I had an external faucet pipe break in between the exterior siding and the sheetrock, and wait for it...behind the kitchen counters. So obviously, we didn't know about it until a great deal of damage had been done in a short time. In all, three rooms were affected, the kitchen, dining, and living rooms. The water seeped under walls destroying flooring, sheetrock, kitchen counters/cabinets and carpet.
My plumber couldn't get to the damaged pipe to fix it until everything came out. That's where he, with my permission, referred me to American Standard Restoration.
The office manager Christiana, called me soon after, and hearing my story scheduled an appointment with Jared to come and do an assessment the next day. I thought that was pretty amazing, because if you're a homeowner, you know how tough it's been to schedule any professional tradesmen in the last couple years.
The next day came and I called Christiana early to see when he would be here. I knew when the appointment was, but it never hurts to try and get in earlier. He called me back and was intuitive enough to understand it was an emergency and stated he would be here in 30 minutes. So, Jared shows up earlier than he stated and proceeds to give me a master class on how the whole operation works. From getting an insurance claim number to demo, and restoration. Jared had an answer for every question, and it wasn't a "this is the way it is" type of conversation, there were options at every point, and he let me make "informed" decisions about all of it, simply by taking the time to educate me. Our meeting ended with Jared stating a crew would be onsite early to start the work.
I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about my family and I being inconvenienced, and the incredible hassle the whole process was going be. A nightmare came to mind.
Early the next morning I got a call from Gavin who stated he and the crew would be here in 20 minutes. As soon as I hung up the phone, my kids school called and said he was having a problem. My son is autistic, and sometimes school isn't where he should be. So, I went and got him. In so doing I was about ten minutes late getting back to the house, and believe it or not, the whole crew (Gavin, Jared, Keanu, Gabe, and Zack? were there waiting on ME. When I apologized, and introduced my son and myself, they were all smiling and introducing themselves to me and my son. My son instantly liked them and asked me where they were the next day. That means a lot to me, because if you know anything about autism, only genuine connections make an impression.
So, down to the work.
Gavin walked through with me before getting started, and explained everything to me step by step. They even brought boxes with them to move all our stuff out of the kitchen counters before taking them apart. They taped off and masked everything not involved in the demolition to protect it. They created plastic walls to keep the dust down and later aid in the drying process. During this long hard day the crew was busy and very respectful, stopping there work every time I had a question. They even went into the crawl space and attacked the moisture from below. They didn't remove any more material than they had to, and where they did remove counters, drywall, flooring, carpet, etc. they left it looking good. That takes some skill when you're talking about creating huge holes in walls. When they were finished Gavin asked me to have a look. I was impressed with what I saw. Not one scrap of trash, or water damaged material was left behind. They cleaned everything up and hauled it all away. In my opinion, they left a clean canvas for the me and the next tradesmen who come after them to put it all back together.
I thanked the whole crew, and I told Gavin they did excellent work at a job that was tough. Gavin thanked me and said it meant a lot to him and the guys. That response told me they take pride in their work...and that is what good work is all about. read more