Office Flooding & Power Cut!
Office Flood and Power Cut, A New Staff Member & Our New Website Goes Live!
“Flooding and a power cut over the weekend” “Ours!” |
Written by Steven Dinnie |
A Property Manager should have experience dealing with all that fate can throw at a Landlord, and at Pure Property Management we’ve renewed our experience after opening the office on a bright Monday morning to find the power out.
Computers and phones dead? That’s an inconvenience.
Kettle not working: On a Monday morning that’s a five-alarm disaster. Turns out it was just a tripped circuit breaker.
Phew….
Unfortunately it was tripped by six inches of water filling our basement office. Our Newly Renovated basement office. Our Newly Renovated basement office, kitchen and bathroom.
Computers and phones dead?
That’s an inconvenience!
Kettle not working: On a Monday morning … that’s a five-alarm disaster.
Turns out it was just a tripped circuit breaker. Phew!
Unfortunately it was tripped by six inches of water filling our basement office.
Our Newly Renovated basement office. Our Newly Renovated basement office, kitchen and bathroom.
We’ve got Landlords to service, tenants to help, and a business to run; so we had to cancel Feeling Sorry for Ourselves and get right to fixing the problem.
We’ve spent the last ten years filling our contact book with Edinburgh’s best tradespeople, and have never been more glad. Elite Electrical was out within the hour and power was restored (minus the bottom floor, with electricity and water not going well together, or should that be, going too well together?)
Step 1 complete – Property safe to work in
Next: Triage, save what could be saved. Computers, sensitive documents, kettle, phones, coffee, milk, sugar. Moving as much off the floor as possible. Damage control.
Step 2 complete – Back in business
Phones reassuringly ringing, email tickers reassuringly scrolling upwards, the business was back up and running in the length of a tea break, but now we had to start answering a series of questions: Where was the water coming from? Was it still coming in? How could we make it stop? Who was going to pay for all the damage? Where would we go to the toilet?
Step 3 – Stop the leak
The finger of blame quickly fell on recent roadworks on the pavements and roads around the office and the heavy vehicles that had been rattling windows and fillings up and down Gilmore Place for the last month. We had celebrated as they packed up the last of their equipment and reopened Viewforth to traffic. A leak detector company quickly confirmed the water was not coming from within our own property. It was at this point a representative from Edinburgh Council showed up just long enough to comprehensively shrug their shoulders before leaving us to our paddling pool.
Scottish Water then joined the rainbow of high visibility jackets huddling round holes in the pavement, prodding various instruments into gaps and pulling faces at the results. The only silver lining being that the water in the basement was clear and odourless, indicating it was mercifully not a leak in the sewers.
Judging by the dead phones, power had been out all weekend, so we were already 72 hours into our office resembling a leaking sailing ship; and it was sometime on Monday afternoon that frustration really began to set in. Shoulders wearied of being squeezed into half as much office space, minds tired of totting up imaginary Loss Adjusters’ ledgers. The water line was still slowly creeping up and the damp line about a foot above it indicated the scale of the damage.
Tuesday brought no real progress. We were extremely grateful for our small business community on Viewforth and Gilmore Place, with Viewforth Glazing helpfully offering use of their bathroom and most of the local traders offering a sympathetic ear, and popping in to take a look at our unwanted indoor swimming pool. Staff were having to don welly boots to collect keys from our key safe, and more than one Amazon search was done for ‘waders’ lest the water rise to waist depth.
Our leak detectors were able to drain out the water on Tuesday, but on Wednesday it had come right back, and so we entered into a prolonged process resembling a sitcom.
A team from Scottish Water’s Freshwater division couldn’t locate the issue, and thought the water could be coming from three potential places. An emergency team with tools got a flat tyre on the way. Holes appeared in the pavement, barriers went up, and always the response came back ‘no leak here’. Remember those roadworks we suspected were the cause? Scottish Water was digging through slabs and tarmac laid down less than a week ago to find the leak.
Finally, Scottish Water narrowed down the leak to a water main in the centre of the road. To minimise disruption an after-hours team began to dig, but were stopped by noise complaints. Eventually they found a cracked 100-year-old pipe happily pouring water out. In a matter of minutes, the pipe was fixed and the leak was officially STOPPED . The first, most difficult step was accomplished.
Dealing with these issues at your property can feel overwhelming; a who’s-who of public bodies will turn up in vans with orange plant-pot lights spinning, only to tell you it’s nothing to do with them, and every minute you wait can feel like the water is eating away at you as well as your property.
Those terrifying days or weeks before insurance can confirm you’re covered, and the thought of organising and dealing with the lengthy repair process. That’s why having professionals manage your property takes all the stress off. We’ve always got someone available to deal with the issue, we’re experienced and we’ve seen first hand how to get it fixed.
A New Staff Member
Steven Dinnie has joined the Pure Property Team
He’s pictured above sitting at his desk in his wellies! This water leak at our office has literally given him a baptism into Property Management!
Steven will function in a cross-over roll consisting of admin and assisting with inspections & viewings. He brings an amazing can-do attitude and has already made a significant impact in streamlining our customer journey!
We look forward to working with him as he has a fantastic sense of humour and he’s already jumped in “boots & all”.
Our New Website is Live
We’ve just launched our new website!
Please have a look around the website as I believe it is more reflective of the times we live in.
http://www.purepropertymanagement.com