After hours emergency water calls

[Desk Jockey]

After hours emergency water calls.



I have to cover for one of the supervisors Saturday night. I’m a little rusty it’s been several months since I covered for anyone so I’m going over our paperwork and thought it would be a good subject for a thread.
What do you say when an “After Hours” call comes in? What you say can cost the company money by losing a job or it might even cost the company by doing free work. Saying the wrong thing can not only make your company look bad but could also potentially land you in a law suit over bad advice.

Be leery of 3rd party payments, it’s easy for the homeowner to push the responsibility off to a roofing contractor, plumber or city water department. However the real problem lies in collection of that bill.
If after processing the loss the business is slow to pay or refuses to pay, the homeowner usually tries to separate themselves and states that they did not hire us. For this reason we prefer that the homeowner always agree to be responsible, should the third party not holdup their end of the agreement. It is after all their home that we are restoring, if the homeowner refuses to be responsible and sign the authorization then you really have to decide is the risk worth the reward.


Let them know it’s not a personal thing but when it comes to third party work, there has been a history of trouble while doing this work. We still ask for a payment from the third party to being the work unless it’s a regular account or a city, county or state authorizing work to be done.

Don’t do FREE work! You need to be cautious about responding to an emergency with little or no thought about payment. Always be afraid of the phrase “it needs to be done regardless”, it is true it does need to be done, but that doesn’t mean we are the ones that have to do it.


People in dire need will say to anything to get you to come out, up until it’s time to talk about money. Then these same people will drop you like a hot potato, call you crazy or just hang up on you. This is why it is imperative that money be brought up, otherwise we would do a lot of FREE work.


Ball Park estimates are a good thing or even giving average loss. Be sure to allow some room for the differences of standing water, lots of contents thicker carpet cushion, length of time it has set. (longer times allow wicking into drywall, insulation and other materials.


I use this simple sheet cut down to where I can carry a couple folded in my wallet. It keeps me on track asking the right questions. The guys that do this every day know this stuff easily but I don’t get it all unless I have it to use.

 

[SMRBAP]

We say as little as possible by phone at anytime of the day/night Doc. We get the details of the job, usually lets us know exactly what to pack. Answer any burning questions they have - and let them know the rest will be covered after we scope.

All of our work auths have a line item to address payment responsibility. All have the same end. The homeowner is ultimately responsible for payment. Even on insurance work. It just states that they agree to remit any and or all costs not covered by insurance, and or a responsible third party. Even on insured losses - customer agrees to pay for services. Eliminates the one's that think they can use the "insurer refused to pay so I can't" or the "I thought this was contingent on insurance paying out", payment approach - as well as I'm still fighting XYZ company to pay this bill.

We avoid estimates at all costs - always has the same end - no matter how much you are off - customer wants to hold you to that cost. We liken it to visiting an emergency room after an accident. What needs to be done, must be done, and that can change and progress through the processes. Those that must have an idea - we estimate the extraction, tearout, (fixed items) and tally up each day rental costs - give them the fixed, let them know what the per day costs in rental are, and tell them an estimated dry time.

That card is a great idea - I may get a few made up for my guys when they are on call to have in hand to use if they aren't ni a position to pull out the job folder when the phone rings.

 

[SMRBAP]

Also - to add to this - we always ask if the caller is the property owner.

We have only landed one rental property in our history. If it's a rented property, landlords typically want to cheap out, avoid a claim, and do it themselves.

That was the worst situation to get paid - so we tell them to contact their landlord, and have the landlord call us to authorize the work.

We never get a call back - and it saves us the 60-90 minutes of going there, scoping, to find out that they then need to call the landlord for approval, it's a non-job 99.9% of the time anyway.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Everyone does it different and I'm sure we cause a few to drop off that would have had us do it except we are so stringent on collecting and responsibility for payment. It's been our experience we get burned far too often if we just send a truck without talking about money first.

PM me your email and I'll send you over the Publisher doc and you can just change it to your info.

We avoid apartments, they can replace it for what it takes for us to extract, dry and clean. They also only call us when their carpet cleaner can't be reached then bitch when we charge far more than he does.

 

[Hoody]

Also - to add to this - we always ask if the caller is the property owner.

We have only landed one rental property in our history. If it's a rented property, landlords typically want to cheap out, avoid a claim, and do it themselves.

That was the worst situation to get paid - so we tell them to contact their landlord, and have the landlord call us to authorize the work.

We never get a call back - and it saves us the 60-90 minutes of going there, scoping, to find out that they then need to call the landlord for approval, it's a non-job 99.9% of the time anyway.

Never had good outcome working for a tenant either, especially when the landlord lives out of the area and or state.

Richard - Have you ever been in a situation where a 3rd party has claimed responsibility for payment such as a roofer in your example. How would you handle that? Still have the homeowner sign ultimate responsibility, and then enter in a third party agreement for payment ? Or do you just ask the homeowner work out payment from the third party ?

 

[Desk Jockey]

We will trust the roofer if they can be trusted. Larger firm that looks as if they have the ability to pay us should they have a large deductible or insurance deny the claim. But as I say that I have 4K still owed on a 16K bill for one roofer and 20k owed my another roofer since Feb.. We do a good deal of work for some larger commercial roofers but we have a relationship built over time. The don't like our rates but understand it's the cost of providing around the clock service.

What we would do is an onsite estimate if during working hours, paperwork and collect at least $250.00 to begin the job. We will accept VISA, Mastercard or Discovery and signed work authorization faxed.

Yes the homeowner would have to accept ultimate responsibility for work on their home or we will not do the work. IT"S their home, not mine. We have all the risk!

 

[Desk Jockey]

After Hours Calls Part II
Unfortunately if you process WDR losses you will eventually stumble across “Deep Water”. What the best approach, safety is always the best approach but even more so with standing water.


Advise the home or business owner to stay out of the affected area. Most people want to get down in it and rescue whatever contents are affected with no thought of the potential hazards. Remind them to address all safety concerns before entering deep water. A simple item like a lamp poses a great danger when knocked into the water they are standing in. Power strips, extension cords, electronics, appliances should all be a concern. In some situations it might be best to turn have the homeowner turn off all power until the water level is down to one inch.


Our equipment is not designed nor is it efficient at handling deep water situations. It is best handled by clearing the floor drain that is clogged and then extracting the water once it gets down to an inch or less. The most cost efficient way to remove the water is to use simple sump pump, it can do what our truck mounts can do at a fraction of the cost.


If late night or early AM and the customer simply isn’t able to rent a sump pump, then we need to recommend the sewer & drain cleaning people. They usually have a trash pump high-volume pumps on their truck for this purpose.
If it is a lot of water but only in certain areas, then it would be OK to have our crew use our 2-inch sump pump but it’s still not the most cost effective approach to have the “On Call” crew pumping standing water.


Rain Water
When it storms it’s possible you’ll receive calls so fast you can’t call them back before another one is calling you. It can be very frustrating; they all want you there right now at any cost.



As hard as it is to do you have to calm that person down at least enough to find out the pertinent facts.
Where did it come in from? Why are we concerned with where it came in from? It’s because if the rain hits the ground and then seeps in the home it is generally NOT going to be covered by any insurance policy.


Many times a homeowner assumes that since the basement is wet and they have insurance they are covered. Most homeowners do not know that their policy does not cover foundation seepage and if you process the loss without informing them of this information we risk not getting paid.


Important questions to ask:
Has it stopped coming in? We shouldn’t go out until the water stops coming in. It is just not cost effective to have us try to keep up with water that continues to seep in.

How big an area is wet? You can’t tell by how excited the caller is. Some will get excited about 20-gallons of water when the next caller will have 1500sq/ft wet but remains calm. So you have to ask to know what you’re getting into. .

We can send a crew out, we will need a signed work authorization and we normally collect a check for $500.00 after hours, will that be a problem? If they don’t have the cash, offer Visa, Mastercard or Discover.
Do not send a crew out if the water is still coming in! Despite what customers want at the moment, they are always mad about the cost later when they get a large bill, for trying to keep up with water intrusion from ground water.

When all hell breaks loose and all the trucks are out we realistically cannot be everywhere, so we have to go to the jobs that are 1) On the Emergency Preparedness Plan or regular customers 2) Jobs that are going to best benefit the company (larger) 3) Those jobs we have the best chance of being paid on.
Once you have all the available crews out, you need to tell the callers that everyone is out on water losses. Ask them if they want to be added to the list, if so get their information and add them to a list.

 

[Ivan Turner]

Excellent information Chavez, thank You! MIZZOU Rocks!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

 

[Ivan Turner]

Now that hurt, I mean like really hurt. My tired old blue eyes have welled up.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Sorry, I lumped the whole state of Missouri together when there are some sane people in your state!