Dealing with issues at the office

[Ronin13]

No it's not what you all think (down Jim... )-
Here's the quick rundown- On Sept. 9 we got a call from one of the other office owners in our building stating that there was a failure with a water heater in one of the offices and it flooded 2/3 of the building. The flood occurred on the 8th and ran it's course for a day and a half (roughly). There were 5 offices affected by this issue, the office where it originated, the office below (the owner who called us), the office next to his downstairs, a vacant- bank owned- office, the 3rd office downstairs (roughly below us) and the lawyer's office next door to us. Everyone has been pretty cool about the whole thing despite our Allied Claims Adjuster showing up on the Thursday after the flood, when the others showed up on Monday and Tuesday. Allied, via us, our agency, covers the building, while the other offices have their individual policies covering mostly personal property.

Here's the issue- the lady who owns the unit downstairs hired an environmental scientist because of concern about mold and fungus. She wanted her guy to do it, and they even got an attorney involved (not our neighbor). They found mold and deemed that it was a health hazard. To prevent the spread (even though it was on for a week) the HVAC had to be shut off. However, wouldn't the damage already be done if the HVAC had been on for 8 days prior to them shutting it off? This lady has been very difficult through this whole ordeal, and her hippy ways are really starting to get under our skin. She says that she won't allow rebuilding on her unit to begin until the mold is dealt with- so until then no HVAC-- all well and good since she isn't conducting any business in the building until her unit is rebuilt, but the three remaining offices that are still operating? The lawyer next door has already sent her a message saying that we are still without HVAC service until she figures her shit out and gets the problem fixed.

Does anyone here know anything about mold and fungus mitigation and removal? How long does this take? This lady is trying to slow down this whole process, but we're here and she's not, so we have to deal with the rebuild and everything, not to mention no HVAC- which is okay for now, but when it starts getting cold I might have to dig out my sweaters! Also, do we need to worry about the spread of mold and fungus into our unit since they didn't shut off the HVAC until 8 days later? I don't think we could handle a shut down if they found mold in our office- we pretty much spend every dollar we make here...

[dwalker460]

Honestly it sounds like she is delaying in order to screw someone- the insurance company or the property owner- out of $$. She will be able to claim she lost revenue and had other damages during this period of mold mitigation or whatever and will have a strong enough case that someone is going to end up paying her.

Environmental Scientist, who get paid, should be held with a lot of skepticism and the property owner and insurance companies BOTH should have their own experts in for evaluation. There are LOTS of different kinds of mold, and most of them are not dangerous to us humans.

Not telling you what to do, but if this were happening in my building (and it could) I would
a> hire an outside mold expert and get the real skinny. Make SURE you hire the one who has the best reputation and the most to lose if they make a wrong diagnosis.
b>send the wench a formal letter stating that due to her interference repairs are not being made in a timely manner and its costing you damages, which you will seek to recover if things are not expedited accordingly. Not having HVAC can aggravate many things, including affecting your customer relations. Have your attorney draft it.
c>Contact the property owner and see where they stand. If they arent with you then you NEED to make sure you talk to your legal counsel every step of the way. Remember this is your livelihood, and inconvenience is one thing, loss of revenue another.

[CO Hugh]

It depends if the units are owned, ie condos, or rented. If she is a tenant screw her. If a condo, often there is a HOA, use that to keep working.

What standing does she have to make the whole building bake.

Mold removal: bleach.

[Ronin13]

Honestly it sounds like she is delaying in order to screw someone- the insurance company or the property owner- out of $$. She will be able to claim she lost revenue and had other damages during this period of mold mitigation or whatever and will have a strong enough case that someone is going to end up paying her.

Environmental Scientist, who get paid, should be held with a lot of skepticism and the property owner and insurance companies BOTH should have their own experts in for evaluation. There are LOTS of different kinds of mold, and most of them are not dangerous to us humans.

Not telling you what to do, but if this were happening in my building (and it could) I would
a> hire an outside mold expert and get the real skinny. Make SURE you hire the one who has the best reputation and the most to lose if they make a wrong diagnosis.
b>send the wench a formal letter stating that due to her interference repairs are not being made in a timely manner and its costing you damages, which you will seek to recover if things are not expedited accordingly. Not having HVAC can aggravate many things, including affecting your customer relations. Have your attorney draft it.
c>Contact the property owner and see where they stand. If they arent with you then you NEED to make sure you talk to your legal counsel every step of the way. Remember this is your livelihood, and inconvenience is one thing, loss of revenue another.

Good idea. Allied has already talked to her, and us, about getting their own inspectors here, but haven't heard a peep since Friday. The demolition guys, I assume, are all done, however we also have TWO huge rollaway dumpsters taking up space in our parking lot (which isn't big to begin with). This whole thing just sucks, and they've really done a shit job of handling this...


I'm not really worried about our health issues (yet), but I am worried that the inspectors will find mold/fungus in our unit and we'll be forced to re-do our unit as well. The other issue is, the attorney this lady hired is also my dad's long time friend and personal attorney as well (conflict of interest here?). We haven't seen much of a dent in revenue from all this just yet, but it may be difficult to get insurance after we part ways with Allied next year (unrelated to this) because of 2 claims in 4 years (The other claim was hail damage)- this claim is estimated to be in the $100's of thousands by the time it's all said and done.

The overall property owner isn't the brightest of guys, but he does yield to my dad's expert and professional knowledge of insurance and what not, so he's on our side for sure.

[Whistler]

Rent a portable self-contained A/C like the "MovinCool" or "Tripp Lite". Vents directly into the plenum and all you need to watch is the condensate container. I've used them in various offices and data centers temporarily. Might even get one of the insurers to defray the cost.

[Whistler]

It depends if the units are owned, ie condos, or rented. If she is a tenant screw her. If a condo, often there is a HOA, use that to keep working.

What standing does she have to make the whole building bake.

Mold removal: bleach.

Bleach doesn't kill it just turns it white, ammonia according to the last mold remediation guys I talked with.

[SuperiorDG]

Honestly it sounds like she is delaying in order to screw someone- the insurance company or the property owner- out of $$. She will be able to claim she lost revenue and had other damages during this period of mold mitigation or whatever and will have a strong enough case that someone is going to end up paying her.

Environmental Scientist, who get paid, should be held with a lot of skepticism and the property owner and insurance companies BOTH should have their own experts in for evaluation. There are LOTS of different kinds of mold, and most of them are not dangerous to us humans.

Not telling you what to do, but if this were happening in my building (and it could) I would
a> hire an outside mold expert and get the real skinny. Make SURE you hire the one who has the best reputation and the most to lose if they make a wrong diagnosis.
b>send the wench a formal letter stating that due to her interference repairs are not being made in a timely manner and its costing you damages, which you will seek to recover if things are not expedited accordingly. Not having HVAC can aggravate many things, including affecting your customer relations. Have your attorney draft it.
c>Contact the property owner and see where they stand. If they arent with you then you NEED to make sure you talk to your legal counsel every step of the way. Remember this is your livelihood, and inconvenience is one thing, loss of revenue another.

Thinking the same thing.

[dwalker460]

The problem you are going to have is one of perception- You, a good Conservative, just want to get back to doing business and earning your living.
She, on the other hand, is likely looking at this through Hippy Pink Liberal glasses to see what she can get for nothing.
Do not forget these differences.

[beast556]

The whole mold thing is 98% BS. Yes I know there is certain kinds that can kill you. If you tested every office in Denver you would find some kind of mold. It has been made into a big businesses now a days. When I did proerty management we tested offices and aparments twonhomes and houses and they always found something and screwed the owners out of a lot of money for nothing. One office should only take them a few hours to do the treatment on.

[StagLefty]

The whole mold thing is 98% BS. Yes I know there is certain kinds that can kill you. If you tested every office in Denver you would find some kind of mold. It has been made into a big businesses now a days. When I did proerty management we tested offices and aparments twonhomes and houses and they always found something and screwed the owners out of a lot of money for nothing. One office should only take them a few hours to do the treatment on.

^ Exactly-the whole mold thing is big business and overdone to the extreme. I've been told that probably every single bathroom has some sort of mold due to the showers and toilets that probably leak even a little.