Flood Damage Restoration for a Disaster-Struck Family

Last September, we provided flood damage restoration services at a ranch in the west country of Central Alberta. The owners were a couple in their mid-50s with 3 adults daughters and grandchildren. The situation was quite severe: the float in a toilet tank on the main floor caused the toilet to overflow. Consequently, the water ran to the heat register and down through the ductwork flooding the basement. They desperately needed professional water damage restoration services.

Water Damage Wasn’t Their Biggest Concern

When we got on site, only the homeowner’s mother was waiting for us. That made us wonder: why weren’t the homeowners at home during such a critical situation? As it turns out, they had worse things to worry about. Unfortunately, the husband had been rushed in to the hospital for emergency surgery and wasn’t even aware of the flooding. That was very sad to hear, but we went on doing what we came to do – remediate the flood-damaged property.

We worked on our own through the emergency and submitted everything to the insurance company. They approved our estimate for reconstruction. Through text with the wife (as she sat with her husband in ICU) we scheduled the flood damage restoration process. More specifically: construction, painting, flooring, cleaning and resetting the furniture.

About halfway through reconstruction, the husband came back home and we finally met him. Soon after, though, the homeowners faced another critical situation – the wife was taken to the hospital and admitted for a brain tumor (not for long, fortunately).

That was when we started dealing with her husband via text to finish the water damage restoration task. When she returned from the hospital, we were wrapping up the flood damage restoration. At least their home was back in order. They finally got a break from all the recent disasters!

They Finally Got a Break

We were able to get their home clean and dry, and rebuild their basement in 11 weeks. Just in time for the holiday season! However, this timeframe was longer than we had hoped as we could not physically speak to the homeowners. We had to wait for them to be able to answer questions. Obviously, we were not the most pressing thing in their lives at that time. But they needed us to be able to make some decisions for them.

In all the years we’ve been in this industry, we have never had less contact with a client or been more grateful to be able to quietly and efficiently get things done for a family. We are thankful for having to work directly with the insurance adjuster as well. Luckily, we have worked together before and he trusted us to complete the water damage restoration successfully.

We also want to give a shout-out to our emergency and construction teams on this job. We know they are good and that they know how to do their jobs and serve our clients. But the care and attention they took with this job knowing what the family was going through – it was inspiring.

We do our best to put ourselves in our client’s shoes. We provide a service, but along with it we strive to bring calm and empathy. “As we consider the pressing calls of those who need our help, let’s ask ourselves: what if their story was my story?” – Sister Burton