It will be no surprise to hear how many organizations are caught with their pants down in the wake of Florence. Unfortunately, even the organizations that believed they were proactive and negotiated priority response contracts with restoration companies prior to the Hurricane are likely to receive a fatal dose of reality over the next few weeks. The sad fact is that ALL of the restoration contractors selling the FREE disaster response agreements have oversold their capacity to respond to all their “preferred” clients.
Fortunately, it is not too late to develop a contingency plan. Anyone that’s been through monster storms like Florence already knows the drill… The large national/international restoration contractors are the worst at over-committing and first to start deploying “warm bodies” to the disaster zone. Worse than not responding is throwing inexperienced and mismanaged people on recovery projects. It’s amazing to witness how fast these contractors can burn through available insurance money without accomplishing a thing… they’re more concerned about billing revenues than solving problems. There is, however, a proven alternative… engage (Independent) restoration contractors located OUTSIDE the disaster-affected areas.
Organizations that are vulnerable to mismanaged and/or unresponsive contractors should consult with their Insurance Company Claims department. Ask to speak with one of their senior-level property Adjusters (Large-loss and/or General Adjusters). Contrary to what many people believe, most seasoned Adjusters will openly provide their professional opinions of restoration contractors and refer to contractors from other locations. Also, independent Disaster Recovery Consultants (such as myself) have first-hand working knowledge of contractors across the globe and offer invaluable and unbiased insight. Act now, however… within a day of the Hurricane hitting the coast you won’t likely have any many (or any) options.