ADVERTISING: ADVERTORIAL - Storm protocol

A big thanks to Shawn for all the articles this last month, and thank you for bearing with us as we navigated the windstorm and the holidays. Now that we’ve started to catch up and can keep our heads above water, things are operating a little more in the normal for us. This brings me to my first topic of the new year, which will encompass what our processes here at Grace Tree Service look like, and particularly what they look like during a major wind event like we just had.

The reason for sharing this information is to present you with an understanding of the intentional actions we take to provide the best service during an emergency while still prioritizing our clients who have already contracted work with us. Let me lay out a quick scenario:

It’s Wednesday morning and the sales team is standing in our scheduling room looking at the many weeks of scheduled work we have ahead of us. We check the weather report, as is our weekly process, and it’s calling for wind that night with a significant wind warning in effect. We put all new scheduling on hold for the moment and start to call our customers that are in the queue for the next couple of days to inform them that we may have to reschedule the work if the wind event comes to fruition. The vast majority of our customers are very understanding and appreciate the preemptive communication. The day goes by and fades into night where we all try and sleep while the wind does its worst. As the sun rises the next morning, it reveals the severity of the storm and unfortunately, it’s for the worst. The sales team, including office staff, rally to start answering the calls. The gals in the office call the scheduled customers and clear our scheduled appointments and accepted jobs for the remainder of the week.

Now, it’s on to managing the incoming calls. We start by prioritizing emergency situations where a customer may have a tree on a structure and needs to get the roof enclosed to prevent any water intrusion. Second, we prioritize trees that are blocking access to driveways and homes. Third, comes the trees that are down on fences and yards. While the office and sales are doing their part, the tree crew meets for a safety briefing before heading out to do any work. We take intentional time to identify and discuss hazards pertaining to storm cleanup as it is often dynamic in nature and can often present changing circumstances.

We do not send any estimators or crews out if the wind event is still active. When trees are actively failing it’s too dangerous to be working among them. Next week, I will go into more detail on our emergency estimating process and what you can expect from our estimators and crews.

As always, for further questions, quotes, or consultations give us a call today, 208-762-5800!

For more information on Grace Tree Service, check out our website at gracetreeservice.com.