After-Hours Leak

CASE STUDY

 

Emergencies always happen at inopportune times, usually the time of occurrence dictating the sense of urgency.  Upon preparing to start their business day, a retail client realized that an after-hours heavy leak had occurred during the night, and continued to create damage, originating from an unknown third party store above.  Resicom was immediately contacted to handle the emergency assessment.  

 

Scope

The scope of work needed to execute this assessment of the leak:

1. Immediately dispatch 2 technicians to the store to meet the opening duty manager.  
2. Contain the leak so that the store will be able to operate business as usual with little to no disruption to customers and staff. 
3. Technicians to assess and document damage via photos, in order to prepare the repair uote that will be presented to the responsible party. 
4. Subsequent repairs to surrounding area will be scheduled after source of leak is repaired and proposal is approved by client.
5. Have technicians meet with mall operations manager and/or mall maintenance manager to relay situation.

 

Challenges

The constraints of this project included:

1. The leak occurred outside of regular business hours and damage was extensive by time the problem was discovered.  
2. Tenants above client refused to accept responsibility for the situation.     
3. Mall personnel is unreceptive to acting as liaison between client and tenant where leak originated to assist client in recouping monetary damages.    
4. Leak resulted in water accumulating in cash wrap area and into some open fitting rooms, resulting in store being unable to open for normal business hours.   
5. Repairs need to be completed after hours to eliminate disruption to already delayed business day.   

 

Solution

We understood that the execution of this project would require rapid yet thorough planning.  In addition Resicom would be responsible for the coordination between different parties while  properly assessing leak and conducting repairs in a timely manner.   Our solution to this project included:

1. Technicians immediately dispatched to temporarily contain leak with buckets and diverters to prevent further damage to surrounding area.  Mess in area is removed and cleaned.   
2. Mall operation manager and/or mall maintenance manager were requested to store to assess leak and determine the source.
3. Technicians traced area through the ceiling to determine leak source and documented area with photos.
4. Technicians questioned tenants above to determine if leaks had been reported or noticed, and to investigate pipe location above client’s retail facility.  Standing water was discovered in facility  above as the opening manager was dispensing with the mess.  Although too late to take photos, technicians did secure name of manager and document that water had been present prior to opening of business.  
5. Detailed photos were recorded to assist damage assessment and quote preparation.
6. Resicom’s home office support team initiated dialogue between responsible tenant GM discussing how technicians believed source of the leak to be their responsibility when search ceiling area.  Tenant’s independent plumber confirmed our findings.   
7. Resicom’s prepared quote was approved and 2 nights for repair work was scheduled at client’s facility.  

 

Summary

We understood the importance of quick responses, photos and names of authority as necessary steps to solve greater issues.  By properly addressing the issue with photo proof and a valid witness we were able to execute repairs quickly and efficiently.