When disaster strikes, it is not uncommon to feel alone, overwhelmed, and isolated. Fortunately, there are things that business owners and property managers can do to prepare for the possibility of these events.
One action you can take to protect yourself is to establish a relationship with a qualified disaster restoration team. These teams are built to help you recover quickly after a crisis and get your property back up and running with minimal downtime.
This critical partnership helps you redefine how you look at disaster by providing a greater sense of knowledge and speed to any threats you face. Let’s take a look at some of the other ways having a partnership in place can assist before catastrophe and after.
1. Disaster restoration professionals know how to address countless unplanned scenarios.
It can be a little intimidating to think about everything that could go wrong. Natural disasters, catastrophic events, and complex losses are not the things that anyone wants to think about! The good news is that disaster restoration specialists think about it all the time and plan for response actions on your behalf.
Some of the disasters you may have to face include:
Don’t wait until something catastrophic happens before you reach out to a disaster restoration team. Preparation is an important strategy, but it’s not just about having an evacuation plan or carrying the right insurance. It’s also about knowing who you will call in an emergency. Disaster mitigation teams work for you, making sure you have your bases covered and that unexpected surprises are eliminated. This guidance leads to a smooth and complete process that keeps everyone safe and reduces business downtime.
2. Fast mitigation means less damage.
Restoration can only occur after disaster mitigation has already taken place. What is the difference? Disaster mitigation is about addressing immediate threats and putting a stop to continuing damage. Restoration occurs afterward, when it’s time to repair the damage and return everything to its original state – or better.
Think of it this way: you can’t start repairing water damage until after you’ve stopped the flooding. You can’t clean up mold until you’ve eliminated the source of the moisture. You can’t rebuild a smoke-damaged property until the fire has been put out.
The faster you can put a stop to damage taking place because of a catastrophic event, the less you will need to replace, from infrastructure to finishes. Stopping the spread of damage will also help prevent hazards from spreading to your entire property, which will protect your tenants. Consider water damage or the often-resulting mold as examples.
You can limit the damage to a property by ensuring that any threats are stopped right away, and you can also prevent human-caused damage by having a disaster restoration company fully secure the property to prevent vandalism or theft.
3. Avoid losing rental income because of long periods of uninhabitability.
Some disasters lead to periods of uninhabitability. This is an unfortunate reality of the disaster restoration process. Your business or rental property may have to be vacant until it is repaired, and it’s essential that you keep this vacant time as short as possible. The right disaster response partner will get your property back to working order so that your employees or tenants can get back to their lives. Time is of the essence in these situations, and you don’t want to have to waste it searching, negotiating, planning, and potentially ending up with a disaster response team that doesn’t act fast.
When you already have a relationship with a disaster restoration company, restoration starts immediately. You don’t have to worry about lost time and the lost business or rental income that comes with frustrating delays.
4. Insurance claims are easier when you have professional help.
Sometimes, it seems like the insurance process is purposefully vague and hard to navigate. Filing and keeping track of insurance claims and money is much easier when you have someone who knows the ins and outs of how insurers respond to disaster claims. Any restoration firm can do the work of restoration. The real difference is how they solve the “last mile” problem; a smooth claims process. All the great restoration work in the world doesn’t mean anything if the paperwork is sloppy and your carrier denies portions of your claim.
5. Avoid over-stressing your maintenance team.
Instead of overburdening your maintenance team with jobs they haven’t done before, let them keep doing the good work of running routine maintenance and problem-solving at your property or business. A really great maintenance worker isn’t automatically qualified to manage the workload associated with cleaning up after a natural disaster, fire, or other catastrophic event.
A great restoration partner is trained to do this work, having certifications and people with years of experience who know exactly what to account for before a crisis and how to act during. Your disaster restoration team can manage the disaster-related clean-up tasks far more effectively and efficiently, using specialized knowledge and equipment that your team may not have access to.
Don’t wait to build a relationship with a disaster restoration company.
Disaster restoration companies provide you with the help you need in those critical moments after disaster strikes. Catastrophic events require a fast response, and waiting to make a decision in a crisis is never a good idea.
When you wait, you put your clients, tenants, customers — and your investment! — in danger. Instead, partner with a disaster restoration team that has industry knowledge, experience, and resources.
First Onsite Is Your Disaster Restoration Partner
Our team at First Onsite has the industry knowledge, experience, and necessary resources to respond to every kind of property-related emergency. No matter what, First Onsite is here to help. We are on-call and ready to deploy, 24/7.
We have over 90 offices throughout North America and Puerto Rico, and that means we can respond immediately with customizable solutions to meet your specific needs!
First Onsite is the only partner you’ll ever need when it comes to disaster response. You don’t have to wait to talk with us, either. Whether you need help right now or you want to get more information about how to plan for the unthinkable, we’re here! Contact First Onsite today to schedule a consultation.
Let us work with you to develop a disaster relief plan that we can put into place immediately if you ever need it! We are ready to help our clients restore, rebuild, and rise.
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