Whenever we’re talking to businesses with HVAC needs, we often talk about call-out response times. Because HVAC systems move air and water around your building, you need to be able to deal with it quickly. When water is leaking, even slowly, into your property, every minute can be catastrophic. Which is why you need to find an HVAC company that can respond quickly when the worst happens. To illustrate this, we would like to tell you a story.

A Tale of Two Leaks

In early 2019, 2 apartment complexes suffered similar issues. An intense storm swept across the UK and caused a lot of property damage along the way. In both buildings one of the key pipes on the roof was significantly damned, causing water to leak into the buildings. These were both 5 am diameter pipes, which within a few minutes were gushing with water. Once building management was alerted, they called their respective HVAC maintenance companies to help with emergency repairs. The first building, based in the south, used company A, while the second building, based in London, used company 3.

The Impact of Slow Call-Out Responses

Both buildings were evacuated, with residents advised to grab their valuables and an overnight bag. This was to ensure the safety of everyone involved and to allow maintenance to shut off the power and avoid injury. Company A acknowledged the issue and said that they would have engineers on site in 4 hours to handle the leak. Despite building management explaining that the pipe was now gushing water, Company A said 4 hours was the best they could do. So, building management had no choice but to wait while the building flooded. preventing further damage when they could until Company A arrived, and resolved the issue. At that point, after 4 hours of water pouring into the building from the roof and cascading down the levels, the building was condemned, and hundreds of people lost their homes.

Spot Difference

Now let’s look at how the apartment complex in London dealt with the same problem. Again, they evacuated the building, shut off the power and called their HVAC maintenance company, Company B. Company B recognised how serious this issue could be, and sent an engineer out to the property right away. The engineer arrived on site within 1 hour and was able to shut off the water and repair the broken pipe. Once the water had been shut off, building maintenance was able to assess the damage caused by the leak. They concluded that while there was some water damage. It could be managed with dehumidifiers and driers before repairs were made. Unaffected residents on lower floors were able to return to their homes, while those on the upper floors were put into hotel accommodations for a few weeks until repairs were complete.

What’s The Difference?

3 hours might not seem like a lot, but when gallons of water are flooding through a pipe and into a building, every minute counts. By attending quickly, Company B was able to prevent significant structural damage and save the building. How do we know this? One of our close business associates lived in the building managed by Company A, and he lost his home to the flood damage. And Company B was us.

At Bonus Events Maintenance we understand that emergencies happen, and they rarely happen at convenient times! That’s why we provide a guaranteed 1-hour call-out to all of our service areas, with the aim of arriving quicker. Because we know the impact that fast response (or lack of it) can have on our clients. If you would like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.