Fast response time can greatly impact your ability to save valuable contents, prevent long lasting damages and restore your home to pre-fire damage condition.
AI images are a lot more fun than seeing this scene in real life.
If you’ve ever had the displeasure of witnessing a property fire up close and personal, you know the entire area becomes a scene of frantic neighbors, fire trucks and first responders, media and of course…restoration contractors. Although fast response times are important, saving your property requires more than just showing up quickly.
The “Wild West” Of High Stakes Sales
We HATE (yes its a strong word) fire chasing. Fire chasing is a very real thing and it is responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of projects for both public adjusters and restoration contractors throughout the country. Essentially a police scanner is used to intercept news about fires as they are reported and dispatched to the fire companies. When these "first responders" show up onsite, most times arriving before the fire trucks, they quickly look for the property owner and begin a serious of high pressure sales tactics. A popular script usually includes a variation of rehearsed empathetic-like questions, "Where are you staying tonight?", "Is everyone ok", "Have you ever experienced something like this before".. all of which is designed to qualify and take advantage of pre-occupied, often scared property owners going through one of the most difficult times in their life.
In Philadelphia and surrounding counties and states at least, many of these "first responders" also carry cash on them. Usually the money is offerred as a solution to the previous questions of "Where are you staying?" and "Do you have money for food or clothing over the next couple of days?". In return, they are asked to sign an agreement giving the projects reconstruction and/or adjusting project over to the salesman in return. Many of these agreements also include an "AOB" or "Assignment of Benefits" essentially signing over control of the claims proceeds over to the contractor/adjuster.
This last part is rarely, if ever, spoken about but it is the grease in the wheels that keeps fire chasing going. After all, what is a couple thousand dollars in the face of a 100k-200k project..
What is initial Fire Damage Restoration response and is it necessary?
After a fire damage, the property is usually soaking wet. Broken windows and doors and roof damage from the fire or fire fighting efforts makes the property uninhabitable. In fact, nothing can be completed in terms of mitigation or repair until AFTER an inspection is completed by the fire department and the building is cleared for reconstruction.
So what can be done and what should be done right after a fire?
Documentation
Arguably the most important thing you can do is document and photograph your property after a fire damage. Initial photos are used and referenced throughout the project to determine important claim related processes and reimbursements. The more photos you have, the easier it is ensure everything is paid for by your insurance carrier. 360 cameras are widely used for initial photographs to capture damages and generate 3D walkthroughs. They do not replace traditional photographs though or upclose damages to contents or structure.
Board Up/Tarp Up
Securing the property after a fire damage is one of the most responsible and important things you can do as the property owner. Boarding and tarping up the property helps prevent secondary damages from occuring as a result of poor weather conditions. Additionally, looting, stealing copper pipes, contents, even squatting is extremely common occurences and are easily avoidable if you take steps to properly board up and secure your home or business. Boards on ground level, should be pressure sealed if possible, making access to screw heads from the outside a non-issue. If screws are used, deck screws or security screws should be used in order to prevent anyone with a drill or screwdriver from removing the boards to gain access. Temporary lighting can be installed to light up the exterior of the building and reduce cover for unwanted intruders. Finally, notifying your local police department that your property will be vacant and addressing your concerns can prompt a more frequent police prescence at odd hours of the night and throughout the day.
Winterization
Depending on the time of year, pipes can freeze if water isn't passing through them. After a fire damage, its important to winterize the pipes and prevent additional damages once the water is turned back on.
Contents Inventory/Pack Out
Do you know how many pairs of shoes are in your closet? How about the price you paid them, what they are worth now, the condition they were in and what size? Now how about your husband/wife and kids closets? How many legos are in that toy chest?
Contents inventory is the painstaking process of identifying, quantifying and documenting your contents. Pack out is like advanced moving. Everything is tracked and numbered in a system so you can locate an item off a list at any time. One of the first things that needs to be addressed before fixing the property is contents.
Exterior Liabilities
You're dealing with a fire, you don't also want to deal with the neighbors after their kids or animals step on a rusty nail or get cut on broken glass. It's important to ensure the outside of the property is cleaned up after a fire damage and all broken glass, nails and sharp objects are properly disposed of.
Although a fast response is important, how you respond can make or break a fire damage claim. Its important to have someone experienced in this process to help you navigate the repairs and make the insurance claim process go smoother.
Public Adjusters - The good, the bad, the ugly
When you tell someone you've had a fire damage, they are quick to lend references and referrals. Most commonly, the advice is to hire a pubic adjuster to help through the claims process. But what exactly does that mean? What is a public adjuster and when should you hire one? Should you hire one?
What is a Public Adjuster
A public adjuster is a licensed professional who represents policyholders during the insurance claims process. Unlike an adjuster hired by your insurance company, a public adjuster works exclusively for you to ensure your claim is thoroughly documented and you receive the maximum payout allowed under your policy.
Their responsibilities may include:
Evaluating the extent of fire damage.
Documenting losses, including structural damage and personal property.
Negotiating with the insurance company on your behalf.
Providing expertise in interpreting policy language.
When Should You Hire a Public Adjuster?
You can hire a public adjuster at almost any point in the claims process. It does not have to be right away. Sometimes it makes sense to wait on hiring the public adjuster until after an insurance adjuster is assigned to the claim and, you get your first copy of the reconstruction payout amount. At this point, you will have more information and a better idea on if negotiating payout amounts is a task you can handle or will need help with. With that said, if your claim is complex, with many moving parts, it may be smart to bring a public adjuster on sooner than later.
Should You Hire a Public Adjuster?
While a public adjuster can provide valuable support, their services come with fees, typically a percentage of your claim payout (often 10–15%). Before hiring a public adjuster, you should consider the complexity and size of the claim, your comfort level with managing the claim yourself and finally, your restoration company's role in the claims process. Many fire damage restoration companies, like Bulldog Cleaning & Restoration, work closely with insurance providers and help document the damages, outline findings and provide supporting justifications for reconstruction line items in the billing. This simplification of the claims process is done at no additional cost to the property owner and can be a layup in terms of making the rest of the claim easy to deal with.
Bulldog Cleaning & Restoration: Your Restoration Partner
At Bulldog Cleaning & Restoration, we provide comprehensive fire damage restoration services and work directly with insurance companies to ensure your claim is well-documented and fairly compensated. Our goal is to restore your property quickly while minimizing stress on the backend. Our dedication to ethical sales practices, utilization of the latest available technology, attention to detail and a transparent service offerings makes processing a fire damage claim easy.
Contact Bulldog today to start your fire damage restoration journey with confidence!
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