Case Study: High-Rise Condominium Building

Situation

An upscale, 40-story condominium building in Austin, Texas, had a sprinkler malfunction on the 19th floor. Within minutes, 11 floors were flooded, including their hallways and 58 residential units. The building owner first called a local company to begin water extraction, but it quickly became obvious the job was more than they could handle, so the owner called in The Fresh Air Group, and within a few hours of the mishap, we were on site, taking over the extraction process. Because of The Fresh Air Group's unique approach, from the day we received the initial phone call until our final walk-through of a fully restored building, the elapsed time was only 7 weeks.

Analysis

Most companies would rush to begin to remove everything, undertaking a demolition to all units. Our third-party assessment provider, an industrial hygienist, inspected all units and developed specific recommendations on what needed to be removed and replaced within each unit.

Solution

The Fresh Air Group took the following steps to solve the client's problem:

• Immediately mobilized project managers on-site to begin assessment and assemble an appropriate response team
• From within the first hour, our client services department began coordinating communication with the occupants of 58 units, locating alternative housing and helping with the logistics of moving residents out of the affected units
• Within the first few hours, while extraction and drying was being done, we were already scheduling reconstruction and assembling the materials and personnel to do the job
• We scheduled subcontractors to remove flooring, replace drywall and fixtures, and paint so that we could quickly sequence the work

Repairs at this scale would typically take most companies about six months to complete. The challenges of getting the needed work crews in at the right time almost always creates delays. Because of The Fresh Air Group's unique approach, from the day we received the initial phone call until our final walk-through of a fully restored building, the elapsed time was only 7 weeks.

Testimonial

"Having a lot of contractors involved in handling the response to a water loss emergency in a high rise condominium can be very intrusive to both homeowners and the retail businesses. I have been extremely impressed with the ability of the Fresh Air Group to mobilize various contractors in and out of the building with minimal inconvenience to our owners! I am confident that The Fresh Air Group is capable of managing any size water emergency."

Elke Shubert, Warranty Manager
Novare Group, Atlanta, GA