[gwrightson]

Happened to pop into my local village pub last night, quite late on.
pretty quite apart from one young man who had 1 or 2 to many , ended up chatting to him and it turned out he was from Manchester.
I asked him what he was doing in this part of yorks, oh im over here with a company for the flooding in this area, interested in what he had to say  I was promting him, as he had no idea what i did.
It turned out he had just been hired , cash in hand £ 6.00 per hr by a well known franchise to help with the flood work. Still interested I asked him exactly what they were doing ? oh we just rip out the carpets, and spray some neutriliser into the air and leave, and the mix we use is supposed to be at 4 to 1 ratio , but my boss said just mix some up with water and put extra water in.
so no driers or dehumids , I asked ? no we havnt got any just spray this stuff to make it smell better.

got me thinking !!  I wonder how many , and how much they are getting for this?

the franchise in question. somewhere over the   *******

Geoff

[martin19842]

hi there

its disgraceful, these people have got to do a proper job.

i think there is worst to come, as more and more people return to their properties at the weekend.

we are geared up to react, but we have a limit to the number of properties we can do, and we wil do no more than we can reasonably tackle.

i just wish that the insurance industry would take a step back and see what is happening.

i dont want to just turn up on spec, of the hope of getting some work, we are trying to do things in a professional way, approaching the loss adjuysters, and local authorities, but will have to wait and see if we get anything.

regards

martin

[prodry]

The Insurance companies are the problem, thay have pre agreed deals with the franchises, to pay them a fixed amount per dehumidifier, per manhour etc. For most of the smaller franchises around the coutry there is no profit to be made going to the affected areas. My mate who is local chemdry has offers coming out his ears.

It is no coincedence that the biggest Chemdry franchises are in the effected areas. They are just starting the jobs ie. ripping out. Because they then become their jobs. They have it made, especially if they paying minimum wage to casuals to do the work for them. I think they get £16.00 per hour for manpower, so if they are paying £6.00 an hour and have unlimted work for months/years - Happy Days for them. I am sure they are going to put drying equip in at some point although many of the effected areas are still on flood watch.   

Imagine if someone like the NCCA had setup up a network of independant trained companies and had arrangements with the insurance companies already.

[Neil Williams]

This is so sad, no on second thoughts it's bleeding annoying. Loads of serious carpet cleaners out there who take pride in their job and yet insurance companies are happy to pay some well known national companies to spray some deod into the air and say job done look forward to the payment.

[Mike Roper]

I think with the volume of damaged properties the water levels dropping is just the start. getting enough qualified companies to dry out and decontaminate is going to be a problem, then youve got the slap dash builders potential into make a quick buck. Theres going to be some seriously cheesed off people about in these areas.
Mike

[John Kelly]

I think you'll find that the companies are only at stage one of the process. This is getting rid of affected contents, cleaning floors and treating with anti-microbial. Then the builders will come in and strip out floors and plaster and fit temporary electricity board. This is when you get back in and start decontaminating sub-floors etc and installing driers.
I'm working in Yorkshire and having to put staff up in hotels, pay increased rates etc. However we still get the same rates as if the job was on our doorstep.

[martin19842]

hello john

we are getting proactive,

it seems as if hull and east riding seem to be getting forgotten

i have a job satarting in pboro tomorrow, and may take a trip up north on tuesday, are the loss adjusters on the ground already

i spoke to my kit supplier today, and he says he can get me as much as  i need

regards

martin

[Ian Gourlay]

Martin,

I am surprised you have the manpower with all the builders cleans you do to suddenly switch to flood work.

Ias there any point in Carpet Cleaners going on Flood Courses ready for next Big event.

Perhaps it is possible as I recall Martin was new to flood work last year.

 I would have thought ripping out Kitchens removing items was work for builders or removal  men

Bet Skips are in short supply .

What happens to stuff that has been ripped out does it go to landfill

[martin19842]

ian

we have moved our business away from the builders clean market in the whole

the business plan was always to use the bc market as a stepping stone to other products.

we have been working in the escape of water market now since q4 of 2005, and we are offer a complete service.

re: manpower, its more about kit, and manangement of the jobs, as opposed to the number of people you have on the ground.

regards

martin