Recovering from a disruption: the first 48 hours
The superintendent arrives at 06:30 after an overnight windstorm: the east wing's temporary roof is torn open, rain is still coming in and the site has no power. Crews arrive at 07:00, ready to clean up. The owner's representative has already texted, asking for a new completion date.
The first two days after a storm, flood, fire or outage decide how large the loss becomes. Crews want to start cleaning, the owner wants a date, and the evidence of what happened disappears as people work. A short, ordered plan protects people first, stops further damage, and makes the record while it can still be made.
- Make it safe first: account for everyone, keep people out of affected areas until competent people have checked electrical, structural and fire hazards, and call emergency services if needed.
- Report what the law requires: if anyone is hurt, or the event itself is reportable, your jurisdiction decides who is told, how fast and whether the scene must be left alone.
- Stop further damage, and only that, once the area is cleared: shut off water, cover openings, pump out and secure the site, with fall protection used on the roof and damaged circuits isolated first.
- Record before you clean: photos of every affected area with time and location, a written account, the weather record and a list of damaged work and materials. Keep damaged items until the owner and the insurer release them.
- Notify the same day: the owner or consultant in writing under the contract's notice clause, your insurer or broker, and every affected trade.
- Replan on day two: what continues elsewhere, what must be redone, what needs reordering, and a recovery look-ahead with owners and dates.
- Track recovery costs separately from the first hour, under their own cost code.
Common mistakes
- Cleaning up before anything is photographed.
- Throwing out damaged material before the adjuster has seen it.
- Telling the owner by phone and never in writing.
- Promising a new completion date on the first day.
Action list
In the first 48 hours
- Account for everyone; get the hazards checked
- Report what your rules require
- Stop further damage, nothing more
- Photograph and list the damage before cleanup
- Notify the owner in writing; call the insurer
- Issue a recovery look-ahead by day two
- Code recovery costs separately
Check your understanding
Why record the damage before cleanup starts, when everyone knows what happened?
Show the answer
Because the owner, the insurer and perhaps a court will need to know how much was damaged and why, not only that a storm happened. Once cleaning starts, the extent disappears. A dated record made before anything is moved supports the claim and the revised schedule.
