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12 Steps Toward Selecting Your Disaster Recovery Vendor
Choosing a restoration vendor can be simple when you know how to do it. Making a plan for the right vendor... before a pipe bursts, before a hurricane strikes or before a fire occurs, is critical to restoration success. You're in the driver's seat when you know what to do. Here are a few simple steps steps that may help:
  1. Make your selection in the calm BEFORE the storm, when it presents an opportunity for a better business decision. Relationships are not made DURING a disaster.

  2. Although it's easy to find a vendor in the Yellow Pages, the only sure thing you will find is a name! You won't find competency, experience, reliability, response time, and trustworthiness or equipment capability. You can only choose a company by meeting with an owner and/or asking for references, which should be given willingly.

  3. Consider whether the company is local to your needs. This can be critical for emergency response. Most companies call themselves... Emergency Response Disaster Recovery Companies and that usually means... we'll get there when we can! Losses don't always occur between 9 to 5, if you've ever been through one, it's always on the weekend or a holiday. Every vendor should have the capability to arrive within two to four hours.

  4. Inquire what kind of training or experience the DR vendor has had, and what their supervision and management capability is. Ask how long they've been in business, and what Insurance Companies they've worked for. Ask them to describe some disasters they've handled, and just listen. You may be able to identify with what they say, if you've experienced any type of disaster in the past.

  5. You'll also want to know what type of network base your vendor has access to determine if they'll be able to handle a large loss. See what kind of relationships they've formed with other companies in the industry that may be part of your job. Ask your potential vendor to bring in people he works with, if he's been in business a number of years, he should be cost effective, capable people to draw from.

  6. Ask how fast they can deploy their DR response team, and what kind of equipment they maintain. How large is the building they work out of. Some DR vendors still work out of their homes, and that's not who you want on your team.

  7. Talk about your parameters for work hours or customer hours, so when/if an event happens, your vendor is prepared to work around that time frame, and still be able to prevent further business interruption.

  8. Ask if they are in compliance with OSHA and the Right to Know Act, and dicuss or request a statement of their insurance for liability.

  9. Ask about prices. An honest vendor is an up front vendor and should never be reluctant to reveal prices.

  10. Your vendor should be willing to work out pricing on the front end. A willing vendor takes an active role in discussing his prices as well as your payment schedule. Ask for his printed price list.

  11. At some time, plan to visit your vendors premises. Seeing is believing, and most sales people are more talk than fact. Check them out it's worth it.

  12. And finally, this is a voluntary issue... ask if your vendor has an emergency response plan available. This assures your company, that if a disaster occurs, especially if its Mother Nature's fault, you are a priority, and not on a first come, first serve basis. Most DR vendors offer monthly retainer fee plans that are according to square feet or multiple building ownership.

Call now and learn more about our preferred vendor plan.
No retainer fees, ever! Call 1-763-531-8000.