Posted by Omegasonics on May 14th 2020
How Can Ultrasonics Benefit Your Contents Division?
For most home and business owners, a fire is the worst possible nightmare. The potential loss of valuable or sentimental possessions just adds to the pain of their experience. Structures can be rebuilt. Carpet, paint and cabinets can be replaced, and many times upgraded, but the personal property many times is lost forever.
Having a contents division to compliment their mitigation and reconstruction divisions brings disaster restoration companies even more value to their end client. These full service restoration companies can provide a complete solution from the pack-out to the reconstruction to the final day when the devastated client is able to move back into their home or office.
This single source, turnkey approach is what gives the full service provider an advantage over their competition.
What raises the bar even further for these full service providers is the technology they use to treat and process smoke, water and mold damaged personal property. Most pack-out divisions still use sinks, buckets, brushes and manual labor to process contents, much as they did over thirty years ago. The world has changed and this industry demands better information, quicker information, better cleaning results and a better environmental solution than what was available back in the 1990’s.
Packout Protocols
When the pack-out begins, detailed inventory photos are the first step in chronicling what was affected in the loss. There are a number of very competent digital inventory systems available on the market that work with smart phones and tablet devices which then are formatted into incredibly detailed photo inventory reports. If your company is performing a pack-out service, skipping this technological step is a terrible mistake. Settling the final storage claim can be held up over damage that exists prior to any mitigation work being done if there is no photographic proof. Having proper photo documentation is a must.
Separating what is recoverable from what is a total loss is the next step. Having the best technology at your disposal provides the best chance of recovering and restoring the highest amount of a client’s valuable personal property. Brushes, sponges and buckets from the 90’s will only get you so far. Not only is this process slow, labor intensive and costly, but the recovery rates are just okay. When okay is just not good enough, ultrasonic cleaning technology is the answer.
Ultrasonic Technology Ultrasound is used in every imaginable industry not related to disaster restoration. If you own a computer, a cell phone, an automobile, have had surgery, traveled on an airplane or cruise ship, enjoy the benefits of electricity, fresh water and heating in your home, then you have experienced the benefits of ultrasonic cleaning technology on a daily basis. All of these industries are using this precision cleaning technology.
So why not utilize this same technology in the disaster restoration field?
It’s too expensive. It’s too expensive not to use ultrasonic cleaning. Technicians simply cannot clean as thoroughly or as quickly as ultrasound can. If they could, all hospitals in North America would have a bunch of buckets and brushes to clean surgical instruments instead of ultrasonic medical device cleaners. Restoration can’t charge for total loss contents replacement, but they can charge for restoring those items which adds to revenue growth and a greener bottom line.
We don’t have the space. Ultrasonic cleaning systems can be customized to fit almost any available space. If a restoration company is truly committed to servicing personal property contents they will already have space to store contents. If there’s space to store contents, there’s space for an ultrasonic cleaning system.
My people don’t know how to use it. There are a number of training courses held annually throughout North America. Trainers can be brought in to your facility for customized training, and there are a number of how-to training videos available on the internet. There is simply no lack of available training options.
I don’t do that many pack-outs. Going forward, without the proper technology and training, insurance companies won’t trust you to do even one pack-out. Insurance providers are starting to demand their contractors be fluent in modern pack-out and cleaning protocols regardless of volume.
Total Loss Recovery
The more items that are deemed total loss, means the more money an insurance carrier is going to spend on replacing those items. Money is what drives this industry and any technology that increases an insurance company’s bottom line is an absolute must for a contractor trying to gain market share. When using an ultrasonic assembly-line cleaning process, a minimum of thirty percent of property that was deemed unsalvageable in the past can now be recovered – and the cost of recovery is much less that the cost to replace. This is a huge benefit to insurance carriers and their adjusters who decide who gets what claims. Environmental Advantages Along with the savings for the restoration contractor in terms of processing speeds, which adds to their bottom line, and the reduced amount of total loss items that eat up policy limits and insurance company profits, the unseen benefit is to the environment. Total loss property, once paid off by the carrier, finds its way into local landfills which are filling up at alarming rates. The environmental impact is not only to landfills but to the supply chain that uses precious resources to produce more goods that could have been restored to pre-loss conditions.
Environmental Advantages
Along with the savings for the restoration contractor in terms of processing speeds, which adds to their bottom line, and the reduced amount of total loss items that eat up policy limits and insurance company profits, the unseen benefit is to the environment. Total loss property, once paid off by the carrier, finds its way into local landfills which are filling up at alarming rates. The environmental impact is not only to landfills but to the supply chain that uses precious resources to produce more goods that could have been restored to pre-loss conditions.
Ultrasonic cleaning creates a win-win-win scenario for everyone in the process – the home or business owner gets a higher percentage of their original personal items back without the time and energy of replacing them. The insurance companies don’t have to write bigger checks to replace as much property. The restoration contractor makes more profit because they can process contents faster for the same revenue and they can charge for the cost of restoring which they could not before. Ultimately, society benefits from a better, greener environment.
For more information on Ultrasonic cleaning, contact your local Safety Express.
