A Christmas Story

Mr & Mrs Robinson living in Stoke-On-Trent had suffered severe water damage to their property from a leak from the upstairs shower in November 2010.

Background

The water damage was so severe that the elderly couple were actually living in a small touring caravan adjacent to their main residence. The situation became untenable when Mr Robinson sadly suffered a stroke, confined to bed in the caravan and with temperatures consistently dropping below -10 degrees overnight a resolution urgently needed to be found.

Fast survey and commencement of work

Elite maintenance inspected the damaged property on the 10/11/2010 and within 12 days a complete assessment of works was submitted and approved, all necessary paperwork signed and approved.

Understanding personal circumstance

To complete refurbishment of every room damaged by the water and hand back to clients before Christmas, within only four weeks, was critical to the well being of the couple.

Under normal circumstance this project would take on average 7 - 8 weeks, but this time scale was not acceptable to everyone involved and it was agrees that Mr & Mrs Robinson had to be back home before Christmas.

Our Contracts Manager Paul Smith hand picked the remediation team specifically to ensure this incredibly tight deadline would not be missed. Paul's commitment to the project included visiting the property every day until the project was complete in order to identify any issues that may cause the time scale to slip.

Each of our operatives is multi-skilled, that is, they are capable of completing a myriad of crafts to an extremely high and professional standard. Each operative was assigned a room and this became their responsibility from damaged state to completion. From debris clearance, preparation, plastering, painting, replacing floor boards, skirting and architrave joinery to tiling bathrooms .

For everyone concerned it was no longer another insurance claim, it was deeply personal. Every person believed It was imperative that Mr Robinson had no extra stress throughout the remediation work. Every request by Mr Robinson was answered with a resounding "of course, no problem".

After a month of non-stop work we were delighted to hand the property back to our clients three days before Christmas on the 22/12/2010.

Mr and Mrs Robinson were both surprised and delighted.

Summary

It is true to say these circumstances were unique but we are proud that our response was not unique to this situation. We genuinely empathise with clients and appreciate both the personal stress water, fire and burglary damage create. We look at each situation case by case and take the time to understand the impact on the clients and choose the right way, the best way to move the project to a speedy conclusion.