Highlands & Islands – Mid-Year Reflection
Its time to reflect on the year to date.
It has been a very busy start to the year for us. A mixture of new customers, the weather and new services we have introduced all contributing factors.
Our diary was filling up to the max daily and staff, were as ever, amazing. If they got around their jobs faster than expected were calling in to allow the claims handler to book in another job for them.
Mother Nature hasn’t been too helpful either this year. The snow and ice we have endured this year has been unprecedented. The whole of Scotland virtually brought to a standstill for 2-3 days. Not something I have ever experienced.
Road, rail and air travel all cancelled to keep people safe. Our vans in the central belt were all grounded for over 2 days due to the snowfall. There were people walking along motorways trying to get home when the public transport was cancelled, thankfully our staff got home safely to their families just in time.
The office staff managed to still deal with calls and update the system while working from home. So all was not lost and thankfully our customers were understanding of the situation we found ourselves in.
A few weeks back Tom and I were out onsite to try to help out. A wee bit of island hopping was required for these visits and days away from home so it freed up the rest of the team to do other jobs on the mainland.
We started that week in Glasgow. Tom got the van loaded with the equipment and materials we would need and I packed the bags, IPad and camera of course.
We headed to Oban which is an hours drive from Glasgow. Thankfully it was a lovely spring day and we were soon driving along hugging the banks of Loch Lomond, it was spectacular as It was a flat calm and the water created a mirror image of the surrounding snow covered hills. We were soon passing the famous Green Welly Stop
We set off at 1340 for the 4 ¾ hour crossing to the Isle of Barra. This is the first time I have been to Barra so I was looking forward to it.
The weather was amazing, and the sea calm (thankfully). Passing lots of other small islands on the way we enjoyed the peaceful crossing.
We arrived At Castlebay, Barra bang on time and headed to our first job. We were undertaking a monitor visit at a property which had suffered some serious flooding at the end of last year when a nearby burn burst its banks and around 3-4 feet of water entered the property. The tenant had to be rescued by the lifeguard service as the water took hours to recede. Thankfully he was not harmed but the property suffered significant damage as a result.
We were asked by the tenants insurer to attended as soon as possible to inspect and report on the flood damage and start work to mitigate further damage.
The claims handlers checked ferry times and availability, secured accommodation for staff on the island and booked the visit in.
On arrival the team started to deal with the contents. Carefully listing items destroyed and restorable items. Anything restorable was carefully packed and anything for disposal was taken to the nearest landfill to be disposed off.
The Senior Technician undertook this report on their IPad. This report includes validating the claim, noting any requirements for builders, plumbers, electricians or any relevant tradesmen that will be required to assist with the restoration process.
They also note the services we can provide such as drying the property, storage, laundry and cleaning services, for after the builders have reinstated the property to its former glory.
On completion of the report, Our technician will sync their IPad and the report automatically transfers to the claims handlers back at our office. They will tidy up the detail and send the report to the insurance company or loss adjuster for consideration of our recommendations and likely costs.
As this property is on a remote island, insurers will normally approve a maximum cost for us to allow us to undertake as much emergency works as possible on our first visit, this saves them and us, time and money on travel and associated costs. It also ensures that the risk of secondary damage to customers contents are minimised.
Once the emergency works have been done and the drying regime set up, the teams can head home on the next available ferry.
We then scheduled a further visit to monitor the drying at a timescale to suit the expected drying time. We always try to minimise travel costs for insurers and customers so won’t return to the property at unreasonable periods when this can be avoided.
When our technicians were satisfied that the property was back to pre-incident condition they issued a handover certificate to the insurer in order that re-instatement works can commence. This allows other contractors to reinstate properties with the confidence that they have dried out properly.
For more information on our Flood and Water Damage services call 01349 880701 or check out our service pages for more information.