HOW TO DETERMINE IF A COMPANY IS WORTH YOUR TIME  

“Is there a standard that must be met to verify we’ve successfully cleaned up everything after a fire?”

This is the question I needed to answer after three separate management companies called me for help in the wake of a fire in their buildings. Thankfully, they were all very small fires and didn’t cause much damage, but they did impact people on several floors. Now, after a fire, you need to get the level of 2.5 micron particles low enough that whatever may be in the air shouldn’t impact people with allergies or asthma, but one client wanted to know if there was an official standard they needed to meet regarding soot and char.

When no well-known standards came to mind, I did some research, combing through standards outlined by various organizations, including trade associations and fire-restoration contractors. Ultimately, I determined that while there are standards for soot and char in A/C units — which we address more in depth this issue on page three — there is no standard for the breathing zone, or the space in between the floor and the ceiling.

Later, one of my client’s tenants contacted another company about the matter. This company claimed there was a standard for the breathing zone and that their devices could take care of it. Understandably concerned about receiving conflicting information, my client reached out to me again.

When I asked about this other company, I learned they were an A/C company who typically dealt with residential properties, meaning they had no real experience in commercial buildings. To help determine if this company was qualified to address the situation, or if they were just seeing a opportunity to
make money and throwing out nonsense to get the job, I presented my client with a set of questions to ask this company:

• Have they solved a similar problem in the past?
• What kind of training does their staff have?
• What can they confidently observe and measure?
• Do they have experience evaluating this specific kind of issue?
• Are they qualified to inspect the HVAC system, tenant space, and above-ceiling areas?
• Do they understand what the MSDS (material safety data sheet) is telling them?
• What are they capable of testing, and are those test scientifically valid?

These are pretty basic questions that any qualified company should be able to answer with confidence. In the case with my client, he let me know that company gave him a vague response, and refusal to answer the questions didn’t leave him with a “warm, fuzzy feeling.” Following his gut, my client decided against using their services — a smart move, if you ask me. An unqualified company might have looked at results and interpreted them to mean the client needed to spend more money cleaning up than he needed to. Or, perhaps worse, they may have told him everything was fine when it really wasn’t, leaving him open to liability should someone get sick.

When hiring someone, whether it’s for indoor air quality or mold investigation or fire restoration, it’s important to interview them and determine if they have the ability to solve your problem — or if they’re letting financial motivation drive their claims. Asking a few questions like these can help disqualify a poor candidate and keep you from really getting burned.