How To Deal with House Fires or Floods
EPISODE 2
Living through a house fire or flood is devastating. All your most valuable belongings are taken from you. In this episode, we sit down with Sam Roth, owner of Service Master Restore, and he guides us through how his team deals with house fires and floods from start to finish and what you can do to prevent common reasons for these accidents.
In This Episode:
About ServiceMaster and Why It’s Important
What Happens When Things Go Really Wrong
The Importance of Finding a Caring and Competent Insurance Agent
Tips for Protecting Yourself from Unforeseen Disasters
The First Responders of First Responders (Insurance Agents & Restoration Crews)
Podcast Episode Transcription
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Hey, everybody. I'm Dan Vander Kooi here with the Uncovered Podcast, and I'm really excited for today's episode. I have a good friend of mine, Sam Roth, with ServiceMaster by Roth here today. Sam, welcome. Excited to have you here.
Sam Roth:
Appreciate you having me.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah, absolutely. So Sam and I've, man, it's been probably two, three years where we've kind of developed a friendship even outside of the business realm. But in our industry, the insurance industry, when claims happen, when a pipe bursts or there's a fire, or things like that, it's important to have someone that can get out there quickly, responds, has a level of care that is up to our standard. And Sam and his team at ServiceMaster have definitely lived up to that standard.
Sam Roth:
I appreciate that. We try really hard.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah. So tell me a little bit, Sam, about, and just everybody, what you guys do, because you have a couple locations, you have a construction company too that does restoration work. So give us a little bit maybe how you kind of got into it.
Sam Roth:
Sure.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And the good, the bad and the ugly, and everything that you guys do.
Sam Roth:
Yeah, absolutely. So we're ServiceMaster. We do fire, water damage restoration, that's our primary thing. And I got into it as a family business, my father started it in '91. I started working for him around 2007, and then a couple of years ago he decided to retire, and I purchased the businesses from him at that point. So again, we do primarily water damage, fire damage, restoration. So that can be somebody's home or business that suffers that type of a disaster. And then, what goes along with that a lot of times is mold damage, that comes as a secondary effect of water damage. So we're set up to do mold remediation as well. We do a lot with personal property and contents.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah, I've seen that at your facility before, all the crates everywhere.
Sam Roth:
We have a whole bunch of crates at one facility and then just added a second facility to store a whole bunch more. Really doubled our storages. So what we're doing is, we're storing people's belongings after that flood or fire at their residence or their business. And we can store it for as long as it takes to get the repairs done at their place. And oftentimes in the flood or fire, they don't expect that to happen. Nobody does. So we provide a solution, really turnkey solution to solve all their mitigation needs. And then we also offer construction services through a second company, as well.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Anchor Point, right?
Sam Roth:
That's right. Anchor Point Construction.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah, I bet it's interesting sometimes, I know how I got in insurance and learned about is, I got in a car accident in 2009, before I got in insurance 2010. Sometimes you're just shellshocked. I'm sure when you show up to someone's house, or your team shows up to someone's house, can you walk through almost? You probably have to be almost a counselor a little bit sometimes.
Sam Roth:
You do, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
What's that like? What's your process when you show up on site, and something's gone wrong, and you're there to help?
Sam Roth:
Well, you know it's really gone wrong when the Fisher-Price kids boat is floating through the basement. We've been there for that, right? We've seen it happen. And so, I am actually teaching a class this week for our water techs, it's our lead class. So it's walking through, actually tomorrow will be our scoping day. So that ties in nicely, because that's what we're talking about, is that first interaction with our clients and really one of their worst days in recent history typically. When we go in, we're looking at making sure that we're branded, they know who we are, that sort of thing. And then also evaluating what's happening in the house, how can we do immediate triage?
So like I said, if there's the Fisher-Price boat floating through the basement, we're going to make sure it's a safe scene to walk into. If you have standing water, electrical hazards, things like that could be in play. Sewage is a factor as well sometimes. So just making sure that our teams are safe, our clients are safe, that initial reaction and then extraction as necessary, and so on and so forth from there. And then we'll work into a full scope of work with the client that will expand to work with their insurance companies as necessary, and so on. But that initial response is really key to prevent secondary damage or continued damage, because the longer water stays in a building, the more damage you'll have. I remember in my days when I was still in the trucks, going to a house and they've been gone for a month or so, and their refrigerator line leaked. And I walked into the house, we were walking through it, and I believe the customer touched the wall, and the drywall fell off the wall. It was so wet in that house.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Just from the moisture content in the house would just...
Sam Roth:
Totally. Crazy. So we run into that stuff on a regular basis and it's incredibly overwhelming to a client, because it's likely one of their biggest investments is their home. And so our teams take it really seriously, but also very professionally, because we do deal with it every day. So it's walking the fine balance of being a first responder and helping through it, and professionally, objectively looking at it, how do we solve this very quickly?
Daniel Vander Kooi:
So that was really good. So tell me, when you're going through that process, a lot of times you're getting called, because let's say someone called me, I think I had one on Christmas Eve this last year, and I remember-
Sam Roth:
And we were there.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
I think you were in Blaine or something like that, and you had to go all the way out to Sumas, and you popped over there as a good friend of ours. But in that process, we're calling you. I'm sitting there at my in-law's house, we're opening presents with all the kids and the cousins, and stuff like that. You're going over there and I haven't even filed a claim yet on their behalf yet, because it's something you'll do the next day, or we'll call it in later. What's that process though? Because if you get an insurance adjuster who wants everything documented and things like that...
So I guess take me through to make that client feel comfortable, because you want to mitigate right away, and insurance contracts do say that, like do your best to mitigate and stop the damage, what's going on. But they want to see pictures, they want to see proof that it was what you said it was, that sort of thing. So what are you guys doing as a team and as a company, to make sure that that's documented, that maybe a homeowner or a business owner might not think of, because they're all of a sudden thinking about where am I going to sleep tonight? I got to go get clothes for my kids.
Sam Roth:
And they should be.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah.
Sam Roth:
That's important, right?
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Exactly.
Sam Roth:
Take care of their family, take care of their business, take care of their clients. That's incredibly important.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yep.
Sam Roth:
When a client calls us in, we're going to come in and document, and we do this every day. We're handling thousands of claims a year really at this point. So we have a really dialed in process that our teams follow, that really makes sure everything is done the same every time. And that process, we really don't deviate from, even if it's, we call them a self-pay or a non-insurance type project, because a lot of times they may start out that way, but they'll turn into an insurance project down the road. So what we don't want to do is get caught flatfooted down the road without the right documentation present.
So our teams just do the same thing every time. We're going in, we're triaging the damage, we're working with the client to determine a scope of work that's agreeable to them, and then because we have a lot of history with the insurance companies, we know the basics of what they're going to likely want. So we have checklists for different carriers.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
I'm sure you're taking pictures and you're doing that, and documenting all that kinds stuff.
Sam Roth:
Tons of pictures, yeah. And even further, just this last year we invested in a new program called DocuSketch, which is a 3D capture throughout the house, and it does two things for us. One, it does still photos of literally the whole house. It's something similar to what realtors are using, but it's purpose built for our industry. And then it's also using lidar to map the whole house for us, so that we can get sketches of the home in real time from that company. And then we can provide estimates quicker, they're more accurate, and then we can actually get the sketches to the insurance adjusters faster too. And in the last year, all of our adjusters locally are huge fans of that. So it just makes the process easier, it's very professional, and it's just a better claims experience for the client, because there's nothing missed then at that point. It's literally scanning the whole room.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
So people don't like the word insurance a lot of times, until they need it.
Sam Roth:
Yeah, super important then.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And so what have you seen in your industry, being on that side of it? You've worked with tons of different carriers, I'm sure you've worked with a lot of different agents, and agencies, and brokers and everything.
Sam Roth:
Sure, absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
What do you find is important for, like on our end, right? I'm pretty proud of our team.
Sam Roth:
Absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
I think we do a really good job of showing kindness, of caring. One of our values, as we've kind of reshaped and gone through some new branding, and strategic plan, and mission vision values and stuff, is providing competent care. It's not good enough just to be smart about it. It's not good enough just to care and then not have the smarts with it. Let's marry them together. But what do you think is important when someone is shopping for home insurance or business insurance? What do you think is important on the backend when you can look at it, when hindsight's 2020 essentially, right?
What are those characteristics, or things that they should look for, when they're choosing to partner with someone to do their insurance? Because a lot of people just, it's burn and turn. To them it's just like, "I want to buy the cheapest thing possible. I want to do this. I really don't care. I want to go online and get it." What do you find is important that make things go smooth for clients when things really hit the fan and it goes sideways for them, and they really do need to use it? What kind of partnerships should they be looking for?
Sam Roth:
I think that a caring agency that cares about the local client is important. That would be first and foremost, right? The insurance industry has seen a pretty big shift in the last couple of years, away from having local adjusters. So five years ago, it was very common for insurance carriers, for all of them really, to have a local field adjuster. So if you had a claim at your house, that they would come out to your home or business, and walk through the damage, and evaluate it, and kind of help their clients through the process.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And these could be the same people that are seeing you out at the ball fields with your kid.
Sam Roth:
Totally, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
They work for that company, but they live here. You see them in church on Sunday, or you see them in the coffee shop, whatever it might be.
Sam Roth:
For sure. And they do exist still, but the number is probably 80% less than it used to be, right? And it's a mixed bag, because of those programs, like DocuSketch I talked about, and things like that, that technology in the industry is changing, but it's unfortunately on the carrier side, not maybe bringing the best customer experience along with it. So what's really important is to have that local agent that's, like you said, competent, and also caring, that can go on your behalf if something doesn't jive right, or doesn't go well.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Does that make it easier on your end too, if you have an agent who actually is advocating for the client, and then working together with you to make sure?
Sam Roth:
100%. And I think that you kind of think about it, a lot of claims, the vast majority really do go well. I mean, we're not talking about all of the claims that are going bad. This is a smaller percentage. That percentage might be growing a little bit in recent years, but it's not all of them by any means. So I'm not saying that.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Everyone always hears about the bad ones though, right?
Sam Roth:
Yeah, everybody hears the bad ones. No, they don't ever hear the good ones. But there is a lot of good ones that just go very smoothly, and it's in and out, and over with. But there's a subset that don't go great. So on our side, we advocate for our clients, and if you have a good mitigation company like us, combined with a good construction company like our sister company, they can tie together a really nice package scope of work that works with the client, and works with the insurance carrier. And we can speak that insurance carrier's language, that adjuster's language, because sometimes clients will say things, like they didn't know how long it had been leaking. Well, to an insurance adjuster, that means it's an unknown period of time, which is potentially an uncovered claim, but to us it may be two days. They just didn't know when it happened in the last 48 hours.
So there's a differentiation there that we can step in on the client's behalf, and the adjuster will call us to find out the scope of work, and they'll be like, "It was undetermined amount of time."
We'll say, "Wow, it was less than 48 hours."
They're like, "Oh, okay, that makes sense." So we can help them through that in a very honest and integrable way. And then, if it doesn't go well from there, then really having that good agent in place is very important, because there's things I believe on the agent side of the house that you guys can do to help work with carriers, when perhaps something isn't going smoothly. I know we've worked together on things before in the past, that's how I think we've met the first time. I was surprised by how much you guys cared about your client, and I think you were pleasantly surprised with us as well. And I believe that's why our friendship started really is, because we both shared that same goal of taking care of the client, and not going to level 10 right away to try to solve a problem before it escalated, and we were able to do that.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah. Well, I think that, too, is why we hold you guys in such high regard, because people aren't just a number to you. And I think, I don't know if a lot of people out there realize, but when we had the big flooding here in Everson, Sumas, Nooksack area, you guys were pretty pivotal in even getting more resources out there. I mean, Samaritan's Purse came out and all those organizations, different organizations came out, but you guys also, I'll say this to everyone out there, Sam really stepped up as far as not only his own team, but getting in other teams from across the state-
Sam Roth:
Across the state, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
... and others that came in, and leveraging his relationships to do that. And I think I remember seeing you a couple of times out there, whether I was at a client's house or things like that, and you hadn't slept a lot.
Sam Roth:
No, there's not a lot of sleeping. No, and that was a rough... It was horrible for the community, obviously. And we pushed really hard to bring as many resources as we could to the community. And then we really, our staff not only handled all of our projects, but quarterbacked a lot of them for the other groups that came in and helped us out. And by and large, it was very successful. There's obviously hiccups along the way, but that's standard with anything. And a natural disaster type event is very difficult using-
Daniel Vander Kooi:
It's different-
Sam Roth:
... a different type of insurance that the FEMAs... And we've talked about this at length, but lots of different-
Daniel Vander Kooi:
It's different than a pipe burst.
Sam Roth:
Totally different process, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
It was interesting for us too, because I had been doing this, I'm in my 14th year of insurance, and I had never filed a flood claim before, and all of a sudden we had over 40. And I think what's really interesting is when you experience a claim that's so devastating for the firsthand, and a natural disaster is going to be up there, whether it's an earthquake, whether it's a flood, whatever it might be, wildfires. Those, they don't compare to anything else. But I've had probably two or three house fires that have burnt to the ground in my career. And when you're standing there next to them, and the firefighters are still there putting water on it, and all their other stuff that they do, it's very sobering. And to be able to say with confidence like, "Hey, we got you covered. We got a team that's going to come in behind us." And I think that's what I really appreciate about you, is that I know that people aren't just a number to you guys, and I think you show that. And so just kudos to you for how you lead your team, and you lead them well. And there's a reason we have a partnership with you guys and-
Sam Roth:
Absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
... and you and I are both kind of around the same age, and we've got a while to do this yet, so it's nice to have that longevity of that. Tell me about maybe just some of your values and what you try to instill into your team, what you desire, what your heart behind your business is when you're working with clients and your team.
Sam Roth:
So our mission is really to provide the best service with a servant attitude to our community. My father really instilled that early on. His goal was to start a company that could serve people really well. And I took that and ran with it, and fully believe in that mission. So that's really our end goal at the end of the day, is take care of our clients. And then along the way, it's serving our team really well, our management team and our office team. They are there to serve our field team and the staff that's out serving our customers when they have this type of an event happen.
And I think that's a lot of the reason that we have a lot of success, is because if a guy misses a piece of paperwork, there's nobody jumping down his neck because it made an office person's life difficult. Our office team is there to serve the field team. And so, the way we live that out is we will correct things long-term for the growth of the team, to bring us to a higher level of professionalism, but we're going to problem solve that in the moment, and get that taken care of quickly and efficiently, because again, we're dealing with people in their worst days.
So we're going to solve that quickly and efficiently, but then for the next one, we're going to make sure that we maybe dial that process in. So it's a constant dialing of how we handle claims, how do we do them better? How do we triage events? We usually get pipe breaks every year with frozen pipes, and it's a massive influx in calls sometimes 300, 400, 500 in a day or two.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And they all happen at the same time, right?
Sam Roth:
It's all at the same time, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Because it's weather related, right?
Sam Roth:
Weather related. So how do we handle that? How do we get to everybody efficiently? How does nothing fall through the cracks? Those are really big keys to success, and we keep getting better in that area every year, which is really exciting.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
So that brings, what can people do? Nobody likes it when it happens, but what are some simple things that people can do on the front end to prevent some catastrophic stuff? I'm sure you see the natural disasters, you see the freak accidents, all that kind of stuff. I see that in our industry across the board, whether it's property related with stuff you're dealing with, car accidents, liability, whatever. There's just the stuff that's just, this is out of the norm, this is a one in a trillion situation, right? But I'm sure you see stuff that is preventable.
Sam Roth:
Yeah, hot water heaters.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Okay. Tell me about a couple of things on that.
Sam Roth:
Yeah, so hot water heaters would be one, replacing those when they're due to be replaced, that they'll rot out, and that's a pretty common source of water, is a hot water tank. You do have the freak ones where fittings will split in half, fittings will pop right off pipes. I mean, we see those happen all the time. Fridge has a leak, things like that.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Okay, like a hot water heater. Like, how do you prevent that? Is it just getting an annual inspection, or is there a certain time period, or is there... I mean, you're talking to a guy that, I mean, I know I can be a little handy, but I'm not super...
Sam Roth:
We see hot water tanks that are 25 years old in houses, and they're-
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And they should be what?
Sam Roth:
They should be, oh, probably less than 10, I would assume. We'd check the box, but not 25 years. They're rusted on top, because they're slowly dripping, and it's like, your house is flooded, but we could have probably replaced that sooner and prevented that further damage. The other one that's big on the fire side of things is electrical strips, things like that. They start a lot of fires. We'd see them across the board. We had one in the Mill Creek area recently that was a fatality unfortunately, that was, I believe it was a power strip in a garage. And chargers, and things like that. And another big one for garages is the power tool chargers that aren't manufacturer specs, or things like that. It pays to get the UL listed type of equipment that's been tested and proven. So I'm all about saving a buck here and there, but you've got to make sure you're-
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Yeah, that it's worth it in the long run.
Sam Roth:
... going to look at the ramifications are, down the road, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
We'll kind of wrap it up here, but I guess the one thing I want to ask you is, can you give me a time, or a scenario, or a story of something that you've worked on, that you're just like, "Wow, my team?" Because I know you're very similar, you're proud of your team. It's not about Sam, right? But can you give me an example where you guys went in and your team just absolutely crushed it, and you guys did just a great job. You're like, "Hey, this was difficult. And I was just really proud of our team, how they stepped up and their professionalism, and their expertise, and how they brought joy to the situation." Joy is one of our core values, right? Is there something that you can remember?
Sam Roth:
I guess it's been the last two years or thereabouts. There's a local fire station that is in an area that's below the floodplain, near the ocean. And two years ago, we had king tides in that area, that fire station flooded, about a foot of water. We went in and had them gutted and dried extremely quickly. I think it was like 10 days or something like that after it happened. It was done and dry. And our construction team came in right afterwards and got them back to whole as quick as possible, really burned through it fast. And then this last year it happened again.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
These guys are like, "Really? Deja vu."
Sam Roth:
Poor guys, yeah. And that was a tough one, because the water stayed in that area for a long time due to some, I think some pumps went out or something to that effect, but we couldn't get in there. So I remember myself driving down there to see if we could get in there yet, using binoculars out of my truck to see how close are we to being dry, so that we could get crews in there to get the carpet out, to start extracting, and do some more demo.
So it literally cleared up, we got in there, we did our initial scoping while I still drove through seawater to get there, just to get that process going for them, because I knew it was important to get it done fast. And we obviously had a lot of our documentation done from the last time, so it was very quick in and out. We already knew the material choices and things like that, so we could burn through it very quickly. But that was a pretty big win. It made it easier the second time, but I was really happy to have the fire department call us back for the second round, even though we did the first time. So they were pleased enough to do it again.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
Well, and you're like the first responder for the first responders.
Sam Roth:
Yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
How cool is that?
Sam Roth:
It's pretty fun, yeah.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And that's cool, because what those guys do is so important and critical.
Sam Roth:
It is.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And I have a lot of friends that are firefighters or EMTs, and man, what they go through on a daily basis and some of the stuff that they have to see, is tough. And so, for them to have an environment where when they're there, they can relax and recharge, so they're sharp when our communities need the most, right?
Sam Roth:
Absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
That's a pretty cool story. Well, thanks for coming on.
Sam Roth:
Absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
I just appreciate your friendship over all these years.
Sam Roth:
Absolutely.
Daniel Vander Kooi:
And for how you've served our clientele really, really well, and have gone above and beyond for them. And so if you guys need it, if something happens, whatever, whether you're a man, a client, or not, make sure you hit up ServiceMaster in Bellingham here, and serving Whatcom County. And you got locations down in Snohomish as well too. So they do a really good job, they take care of their people, and yeah. Thanks again, Sam.
Sam Roth:
Yeah, thanks, Dan. Appreciate it.
