Restoration services companies brace for polar vortex fallout, with worst yet to come - Crain's Detroit Business

Metro Detroit companies are already starting to see burst water pipes with the polar vortex that's descended on the region. But the worst is yet to come, say executives from local disaster recovery and property restoration companies.

Mark Davis, co-CEO of Troy-based Signal Restoration Services, is projecting there will be thousands of water-related property damage claims in Michigan over the next week after a major thaw arrives this weekend.

Calls from Michigan corporate and industrial clients started to come in around 4 a.m. Monday, he said. So far, Signal has received 160 calls from Michigan companies and more from others around the Midwest.

"No one knows who it's going to happen to, but this is absolutely the weather where it's absolutely predictable what's coming," Davis said.

Harrison Township-based Jarvis Property Restoration is also enjoying a major increase in business. The company has received at least 275 calls in the last week, mostly due to fire suppression systems bursting from the cold and spilling out water, said Bill Jarvis, president and owner of the company.

In the past couple of days, Jarvis has pulled employees from its Florida offices and amassed around 400 total to help with the flood of service calls. The company has had jobs at seven school buildings across Macomb, Oakland and St. Clair counties, as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Red Cross buildings in Detroit and the MJR theaters in Warren and Westland. All of them were related to burst pipes.

The stress on pipes happens with the extreme low temperatures. The flooding follows when the pipes thaw. That's likely to be as soon as this weekend, Davis said, when Detroit is expected to see highs in the mid- to upper 40s.

"We believe these conditions are as bad or worse than they were in 2014 for creating property water damage," Davis said.

In 2014, Signal did $50 million in commercial and residential cleanup tied in to that year's polar vortex, Davis said. Today, it primarily serves commercial and industrial customers and refers residential business to its Florida-based sister company, PuroClean.

Like Jarvis, Signal is temporarily relocating employees to deal with the influx. About three dozen employees from Signal's southern region, as well as drying equipment from its Nashville depot, are being sent to Michigan to ensure it's ready to respond to damage incurred by its clients, which include Art Van Furniture, the Blackstone Group LP, Hilton Hotels, Penske Corp. and Trinity Health.

Jarvis said he expects the number of calls to triple by Monday or Tuesday.

"We're anticipating it's gonna be really, really huge," he said about the potential number of calls. "Sometimes the pipes don't pop 'til later."

When it's all said and done, Jarvis estimates the company will have serviced about $10 million in damages from the deep freeze and thaw. Jobs range widely, starting at $300 for a simple one-room leak and going up to $500,000 for a total commercial restoration.

John Levy, principle of Bloomfield Hills-based natural disaster consultation firm Base Tactical Disaster Recovery Inc., said that generally speaking damages resulting from cold weather and broken pipes are relatively small, if damage is addressed quickly.

"In general, these types of frozen events are small in dollars and, in many and most cases, the residence or business is insured for these types of occurrences," Levy said.

Davis said companies that don't already have a relationship with a disaster services company should contact their insurance company for recommendations, vet those companies and call them before this weekend.

"When there's way more demand than supply ... you will be triaged by every company if you don't have existing relationships, and you'll be down the list," he said. "No facility manger wants to hear on Saturday night at midnight that a company will see them on Tuesday."'

Beyond that, Davis said the only thing companies can do to attempt to protect against burst pipes is have their facilities teams run hot water through the pipes in the buildings, especially in little-used portions of buildings and plants and in areas with north-facing walls that may not get any sun.