when they graduated he bought both daughter and son each a house for HS graduation.

When we break or damage something we pay to make it right, what ever the cost. Sometimes its a bite and yes I'd love to crawl away from it but its just not right. It's not us either, we caused it we fix it. These morons are are really going to screw up the clients home, just because they don't want to pay for what is due to repair the home. Pathetic!

I don't care if they call another competitor, just fix what you damaged!

 

[Willy P]

I only like certain wet cavities.

Experience tells me to run like a rabbit from that.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Willy you'll be glad to know they used a portable to extract it with.

Plus they rented a couple of fans.....they told her "it will dry, it's not that bad".

Visually it really isn't BUT that water went somewhere and with a thermal camera we can see where it went.

Sooo lets see, what does it take for Mold growth? Dark, damp, low air movement with a food source. Bingo they will have a mold project!!! They are luck that mold doesn't really like plaster but it will feed on everything else in that cavity.

 

[Willy P]

I get calls to "just suck up the water" - ain't gonna happen. I'm not buying someone else's problems. Run Forrest run! ( Little known factoid - I had journeyman water restorer status, before U stopped sending cheques)

 

[mirf]

I would sure want to give the homeowner a heads up.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We did, she didn't want to be responsible for payment. She was going to leave it to the roofers to take care of. We told her just turn it into her insurance and they would get it back from the roofers insurance. She was in shock and not listening to the peril her home is in.

 

[dealtimeman]

How are you going to handle the call when she calls back and NEEDS HELP? And says she really did not understand the severity of the situation.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We're not going back, might have the following day but now it will be any ones guess as to what's wet or isn't and what about the growth in the cavities. I don't want the liability, if they have dried the exterior of the wall with their airmovers how will we know what is wet? We would have to probe every bit of it.

Noope that place is screwed up by now and she bought into it. It's too late for them, gotta save the ones that want us.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The adjuster called this AM and wants us to go back and see what is what there.
After a week they kicked the roofers off and now what to know what to do next.

We told then due to the liability we couldn't be involved. How would we know without making swiss cheese out of the place with our probes.

The adjuster laughed and said he understood and he would call a competitor that wasn't looking that far down the road. I'd like to warn them but it's really not my duty to do so.

 

[Mark Saiger]

The adjuster called this AM and wants us to go back and see what is what there.
After a week they kicked the roofers off and now what to know what to do next.

We told then due to the liability we couldn't be involved. How would we know without making swiss cheese out of the place with our probes.

The adjuster laughed and said he understood and he would call a competitor that wasn't looking that far down the road. I'd like to warn them but it's really not my duty to do so.

This is so typical and very common around here. Very frustrating and the reason we are doing less restoration around here. Just don't want to play that game and therefore,we get less restoration jobs lately. Just turned down another water loss today,but we are so over booked with carpet cleaning right now, it just doesn't matter. Sitting down for 2 hours then back out to clean a restaurant. Booked up hard for the next 2 weeks!

Mark Saiger
www.saigers.com

 

[tmdry]

I cherry pick all my flood work now, especially if it's a smaller job that involves too much tear out.

and I make SURE to let the client know that even though I have lots of experience w/ dealing w/ adjusters, I work for them - the homeowner, not the insurance co, when I am done w/ the work, I expect payment and will allow up to a week. I also collect progress payments during the work for medium to large jobs. Every once in a while I will wait for the client to get the $ from their insurance (2 weeks tops), but ever since I've started implementing this upfront I have not had any issues....before I was "nice" and waited and dealt w/ their adjusters for over a month to months, what a pain that was.

Carpet is good here too.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We don't see this much at all and I'm glad.

Most homeowners care about their homes and they will do what ever is necessary to preserve it, whether it's the contractors liability insurance or filing a claim with their own insurance.

 

[SMRBAP]

That sucks!

We have had pretty much the same thing happen a few times over the years.

If we get the call back - it's waiver or walk time.