Restoration Rewind Delta Development Group Monthly Newsletter
January 2014
The Colorado TAKEOVER!!! Delta Disaster Services has officially taken over Colorado. On Monday, December 30, 2013, the papers were signed adding Delta Disaster Services of Western Colorado to the network. This addition completely sells out the entire Colorado market, allowing Delta Disaster Services to completely cover the state with professional insurance restoration services. Delta Disaster Services of Western Colorado will support residential and commercial properties west of the continental divide including Moab, Utah and from the New Mexico border to the Wyoming border. Primary areas covered by Delta Disaster Services of Western Colorado are Grand Junction, Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, Fruita, Montrose, Craig, Durango, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison and Moab. Owner, Bruce Milyard, has over 38 years of construction experience, owning and operating Western Constructors, Inc. He will enlist the hard work of his son Tyler Milyard and business partner Vince Testa. The trio is sure to exceed all expectations. The group will attend franchise training in April and plan to open for business in June. Please join us in welcoming them to the family, we are all very excited to have them.
Plumbing museum WATERTOWN, Mass.—Curator Linda Veiking was midway through leading a tour of the Plumbing Museum here when she debunked a legend that has been swirling around for a long time. "A lot of people think Thomas Crapper invented the toilet, but he didn't," she said, standing with her hands on her hips in the middle of the 2,500-square-foot museum packed with commodes, sinks, toilet paper and diagrams showing the evolution of plumbing codes. Rather than the esteemed London plumber Mr. Crapper, the likely father of the flush toilet was Englishman John Harington, she told her hushed visitors, pausing for effect. "Hence, the name John." These are the kinds of details that are drawing people to this increasingly popular museum outside Boston, considered a premier attraction on the tiny international toilet-based tourism trail. Among the other stops is a toilet museum in India —"It has some absolutely gorgeous pieces," Ms. Veiking gushed—and Kohler Co., a 140-year-old plumbing-products manufacturer that offers tours of its Wisconsin factory. "It's really remarkable to watch a toilet being assembled," says Kohler's archivist Peter Fetterer. Kohler is one of a number of toilet makers and plumbing collectors who have sent artifacts east to the Plumbing Museum. The Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors of Greater Boston, a trade group, took over the museum a few years ago after the retirement of husband-and-wife collectors who had been running the American Sanitary Plumbing Museum in Worcester, Mass., since 1979. J.C. Cannistraro LLC, a large plumbing contractor in New England, paid to renovate a former ice house to hold the museum that the company hoped would be a tribute to the trade.
"There's no Academy Award of plumbing," says Tom Palange, marketing director at J.C. Cannistraro, of Watertown. In a region brimming with historical hot spots such as the Bunker Hill Monument and Plymouth Rock, the Plumbing Museum is hardly clogged with tourists, but visitors are up to about 500 a year, from 200 in 2010. The museum's blog, "The Water Closet," notes trivia, including alternative uses for plungers and the busiest day of the year for plumbers (the day after Thanksgiving.) The museum this year hosted its first wedding: The "flushing bride," as she called herself, was allowed to arrange flowers in toilets throughout the museum. And it has recently been buzzing with some pride after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, noting rampant student debt, publicly urged some high-school students in May to skip college and instead make a good, steady living as plumbers. "I'm excited. I'm very excited," said Tom Cassidy, a bushy-bearded plumber, who snapped photos as he toured the museum. Also a teacher at Quincy High School, Mr. Cassidy had brought students from his Plumbing 1 class. "This is a trade that may not always be appreciated, but I think more people are recognizing the skills and knowledge needed to be a plumber," he said. The number of plumbing jobs, along with related pipe-fitter and steam-fitter positions, is expected to grow about 26% between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2010 median salary was $46,660. The museum, a cornucopia of plumbing apparatus displayed on two floors, has also become a draw for other curators who are looking to make sure that their museum lavatories are historically up to snuff. "It sounds like crazy minutiae. It is crazy minutiae, but bathrooms are hugely interesting to guests," said Patti Philippon, the chief curator for the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn. She recently turned to the Plumbing Museum for help in determining whether a shower head in the Twain House guest room could have been installed by Samuel Clemens, who lived there in the late 19th century, or whether it was put in around 1920 when the mansion became a boardinghouse. Combing through the Plumbing Museum's collection of more than 100 years of vintage catalogs, Ms. Philippon was able to determine, to some relief, that the existing
shower head was historically plausible, though the museum is conducting further research. Along with displays on how flushing mechanisms have changed over the years and rows of sinks, the museum has an area full of toilets that went in and out of vogue, including a "very pretty" 1910 wooden-seated one that didn't catch on because wood splinters "would pinch you" where it really hurt, Ms. Veiking said. Also on display is a modern $4,500 toilet with a sound system and ambient lighting in the bowl. "It does everything but cook your supper," Ms. Veiking said, before moving on to other displays, including rows of paper products set behind glass. "If you have toilets, you have to have toilet paper, and that has its own history," she said. At one point, people took care of their business with pages from their Sears Roebuck & Co. catalogs, but thankfully, "today you can go from two-ply to four-ply," she said. The nonprofit museum, which charges no admission fee, is funded by corporate sponsors in the plumbing industry and money raised from memberships and space rentals. The "Boston Baked Beings" chapter of the women's social club Red Hat Ladies somewhat reluctantly visited the Plumbing Museum, having already visited Boston's most esteemed tourist attractions. "I thought, 'Oh my God, are we just going to see toilets flush?' “Recalls Sandy Shuster, a retired teacher and Red Hatter. “But it was amazing. I had no idea. To get graphic, I never realized that women once had urinals, but of course they did not go over well."
The museum's collection continues to grow. Kohler expects to send to Watertown a modern toilet that among other perks, comes with a lid that automatically goes down after use, thus "saving marriages all over the world," says Vicki Hafenstein, a Kohler spokeswoman. Scholars spend years plumbing the depths of toilet history. "Its great fun," says Ken Grabowski, a retired former researcher at the Field Museum in Chicago who has dabbled in commode lore since 1974 and hopes to put his findings in a book soon. Researchers say the topic of toilets is riveting because it is taboo—and of course, toilets are an endless source of fascination to anyone who has tried in vain to find a public restroom in certain cities. "We are allowed to talk about money, sex and almost anything else," says Adam Hart-Davis, a British science writer and the author of "Thunder, Flush, and Thomas Crapper," in which the scholar agrees that Mr. Crapper didn't invent the toilet but suspects there were early versions of the device thousands of years ago. "So when people do talk or write about toilets and their functions, it always fascinates." Question….how might you use this as a marketing opportunity to plumbers?
Convention Time Invitations will go out this week to all franchise owners announcing Delta Development Group’s 2nd Annual Franchise Convention. The convention will be held in March in Delta Disaster Services’ headquarter city Arvada, Colorado. The conference will be a jam packed couple days with sessions ranging from an equipment display and demonstration from our Bridgewater Franchise
Representative Brandon Titus, to a session on business planning and benchmarking. Also on the agenda is a special guest speaker with a presentation tailored just for Delta Disaster Services business owners and employees. The event will culminate with a banquet and awards ceremony hosted at the Delta Disaster Services of Denver office. The convention is open to all franchise owners, office and field employees, spouses and guests. Spouses and guests don’t have to worry, if the educational sessions don’t quite interest you, March is a great time to be in Colorado. It could be snowing and cold one day and beautiful and sunny another; and there are plenty of activities available to satisfy anyone. Shopping, museums, sporting events, spas, and anything else that you can think of are available and within a reasonable drive. Travel arrangements and hotel accommodations will need to be made on your own. We have partnered with the SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel to offer a special corporate rate for the event. A special link for that rate has been made available to us and it will be included in your invitation. If you have any questions about travel arrangements, hotel accommodations, things to do while you are here and anything else that may come up feel free to contact Ragan Neblett at rneblett@trydelta.com. We don’t want to give away too much information, but we promise this will be an event that you don’t want to miss
Are you delivering the promise, delivery and predictability that the Delta brand promises?
When Agents Are Naughty, Claims Disputes Can Arise Quotes, Coverage, and Expensive Misunderstandings Doors front man Jim Morrison was quoted as saying, “Some of the worst mistakes in my life have been haircuts.” Sure—we have all been there, but that kind of mistake usually does not cause problems in an insurance contract. However, blunders made by insurance agents and brokers can lead to way more difficulties than a bad hair day. Agents may find themselves in trouble because of lack of action, such as failure to renew policies, failure to use proper insurers, or failure to warn insured’s of exclusionary clauses in policies. All of these failures can lead to an errors and omissions claim against a producer, as well as claims disputes against p&c insurers.
Negligent Misrepresentation One case in point: An insurance agent failing to procure blanket coverage for an insured led to a claim for negligent misrepresentation in Office Furniture Rental Alliance, LLC v. Liberty Mutual Fire Ins. Co., Civil No. 3:11cv1889 (JBA), 2013 WL 5934049 (D. Conn. Nov. 1, 2013). The insured had purchased coverage from Liberty Mutual from 1998 to 2001 through agent James Lavangie, who had advised the insured to buy blanket coverage as opposed to per-location. Based on that recommendation, the insured purchased blanket coverage. During the 2001 to 2002 policy period, the insured switched to a different carrier. The following year, Lavangie provided a quote to the insured to try to win his
business back. The insured asked for comparable coverage to what he had purchased between 1998 and 2001. Lavangie emailed the insured a quote, but it was on a per-location limit rather than a blanket limit. Robert Orenstein, a member of the Office Furniture Rental Alliance, received the quote. He stated that he did not remember if he read the entire quote, but his normal procedure would have been to review the portion of the quote setting out the premium. He said the agent never informed him that the policy did not contain a blanket limit, and coverage was purchased and renewed from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, a fire caused extensive damage to the insured’s warehouse. Liberty Mutual paid only the location limit on the policy, which was considerably less than the cash value of the loss—an amount that would have been fully covered by a blanket limit. The insured brought action against Liberty Mutual for claims of breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and reformation. While the court stated that a reasonable jury could not find grounds that the parties contracted for blanket limit coverage without evidence of a prior oral agreement for the breach of contract claim, the fact that the written contract did not conform to the oral request for blanket insurance was admissible for the negligent misrepresentation and reformation claims. Quoting Coppola Const. Co. v. Hoffman Enterprises Ltd. P’ship, 309 Conn. 342 (2013) the court said, “Traditionally, an action for negligent misrepresentation requires the plaintiff to establish 1) that the defendant made a misrepresentation of fact; 2) that the defendant knew or should have known was false; 3) that the plaintiff reasonably relied on the misrepresentation; and 4) suffered pecuniary harm as a result.” Whether Lavangie and Orenstein discussed the terms of the quote remains disputed. The insurer argued that even if the insured could show that the agent committed negligent misrepresentation by omission, the insured
nevertheless had a responsibility to read the quote, along with the policy to confirm the terms. An expert witness testified that “the language concerning the application of limits is often obscure and would not likely be detected by an untrained policyholder.” He also stated that even agents cannot always distinguish between polices with blanket limits and policies with per-location limits. The court stated that a reasonable jury could conclude that because Lavangie knew the plaintiff wanted blanket limits but remained silent about the fact he was quoting per-location limits—even though he had previously advised against buying per-location limits and because he never drew the insured’s attention to the change—he realized the insured believed he was receiving blanket limits. A jury could also conclude, according to the court, that the agent renewed the policy knowing the insured still believed he was getting blanket limits, and that, based on the expert’s testimony, the policy language was so complex that the insured relied on the agent to explain the terms. Under Connecticut law, the duty to disclose correct information arises from a closer degree of reliance and trust than in an ordinary business relationship. Quoting De La Concha of Hartford, Inc. v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., No. CV980580129, 2002 WL 31170495 (Conn. Super. Ct. Aug. 23, 2002), the court said, “Accordingly, a claim for negligent misrepresentation can only stand when there is a special relationship of trust and confidence which creates a duty for one party to impart correct information to another.” This special relationship exists between insured’s and agents. Insured’s rely on agents to provide correct information about coverage and to properly procure it. Agents’ mistakes in failing to provide these services can cost insured’s dearly when loss or damage occurs. As you can see, these mistakes result in expensive and time-consuming litigation.
90 days in the Books Dixie and Mike both met with DDS of Northern Colorado for their 90-day review. Caroline, Bill, and Adam were very prepared for our meeting and presented us with the necessary marketing and financial support to make the meeting smooth. We had the opportunity to discuss all marketing and operations in detail. Congratulations to all of Northern Colorado! They have well exceeded their financial objectives for their first 90 days in operation. They are well on their way to exceeding all first-year objectives. Of course, a massive hail storm, flood, and 30 years in business in the same town play a large role! Moving forward they have made a lot of inroads to gaining new business in their market area. They just recently met with the largest school district and signed up a substantial fire loss! Cammy, the local marketing/ sales person is out hitting the streets and gently reminding everyone that they know Bill Krug and KEM homes.
Portland or Bust Delta Development Group and Delta Disaster Services made their first appearance at a national tradeshow in early December. Mike Mastous and Dave Kemman traveled to Portland, Oregon to be a part of the JLC Live Construction Tradeshow. The two day convention proved very productive by producing a few leads and by giving the pair some very good insight into the world of tradeshows. They are going to really need that knowledge and experience as they travel again in February to Las Vegas to be a part of the biggest tradeshow in the US, the National Association of Home Builders Tradeshow. The two are very excited about bringing Delta Disaster Services to such a huge stage. Check out next month’s newsletter for an update about that show.
All Good Things in Southern Utah Our office in Cedar City is a buzz with some fantastic end of the year news. The office, headed by owner Mac Urie, reached their 2 year anniversary in December. The Southern Utah office is Delta Development Group’s first franchise and the steam the office has built to this point is wonderful. The solid staff works very hard in the field, driving hours to remote locations to serve their customers. They also work equally as hard serving their community, with a golf tournament benefitting the local veteran’s hospital and the sponsorship of an in-need Christmas family, their office is truly setting an example. We are so proud of them and can’t wait to see what come in year three. As if that wasn’t enough news out of Cedar City, owner Mac Urie and his wife Rachel celebrated the birth of their 5 child December 1 st. Moxx Urie is another beautiful additional the Urie family and the Delta family. Congratulations Uries and Delta Disaster Services of Southern Utah!
Money and the New Year Cheers to the New Year and new beginnings! Everyone should have completed their business planning and be ready to Rock ‘n Roll! In an abbreviated form, the following is the information I need from anyone who has not yet turned it in: Sales/Production Goal for 2014. • Break this down by the month. How you are going to get to this goal: • New Accounts and/or referral sources. Who will they be: Agents (how many) Plumbers (How many) Who else? What you will do to attract these people (Marketing Activities): Business lunches CE Classes (how many, how often, who will teach them) • Plumber “tables” • All ideas you can think of! • •
What the Marketing/Sales Person’s roll is in this process? What The Franchise Owner’s roll is in this process? Any business changes needed for 2014 • Example: QuickBooks data entry • What you will do to reach the goal New employees needed in 2014. • At what point in your sales? • What rolls will they fill? Equipment or Vehicles Needed. • When and What?
Update: Delta Disaster Services of Denver – Fire Loss Day 91 to 120 Finally, we are expecting to begin production on this job by the first week in January. Production meaning the actual reconstruction of the damaged items. Unfortunately, the adjuster’s framing numbers were looked at by two framing contractors and they were off pretty substantially. The adjuster had approximately $38,000 in total framing costs when building the estimate in Xactimate. (Some of you will remember in training class, that we discussed one of the areas that Xactimate was not proficient in, was that of building framing components.) The adjuster, as his custom, requested two separate bids to support our findings. One contractor came in at $44,000, and the other contractor came in at $61,000. Thus we are now under contract with the $44,000 framing contractor. The trusses have been ordered, and are expected to be delivered by the first week in January. We’re also coordinating the truss replacement with our roofing contractor so all upper framing items and roofing can be repaired simultaneously. Once the house is technically, dried in, we will begin working on interior items.
And we will leave you with this…
“This is the New Year and the new you. You can pass through another year, coasting on cruise control. Or you can step out of your comfort zone, trying things you have never done before & mark 2014 as the year that you elevate from where you are & soar high. Make it happen!” Pablo