Mobile technology innovation is cutting the cost of restoring flood-hit homes

Richfords Fire and Flood have completed a five-year programme of stress-testing a new system designed to monitor the drying of buildings. The remote monitoring kit has been put through its paces after recent flooding in Coverack in Cornwall as well as Cumbria, Yorkshire, Somerset and Surrey.

The system uses a combination of a mobile phone network connection and humidity sensors to send a stream of data back to a technician’s work-station or tablet. This means that, after installing drying equipment in a home, church, school or commercial building, it is not necessary for someone to continually call around to check readings.

It has cut the time and mileage involved in an insurance project and has also meant that people’s lives are not constantly being disturbed as they try and recover from an extreme event.

Previously, the period needed for restoring a building would have been an uncertain duration and would have required the property owners to continuously book time off work in order that they could allow entry to a technician. This would be a major disruption to their lives when the actual process of recording the progress of drying would have been very quick.

By using the latest mobile-network technology, we have been able to give accurate information to people about how long we will need to be working on restoring their property – but without the continuous hassle of having to open up a building for these monitoring appointments. This is done by our team receiving a feed of humidity data 24/7 which facilitate realistic predictions. Having a better idea of timescales also allows people to book trades in to redecorate without leaving a large gap in works.

Managing director, Steven Richford, is passionate about developing new ways of improving people’s situations using the latest innovations:
“Damage restoration is about getting people’s lives back. I believe that if we can use technology in clever ways then we can make a traumatic experience less painful for them. It is also important that, as we repair the effects of climate change on property, we do not do things that have adverse impacts ourselves. Thereby, it is only logical that we should endeavour to cut our own carbon emissions by using such innovations.”

Richfords Fire and Flood has also innovated on stock control systems by creating its own bespoke smartphone-based solutions to keeping track of people’s property if it has to be removed from a property for restoration or cleaning. This means that clients can be sure what has happened to every item and what stage they are at.

ENDS.

Contact: Michael Cooper 01209 722522 / 07968 175455 michaelcooper@richfords.com

Notes for editors:

Images are available – please contact us for them.

You can watch a short CPD film about remote monitoring here: https://vimeo.com/226702003

More details about the business can be found on www.richfords.com