The Mitigation Handbook

Foreword

Because of the unique advantages of the restoration industry, in the age of outsourcing, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, rightsizing, corporate incompetency, and political policies shifting with the wind, this industry is attracting the college-educated computer programmers, airline pilots, accountants, engineers, and other professionals who are discouraged, displaced, or disillusioned by corporate America. They want to take control of their future. Restoration is attractive.

This industry is also attracting young entrepreneurs—people looking at the high costs of college education and deciding to go another way.

Military veterans and retired military, policemen, firemen, who are used to order, discipline, planning, and service, are coming into this industry.

Back in the day this industry was largely comprised of self-educated persons in the trades who moved into ownership. They came with restoration and construction experience and other trade skills, such as carpet cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, and more. Some came with an insurance industry background and a network of contractor connections. These advantages are seldom possessed by today’s owner.

This book is for the newbie, where we’ll focus on the core restoration services – water, fire, odor, mold, biohazard. Ancillary services like reconstruction, packout cleaning and storage, commercial large loss, and storm chasing will not be covered in this book. Insurance industry and insurance policy discussions will be included, as well as staffing, equipment, supplies, chemistry, processes in the field, and how to estimate non-insurance jobs.

Working with the customer will be discussed, and pre-written procedures that can be sent to customers will be provided. We will also consider vehicles, uniforms, safety, facilities, and related practical subjects to get the new owner, with no previous experience, off the ground and running from the start.

We will move quickly through many subjects, focusing mostly on restoration technical matters and giving reasonable space to other topics. We provide actual reports, so the new owner can see, in detail, how reports are presented, be they in Xactimate® or self-pay.

It’s a bright day in the kingdom of God.

Best wishes!

How to Use This Handbook

In my early career I worked as a licensed professional engineer and as such have a multitude of handbooks. I have a Standard Handbook of Electrical Engineers, a CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, a Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, a Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry, and a Standard Handbook of Mechanical Engineers. None of these are books you sit down and read cover to cover. Neither is that the idea behind The Mitigation Handbook. Handbooks are intended to be on-the-shelf and accessed as a reference resource for a specific need. With The Mitigation Handbook when you need to know something about attic mold, go to the attic mold section. Get practical, useful information for a real time problem.

Disclaimer

The IICRC publishes standards for mitigation of water, mold, fire, odor, and biohazard. Field equipment, chemistry, techniques, materials are continually evolving and improving. It is up to the restoration professional, when using this handbook, to understand the IICRC best-practices publications and work accordingly. This handbook is kept up to date with known successful practices from our fieldwork. We do not (and cannot) guarantee that all methods described in this handbook conform to everyone’s interpretation of the IICRC standard (and there are differences of opinion on those interpretations). We cannot account for every opinion and interpretation, but we have attended many IICRC courses and have not intentionally misrepresented any IICRC standard. It is not our goal to copy, interpret, etc., any IICRC published works. You are responsible for meeting IICRC standards, as applicable, for your fieldwork. Further, the reader is obligated to investigate and follow local regulations, including but not limited to mold remediation regulations. These do vary from state to state. For IICRC restoration industry standards we recommend reviewing their website, https://iicrc.org.  

Pledge

No compensation of any kind was asked nor offered from any business referenced in this book. This Handbook will be updated annually or every other year, and new materials and methods may be recommended in those future Handbooks. This is another way the author can keep honest, with the sole consideration being doing what is right for the reader.

The author is a member of a franchise and is very pleased to be in that franchise. However, no reference is made concerning that franchise. The franchise he is a member of is not responsible for anything herein. This work is entirely independent on the part of the author.