Roof Collapse - Har-Bro Steps in with Home Depot

Lisa Tran

Har-Bro Inc.

562-528-8000 / lisatran@harbro.com

Signal Hill, CA --January 4, 2004 -- The New Year brought in a busy start for Har-Bro – the largest emergency and Restoration Company on the west coast.  While handling 5 large emergency losses during the New Years weekend, Har-Bro also responded in full force within hours of the Home Depot flood that occurred on January 2^nd in Laguna Hills.  Duke Deal, a Project Coordinator for Har-Bro was at the scene within a few hours of the Home Depot roof collapse.  The collapse was caused by a combination of heavy rain and water spewing over the top of the roof from a broken fire hydrant.  A 2,880 square-foot area on the roof collapsed towards the rear of the 110,000 square foot building.  Home Depot and the Property Management team acted quickly the evening of the loss making the request for Har-Bro to go in and stabilize the situation and proactively protecting the merchandise. 

Within hours, Har-Bro brought Matt Hamilton as Senior Project Manager and Dave Molinar as the Superintendent along with an in-house crew of 20 to begin the emergency clean up.  By dawn, over 200 pieces of required Har-Bro equipment were delivered to the site.  Har-Bro provided structural stabilization that was critical to ensure that there would not be further structural compromise.  Once the structure was stabilized, Har-Bro proceeded with demolition, removal of the damaged materials, performed water

extraction, and isolation of damaged electrical circuits.  Har-Bro delivered and monitored 5 commercial generators, 30 dehumidifiers, a large 15,000 and (2) 5,000 CFM trailer mounted desiccants to speed the dry down process.

                Home Depot employees were able to come in and focus their efforts on reopening their store.  They worked diligently to remove damaged merchandise, secure their facilities and prepared to restock their lost inventory.  Both Har-Bro and Home Depot employees were able to execute their objectives successfully while working side by side.

Daniel Schneid, Home Depot Store Manager states,

                “Har-Bro was there for us immediately, gave me the run down on what needed to be done, and explained to me what will happen and what the next step should be.  They had everything under control and communicated to me their every move.”

Jose Rodriguez, the Technical Services Superintendent for Har-Bro was one of the first ones at the scene and worked around the clock to insure detailed scope of the water damage.  He stated,

                “A situation like this is very time sensitive and critical for the client, because they need to get their business up and going as soon as possible.  We make sure that the property owner and the store managers are aware of everything that goes on at all times to insure their peace of mind and satisfaction so that the emergency clean up can continue to flow smoothly and rapidly.”

                Har-Bro completed the emergency loss and building dry down within 2 days.  This allowed them to open 80% of their store for business on Saturday January 7 and 100% on January 10^th – which was only 10 days from the time of the collapse.  The speed

of the work was made possible by the thorough involvement and assistance of Laguna Niguel Building and Safety.  For further information on this loss or for questions and services from Har-Bro, please contact Dawn Sneed at 1-800-266-5677.

###