Attention all Property Managers, Landlords, Home Builders & Warranty Managers. Most predictions are telling us that we are headed for the strongest El Nino of the past 100 years. Much stronger than the El Ninos of 1997-1998 (1st strongest), 1982-1983 (2nd strongest) and 1972-1973 (3rd strongest).
Ok. All joking aside, you have either read about it or heard about it, but how much have you thought about what you can do about it?
Have you conceptualized what the impact of El Nino could have on your properties? Have you imagined what you would need to do to keep damages and costs minimized? Are you ready for the potentially massive influx of calls that will be coming in during every storm or are you just going to wing it and hope you aren’t affected? You know you will have some level of storm leaks, flooding, mold claims, sewer & drainage issues, damaged personal goods, relocation costs and quite possibly legal claims.
Instead of dealing with the after-effects of a disaster for 6-8 months why not plan ahead so you aren’t pulling your hair out of your head as you deal with freaked out and angry customers.
Here is a list of questions you should be asking yourself right now.
Do you have a plan?
- What have you done to prepare for any kind of weather related disaster? Have you thought out a plan, assigned a team, documented, alerted, budgeted, gained approval and buy in from co-workers
Do you know where & when?
- If you have properties in a specific region or area do you know what to expect? Do you know where you are most at risk? Are some in high wind areas? Are any in flood zones? What about hillsides and erosion? Do you know which way the homes are facing in certain neighborhoods and if that is a good or bad thing? Do you have any idea of when you are at the most risk? Have vacations been approved already? Will be you be fully staffed when you need it the most?
Have you assessed your risks?
- What do you know about your properties? Do they have a history that can tell you what to expect statistically? Let’s say you have a type of home that is most susceptible to damage because of age or roof type or topography. Do you know how many of those homes you have under your watch? Could you guess which properties you are going to hear from the most?
Do you know what you need?
- If you had to run out to a property in the middle of the night do you have what you need to minimize damage? When you have 30, 40 or 50 of the same type of claims in one week are you going to have a problem getting enough materials? Are there things that you can buy now that will help prevent problems?
Do you know who you need?
- Assuming you are ready and your immediate team is ready, do you know who else should be ready? Do you know what their plans are? Are you first, second or third on their list? Do you have the A-Team reserved? Do you have a commitment from these people? Are you set up to enforce it if needed?
Do you have a budget?
- Natural disasters can make or break a career. You don’t ever want to hear “Heckuva job, Brownie!” in relation to how you deal with challenges so be ready. Setting aside reserves or a budget to anticipate the worst and not exhausting your reserves is much better than having to come back to your leaders for more money.
Do your customers know what to do?
- Don’t forget this group! They are the most volatile and most likely to make matters worse if you don’t set expectations up front now. What have you done to reach out to your customers to gain their confidence and make sure that they are ready to be part of the team? Can you rely on them to take preventative action if needed? Are they capable? Do you need to take full control and are you ready for that? The more you communicate with your customers the easier this can go.
Does it work?
- Have you trained for this or do you have a neat binder that only a few people have a copy of, but never really read the whole thing? Can you say with 95% confidence that your plan will be executed with the precision of a synchronized swimming team? Have you tested it? Do you have every number and have you called people in the middle of the night to see if the numbers work and how quick they get back to you? You might be surprised to find out how many “Emergency Lines” are not truly manned, but are just answering services that can’t get a call back from the Technician “on call”.
Hopefully you already have a plan and you read this and thought. “What does this guy know?” If that is the case GREAT! If this isn’t your first rodeo and you are ready for any kind of severe storm related occurrence then I commend you and your customers are very lucky.
If you are like the rest of us who only deal with nasty storms infrequent enough to forget all of the “shoulda, coulda & woulda’s” you told yourself the last time, then take head my friends, you are not alone.
It is not too late to start. Be the hero and get your plan in place.
There is a lot of great information on the internet and with some effort you can develop a pretty good plan on your own. If you don’t know where to start or would prefer someone else to do the work then give me a call. I’m here to help!
Good Luck- David Dell
As always, I appreciate your feedback and comments. If you agree with me share my post. If you disagree with me please comment. I look forward to hearing differing opinions as I learn something new from every interaction.
Recent Comments