Christine Rau Joiner with Covenant Contracting Company joins our “WiFi Studio” to talk about what separates their mitigation & restoration company from others. She also shares how they are able to provide valuable services to customers during this pandemic. You don’t want to miss this!
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Read Full Interview Below:
Sarah: Good Morning. It’s 8: 00 AM on a Friday, which means it’s time for Biz Talk.
Glyna: I love that. I know I say that every time.
I know. Can we play it again? No, I’m just kidding. Get us up and going. Well, good morning, everybody. I’m Glyna Humm with Fusion One Marketing. I am the president of the company. We are going to go around and have everybody introduce themselves and I want to introduce our special guest here in just a minute.
Sarah: Okay. Good morning. I’m Sarah with Fusion One Marketing. I’m the director of digital marketing.
Kelsi: Good morning. I’m Kelsi Munn. I’m a social media manager with Fusion One Marketing.
Glyna: Great. Awesome. This morning we have a really special guest and I’m so excited to have her on. The whole point of Biz Talk is to highlight small to medium-sized businesses that are still working, still trudging through this crazy pandemic, and we want to hear from them and everything they have to offer, but also how they’re operating in this craziness. I want to introduce Christine Joiner from Covenant Contracting. Hey, Christine. How are you doing this morning?
Christine: Good morning. I’m doing well. How are you?
Glyna: Doing great. We’re so excited to have you on this morning.
Christine: I’m excited for the invite. Thank you.
Glyna: You are so welcome. Just to break the ice a little bit, tell us about yourself, your background, family, and what led you to Covenant Contracting.
Christine: Sure. Well, I am married to Matt Joiner, who is a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual. We have known each other for about 20 years, been married for five. We have two children that are three and under, so we are incredibly busy at home, not just in our businesses. What got me to Covenant, it’s actually a very long, hilarious story, so there’s not enough time to get into it. But the shorter version, what led me actually to Covenant is I was working with my business partner, who I have now. We have been a team for almost 10 years. We were working with each other at another restoration company, and it was great. We absolutely loved it. It was very customer-oriented, a very great place to work until it wasn’t.
Christine: And then, the business started being run in ways that Joe Strampe and I did not agree with, so we decided that the best way to fix it is have a restoration company where what is important to us, morals, ethics, values, customer appreciation, all of those things that are important to us, came with us to Covenant. We started Covenant Contracting. What I say is it’s not just our name, it’s a promise. We do everything that we can to ensure our values and morals are transported through the business.
Glyna: Oh, my gosh. That’s fantastic.
Sarah: That’s a great story.
Glyna: Not to get off track, okay, small world. We actually talked to your husband yesterday
Christine: Well, that’s cool.
Glyna: Yeah, I know all about it. It was like, okay, but he never clued us in that …
Christine: Wow.
Kelsi: I noticed that you had the same last name. Didn’t go that far to put it together that you were married.
Christine: Yeah.
Glyna: That’s a great story. Gosh, Kelsi, we already have some people joining us. You want to do some shout outs?
Kelsi: Yeah. We’ve got Liz Traylor with us.
Christine: Good morning, Liz.
Kelsi: And Gayle Mason. Thank you guys for joining us. And Jonnie. I see Jonnie on there.
Sarah: All right. Thanks for popping in, everyone. Just to expand on Covenant Contracting, why don’t you tell us a little bit about … Just tell the viewers what they should know about the company and what kind of services you provide?
Christine: Sure. We are a full-service restoration company. Basically, what that means is whether or not you have a small kitchen sink leak, or you’ve got a house fire, we take care of all of it. We do full dry out, tear out on what we call the mitigation side, the emergency service side, and then we also do the reconstruction, as well. That falls underwater damage, fire damage, sewer damage, and mold remediation.
Sarah: Wow.
Glyna: In your business, I’m sure that you run into a lot of people that have these problems happen. It’s never timely. I’m sure that when they have damage, it’s not like, okay, we’re going to have this happen from 8: 00 to 5: 00, so I know that they’ll be open. I know that you have 24/7 emergency service. What does that entail? Put peoples’ minds at ease that no matter when these horrible things happen, you guys are there.
Christine: Yeah, absolutely. The biggest thing when it comes to any water, sewer, fire, the biggest thing is doing everything that you can to prevent further damage. That doesn’t mean that you have a leak on Wednesday and a company comes out the following Monday. You need to make sure that you’ve got a company that’s going to respond as quickly as possible to mitigate that further damage. If you call at 11: 00 and your basement is flooded, we’re going to have people en-route out to your house to take care of it. If it’s 3: 00 AM and your house catches fire, we’ll be there to take care of you.
Christine: We understand the importance of what an emergency this is, and you need to have a company that’s willing to be there, walk you through every process, ensure to you that it’s going to be okay, and get it taken care of from beginning to end.
Glyna: Yeah, because that’s scary stuff.
Christine: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.
Glyna: We have had a small leak. Or something small happen like that before. You can’t even think straight. Having someone like you to be able to walk them through, step by step would be a huge advantage for sure.
Christine: Absolutely. I think one of the biggest things that I try to put through our employees’ heads is that while we deal with this on every single day basis, multiple times a day, these homeowners most likely have not. They’ve got to have someone that’s not only going to walk in and say, “This is your issue. Let’s get it fixed.” You need someone that understands that, right now, you’re probably freaking out inside and they need to be able to calm you through the process, explain everything, and put you at ease that you actually will be taken care of.
Glyna: Exactly.
Sarah: Yeah. It truly is so valuable, because it’s … Right. When those things happen, your brain just gets scrambled and you need somebody to give you that peace of mind and can walk you through every single step.
Sarah: This whole Covid-19 cloud that is hanging over all of us …
Christine: Yes.
Sarah: It’s been difficult for everyone. We’re all just trudging through it. I was curious to know how your company has adapted to the whole Covid-19 situation. With your customers?
Christine: Yeah. I’m not going to sugar-coat it. Right now, it’s tough. It’s tough for so many people. It’s tough for the economy. Thankfully, we are not as impacted as so many people are, because like we’ve discussed, this is an emergency service company. COVID-19’s not going to stop a busted pipe.
Sarah: Right.
Christine: We’re running into homeowners not wanting people in their houses, even if it is an emergency. You know? There’s a lot of fear and terror going on right now. Luckily, we are an essential business. We respond to calls that are emergencies and we have trained our technicians to make sure they have the proper protective equipment to not only keep themselves safe but homeowners safe, as well.
And then, on top of that, our company is trained and knowledgeable in a lot of these EPA registered and CDC approved chemicals that are thought to be able to combat coronaviruses and other viruses and bacteria, as well. We have been able to take our knowledge and what we know, not only used in protecting your largest investment and keeping you healthy as far as water damage turning to mold, and things like that, but also we’re already trained on knowing how to best prevent the spread of this virus amongst surfaces in your house and in your business.
Sarah: Wow. That’s valuable.
Christine: Yeah.
Glyna: Again, we’re living in a world right now that nobody’s used to. We’re all having to work around things, for sure. Hey, we’ve got some other people shouting out, looks like. Tell me about … What really caught my eye, I think it’s been well over a week ago that you guys talked about … I want to make sure I get this right, so I’m going to read my notes. As far as your disinfectant treatment, that program, right now, companies should be … I know they really want to hear a lot about that. Can you tell us a little bit more about that program?
Christine: Yes, absolutely. There are a lot of restoration companies and cleaning companies out there doing preventative treatment services for residents and businesses. What’s so crazy, is that the CDC has stated that the coronavirus can stay on surfaces, on some surfaces, for more than 14 days. If you’ve got a virus, you touch that, and then five days later, it could still be living, and someone else touched that. That’s scary stuff. We don’t prevent the spread through the air. If you cough on somebody and you have it, me spraying a surface is not going to take care of that airborne virus.
What is so important about the process we use, as far as surfaces, is that we do spray those EPA-approved chemicals, and we allow them to soak per the recommendations of the CDC for at least 10 minutes. That seems to be that hot number where if you’ve got the chemicals soaking on a surface for 10 minutes, that gives optimal kill ratio. What makes us a little different though, what I’ve seen not a lot of other companies doing, is that even after we come in and we allow it to soak for 10 minutes, we then follow up with a hand spray and a complete wipe down of those surfaces. We make sure that not only are we doing the best that we can to kill it with the initial spray, but then we’re coming back behind and re-spraying, and wiping down all of the surfaces.
While all of this is going, speaking of airborne, however, while all of this is going on, we’re running ducted HEPAs. It’s equipment that use in sewer losses and mold losses. It’s something that exchanges the air. We get negative air cycling out as often as possible to make sure if anything is airborne, we’re trying to help mitigate that.
Glyna: Wow.
Christine: It’s a lengthy process. Our process, the reason why we feel like it’s so successful, is because it’s a three-part step and we’re doing everything we can to where if it’s missed here, it’s gotten here. If it’s missed here, it’s gotten here, and so on.
Glyna: Perfect.
Kelsi: That’s wonderful.
Sarah: Gosh.
Glyna: We’re going to soak all that in for a minute.
Christine: It’s a lot this morning for you guys.
Sarah: That’s so thorough. Again, it just adds to that peace of mind of giving your clients that we’ll come in and we’re going to do the complete job. That’s …
Glyna: Well, and you’re so knowledgeable. Again, there are a lot of people that are in this business, I would imagine, that think they could just start it right up and don’t have to have all the knowledge that you guys have, for sure. That’s what sets you apart.
Christine: Isn’t that with any business?
Glyna: Yeah …
Christine: Right now, it’s very important. There are fly by night companies. There are companies that jump into disasters, trying to fully profit and take advantage of people. It’s just very important that you watch out and make sure the people you are hiring are knowledgeable, are explaining the process of why they believe it to be successful. And showing their history, that yesterday they weren’t a body shop mechanic, and today, they’re a restoration company. You know? That’s important with any business. I’m sure there’s a lot of marketing companies out there that start-up overnight and it’s very…
Oh, yeah.
A company with ya’ll, and ya’ll are so fantastic that you’ve allowed to spotlight companies right now, in this time.
Glyna: Yes. Believe me, I get it. Yes. Everyone thinks that they can build a website.
Sarah: Yep. Yeah. There are experts and then there’s experts.
Glyna: Exactly. Exactly. Well, tell us about … You told us a really neat story the other day about a police department that you helped out. I’m going to let you tell the story because obviously, you have all the facts. I just thought it was an awesome story.
Christine: Well, sure. We actually haven’t done it yet.
Glyna: Okay.
Christine: We are honored that they just accepted our proposal to do this. There are two police departments in Alabama, where we are going to be the first, starting next week, we’re going to be going and doing a disinfectant treatment on the law enforcement vehicles at no cost to the city. At a time like this, it’s not just important to market your business to get business, it is incredibly important to also use what you have to help other people. That’s something that’s very important to my partner, Joe, and I. We want to help people, but we also want to give back to the community. That’s what we’re doing for these people that keep our city safe.
Glyna: That’s wonderful. Love, love, love that.
Sarah: That’s really truly … Everybody’s been affected, one way or another, have fallen on some sort of hard times. I just think it’s incredible that ya’ll are giving back like that and helping the community. That just speaks volumes. That’s really great. Christine, along with that, we had talked about this a couple of times. I wanted you to share a little bit more about the public assistant program providing disaster relief funding, and really how it can help businesses recover funds for any disinfectant services that they received. I just think it’s a great program. I didn’t know if you could touch on that?
Christine: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. The public assistance program is a program delegated by FEMA. You go on the FEMA website and they can give you all the information that I don’t have. Basically, many non-profits, government facilities, which is long-term care facilities, child care facilities, people like that, if they are doing something to prevent the spread, and to keep the people within their building safe, there is this program that is allowing for reimbursement of the money that you are spending on things like the preventative services, the personal protective equipment that you are purchasing for your place. Masks, things like that.
And then, on top of that, they’re doing something … This has been an established program with FEMA for a long time, I believe. It’s for all disasters, but they are doing things a little different for this COVID epidemic. I think they’re trying to streamline things a little bit more. And so, this link that you guys have on your screen, if you think that you could be eligible, if you’re a government facility, churches, nonprofits, things like that, go onto this website. But also, there’s information on there where if you are not one of the, quote, normal eligible companies, to be able to do this normally, there is information on how to partner with different business associations that they’ve approved, and things like that, to try to get you eligibility.
They’re wanting to make sure that, obviously, you take care of your buildings and try to keep people safe. It’s important to do this, regardless. But it’s also very good to know that you’ve got potential for being reimbursed for services that you paid to a company like mine.
Glyna: Perfect.
Christine: If you fit under any category, or if you just want to know if you do, go to this link on the screen.
Glyna: Perfect. Hey, Kelsi, we have some shout outs. We have a lot of people running on the site.
Kelsi: It’s hard to keep up.
Glyna: That’s okay.
Kelsi: We’ve got … And I can’t pronounce a lot of these peoples’ names.
Glyna: Uh oh. Give it a best shot. I bet.
Kelsi: John Brettahoff. Mary Beth Mason Walker, Mada … I’m not going to try your last name. I’m so sorry. Mike Morgan, Rita Lee, and Kim McConnell, and Will Bowman. Thank you all for joining us.
Christine: Good morning, everybody.
Kelsi: If our viewers have any questions, go ahead and shoot them over.
Glyna: Awesome. Okay, Christine. This is very, very important. All of this is very important and very enlightening. When emergency or disaster strikes, I think most people think, “I need to call my insurance provider right away.” What do you recommend? Should they be calling them first or be wasting time? What should they do?
Christine: Yeah, it’s a great question. In my professional opinion, I would always say that if you can have a restoration company there first to actually know what the damage is, what you’re looking at, to me, that is the most important thing. Just a very small story. We had a customer, two or three weeks ago, that called their insurance company first, explained to them what they thought was the problem, and their insurance agent or representative said, “I’m sorry, we don’t cover that.”
It was the way she was explaining it, because she’s not in this industry, she doesn’t know the lingo to use for what the actual problem is. If you make something sound like it’s a slow drip that may have been happening over time, they’re automatically going to tell you it’s denied, when that could be furthest from the truth.
Glyna: Right.
Christine: It’s always important to have someone out there to look at it, know the extent of the damage, know whether or not it’s even worth you filing a claim. You know? And walk you through the processes with being able to talk to the insurance company, let them know what needs to go on, what the actual issue is.
Glyna: Fantastic. Thank you for that. Again, when you’re running around scared and you don’t know what to do, that seems to be the first inclination of everyone.
Christine: Yeah, absolutely. The biggest problem, like I said, is it’s so important to have somebody to just help you navigate through the process that does this every day. When you don’t and you expect to take over it, that’s like self-medicating. You know? When you are sick and it’s to the point where you need to go to the doctor, and you try to treat it yourself, you’re never going to get the outcome that you would have had otherwise. It’s very important to let somebody help you.
Glyna: Fantastic.
Sarah: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. That’s really important. Truly, you would think your first thought would be the call your insurance carrier, that they’re the experts, or that they know. Really, they’re not experts, I would say, at mitigation and restoration services. That makes a lot of sense where to go first.
Sarah: A lot of that, are homeowners, are they … Do they have to … Do you recommend that they get a few … Let me rephrase this. Are property owners, do they have to use a preferred vendor, or can they just choose whoever they want?
Christine: A great question. Yeah. It’s in policies that you’re allowed to use any service to mitigate your home. Now, there are preferred vendors on the insurance … For the insurance companies, that work for the insurance. And then, there are restoration companies that are just as knowledgeable and want to take care of the homeowner, more so than the insurance company, have the homeowner as their customer and not the insurance company.
It’s very important that you find someone in the middle, that wants to work for the best interest of the homeowner but can still work well with insurance companies and have knowledge of insurance companies. If you’ve got a water loss and you call the Sheetrock contractor down the road to take care of it, while you are more than welcome … You’re more than allowed to do that. That’s not going to be in your best interest. You’re going to want to find someone that knows, again, how to navigate the process, what insurance companies want, what they don’t want, what they typically don’t want to pay for, even if it wants to get done, and just knowing how to talk to the people, and explain to them why it does need to be done.
Just an advocate on all counts, but back to the question, absolutely not. You can use any restoration contractor that you’d like.
Glyna: That brings us to … Since we’re still talking about insurance, before anything happens to you, can you recommend any type of coverages that people should have on their insurance that might help them a little bit more, or is there such a thing? I know you can’t be prepared for everything, but do you have any recommendations?
Christine: Ya’ll have some really good questions. I don’t necessarily know if I would zone in on one particular coverage. What I would say is a couple of things, because ya’ll can tell I’m a little wordy.
Glyna: You’re going great.
Christine: What I would say is a couple of things. It is incredibly important that you don’t have the mindset of having the cheapest insurance policy. Like anything in life, you get what you pay for. If you’re out there looking for the cheapest policy and not necessarily the best price for the best coverage, then you’re looking at it completely wrong. No one plans on having a pipe bust or having sewer water flood two stories of their house. No one expects for an electrical fire.
Because no one expects it’s going to happen and they think it’s never going to happen to them, that’s where they try to save money. I just think that it is so incredibly important that, first of all, you do reviews with your insurance agent, making sure that you’ve got everything in your policy that you need. If you’ve had a sump pump installed in your home and you don’t have coverage for that sump pump because you didn’t do the review with your insurance agent for them to know that, then that’s a problem. Then you run into the point of, well, that sump pump quit working, got backed up, whatever the situation is, now your house is flooded, and insurance isn’t going to pay for it because you didn’t have that coverage.
A lot of people don’t have sewage in their policies. Whether or not they had it taken out of their policy to save money, or whether or not they just didn’t ask about it, we’ve had several times where sewage has been all throughout a homeowner’s house and they did not have coverage for it.
Glyna: Oh my gosh.
Christine: Make sure you’re doing … Your house is most likely your biggest investment of your life. Protect it. Make sure that you are spending the time and doing what you need to do to make sure that you’ve got adequate coverage. Not one thing specifically, because we’ve seen so many people not covered for one thing or another. Just look at your policy, review your policy, talk to your agent about it. Make sure you are covered and stop trying to get the cheapest policy.
Sarah: Yeah. It makes me want to go look at my policy.
Glyna: I’ll be getting mine out this weekend.
Christine: Ya’ll, I think it took me four and a half hours before I was finished having my policy written. It’s just do the time, make sure you put in the time so you won’t have an issue when something does happen.
Kelsi: Absolutely.
Sarah: Gosh. I feel like, in your introduction, you really made it clear what separates you from other restoration companies. From a customer standpoint, what do you feel like they should look for when they’re choosing a restoration company? What separates you from the pack?
Christine: Yeah. Like I said in the intro, it’s just making sure that you don’t, A, have somebody fly by night. Make sure they know what they’re doing. And then also, make sure that they are explaining the process to you and letting you know why they’re doing what they’re doing. That’s going to make you more comfortable. You know?
There are a lot of restoration companies here in Birmingham, too, that are very capable of taking care of you. Unfortunately, there are a lot of companies that are going to fly by, tell you they know what they’re doing, and you’re going to be put in a very bad mess that then a company like mine will be having to come behind and clean up. Like I said, we do everything that we can to ensure that the process is smooth. And, listen, sometimes that’s out of our hands.
Sarah: Yeah.
Christine: You know? Depending on certain situations, jobs can go awry. You can have to wait on insurance companies for a long period of time. I don’t mean those kinds of things that are out of your hands, but just making sure you’ve got people that you can get on the phone. You know? That you can call, that you can talk to and ask questions to, and that are willing to do so. And then, if you want, a lot of companies have reviews. A lot of companies have websites that explain their process, as well. Just make sure you feel comfortable. If you don’t, if someone there doesn’t make you feel comfortable, or they’re not answering your questions the way they need, then find out if there’s somebody else within their company that can. You know? If there’s nobody within that company that can make you feel comfortable, then trust your gut.
Glyna: Yeah. Great, great advice. I’m sure you see a lot of crazy things. I mean, I can’t even imagine. I’m not going to ask you what your craziest thing is because I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I’m sure there are a few tips that you could give homeowners that might prevent some of the most common things you see?
Christine: Yeah. Actually, probably plumbing companies would be even better to answer that question, but John Brettahoff, who signed on earlier, he’s a plumber. If he wants to comment, if he’s still on, if he wants to comment some things to look out for. The biggest thing is just taking care of stuff and not letting it prolong, from an insurance standpoint. If you have a leak March 1st and you do nothing to take care of it until August, you’re going to have a big issue with having that covered under insurance. And, on top of that, you’re going to have six more months of damage to pay for. Just doing what you can, if you see a leak, try to do something about it. Call a plumber, call an HVAC technician. Try to do something yourself. As a homeowner, that is your obligation to try to prevent further damage.
From there, don’t flush baby wipes. Don’t do it.
Sarah: What other kind of … Or have you seen this several times?
Christine: No, I’ve seen it several times. Do not flush baby wipes.
Kelsi: It causes major complications in infrastructure for the city. I think the city of New York spends $19 million dollars a year cleaning out their sewage lines from baby wipes and flushable wipes. That’s a big problem.
Christine: That, and feminine products. Do not flush feminine products. I know we’re in the summertime now. It is hot as heck outside, but in the wintertime, it’s very important that when it starts … When the temperature starts dropping and it gets below freezing, leave your faucets on your exterior walls dripping. Leave your cabinet doors on your exterior walls open. That will help with trying to prevent pipes freezing and busting. Just take care of your stuff and when you know you’ve got a problem, take care of it then, not when you’ve got rotten wood all over your house and you need full blown mold remediation.
Glyna: I know. It makes me … Yuck.
Christine: I know. Good morning. Are you still … I hope no one’s eating as we’re talking about sewer water flooding your house.
Glyna: We do see John on here. John said, “Flushable does not mean flushable.”
Christine: It doesn’t.
Glyna: Kelsi, who else do you see? I know it’s hard to keep up, we have so many awesome people joining us today, but who else is popping in?
Kelsi: Danelle Cash said hey and she would like to know how much it would cost to fix a problem like that.
Christine: Ooh, Danelle, that is a good question. Unfortunately, when it comes to water damage, sewer damage, mold remediation or fire, the majority of the instances are in multi-thousands. That’s why it is so important to take care of it on the front end, to where the majority of problems could be covered under your insurance policy. We have seen a small crack in a shower pan turn into a $45,000 bathroom. You want to make sure that you’re doing everything you can, so you’re not having to pay that out of pocket. Deductibles are high enough right now. A lot of these policies are just going higher, and higher, and higher in deductibles. You want to make sure that if your deductible is $1500, then that should be all you have to pay. If you neglect the problem and you don’t do what you have to do to prevent further damage, you could potentially look at 15, 20, $30,000 worth of stuff that you’re having to pay out of your pocket, or else you can’t get it done.
Sarah: Good grief.
Glyna: Wow. It looks like Gayle had a question, Kelsi. I don’t know if you can see that, or not.
Kelsi: First, I want to say hey to Deana. Thank you for joining us, Deana.
Glyna: Hey, Deana.
Christine: Hi, Deana.
Kelsi: This may be a question for John, but you may also know. She wants to know what brand of wipes are safe to flush.
Glyna: Would that be zero?
Christine: In my opinion? Zero.
Glyna: Zero.
Christine: Toilet paper. Toilet paper’s the only safe thing to flush, in my opinion.
Kelsi: Okay.
Christine: John might want to stop talking, because when people stop doing that, he doesn’t get the calls. I’m just kidding.
Glyna: Do I have to … Like, this?
Christine: In my opinion, the only thing safe to put down your toilet is toilet paper.
Kelsi: Good. Yeah. John said, “None.”
Glyna: None.
Kelsi: Yeah.
Glyna: With a period. None.
Christine: No, there were memes going around during this whole COVID situation, where you couldn’t find any toilet paper on the shelves, so people were flushing paper towels, or baby wipes, or whatever. Then, on the other side, it was a plumber like …
Sarah: Money.
Christine: It’s just a joke. It was just a meme, but it was pretty funny because literally, you cannot get toilet paper right now.
Kelsi: Shawn wants to know; do you write up the scope of work or do you use a third party?
Christine: We write up the scope of work, but it depends on the situation. On the mitigation side, it’s always us. On the emergency service, restoration, going in, drying out, preventing further damage, that’s always us. Now, there are different processes depending on different insurance companies. Some adjusters go out and write the repair estimate. If that’s the case, the quickest thing for us to do, because we use the same software, is use their estimate and then supplement if they missed anything.
Now, if an insurance adjuster does not have to write their own estimate, then yes, we write the full estimate scope of work in everything. But if they already have one, it’s quicker with the process to send them just what they miss than write up another full scope that they then have to compare to theirs.
Glyna: Perfect. Sarah, did you have a …
Sarah: I was just going to … We were just going to wrap up the questions and wanted to ask you, Glyna, if you want to jump, who would be the best referral partners for your business?
Christine: There’s a lot. We’re very lucky that there are just so many people that can refer us. If you think about who’s going to be your first call if you have a water damage issue, then that’s the best partner for me. Is it your insurance agent? Is it your plumber, your HVAC technician, your property management company? Whoever you think is going to be your first call, that is who then could refer a company like mine and get you taken care of.
Outside of that, for the disinfection treatment that we are currently doing, great referrals to us would be schools, churches, especially these people that are able to benefit from being reimbursed. Those are great referrals. And then, also, we are doing this for residential homes, as well. If you know someone that’s had an outbreak, or if you know someone who knows someone that has, that’s a great referral for us.
Kelsi: Fantastic.
Glyna: Awesome. Well, while we’re finishing up here, is there anything else that you would like to cover that maybe we haven’t asked you about before we go to the hot seat round? I know you’re looking forward to that.
Christine: You know, actually, I thought about this question and I had an answer, but ya’ll have asked a lot of questions.
Glyna: It’s been a while.
Christine: I just think, like I said earlier, the biggest thing to me is … Or one of the biggest things is just making sure you are doing what you have to do to protect the biggest investment in your life. That’s every stage, from making sure you prevent further damage, to making sure you’ve got an adequate insurance policy, where you’re not going to be left out to dry. Just also knowing that you can call us anytime, we will be there. Like I said, we named our company Covenant. Not just because of the name, because it’s something that’s important to us, that bond, that promise, that commitment to our homeowners, to our employees, to our referral partners. We’ve got all the contact information going on the screen, if you want to take a screenshot of your phone, or whatever. If you need anything or you’ve got any questions, you can give us a call anytime.
Glyna: Perfect. That’s awesome.
Kelsi: I do have one more question from Rita Lee that I’d like to ask you. She says, “I may have missed it, but how long does it take to do the disinfection process and can you do it in home? At your home?”
Christine: Yes, we can do it at your home. The EPA registered and CDC approved chemicals that we have, have come to be the most successful treatment. It depends on how large the facility is. How large the facility is or how large the house is. We have gotten … We have done very, very large businesses and have been in and out of there in a night, or two. Like I said, it just depends. I hate answering a question like that, Rita. [inaudible 00: 39: 46]. It just depends. It really does. With homes, it shouldn’t take … With residences, it shouldn’t take long at all. We just want to make sure that chemical is soaking for enough time, and then going in and doing our other steps, as well.
Glyna: She’s asking … I hate to keep going backwards, but we’ll finish up with this. Can you be in your home, or do you have to leave, and how long do you have to stay out? What …
Christine: We would recommend leaving during this time. We’ve got our people in there in full-blown Tyvek suits and personal protective equipment. So yes, we absolutely would recommend you leaving your home during this time. Once we’re able to see your house, see the surfaces, we should be able to give you a better idea of how long it would take.
Glyna: Okay. Perfect. Awesome.
Sarah: Yeah. Well, that was great. Really.
Christine: This was a lot.
Glyna: You did fantastic.
Christine: Welcome to my brain.
Glyna: Well, we’re going to give your brain a little bit of rest and do something fun here. Sarah, we’re going to cue the hot seat?
Sarah: Yes. We’re going to switch gears and do something fun. It truly is a hot seat, because Christine has no idea what we’re going to ask. We’re going to shoot off these questions and you’ve got to give us the first top of mind answer in 60 seconds, and here we go. It’s the hot seat.
Kelsi: All right. You ready? What’s your favorite decade?
Christine: I’m so sorry?
Kelsi: What’s your favorite decade?
Christine: Um …
Kelsi: Okay. Would you rather listen to rock music or hip hop?
Christine: Hip hop.
Kelsi: Have you ever sent a text message to the wrong person?
Christine: All the time.
Kelsi: Do you consider yourself a hunter or a gatherer?
Christine: A hunter.
Kelsi: Okay. Do you consider yourself a good dancer?
Christine: Yes, but no other people do.
Kelsi: What is the last thing you watched on TV? I think you already answered that one today.
Christine: Yeah, but what’s it called? What’d I say?
Kelsi: Ozark.
Christine: Ozark.
Kelsi: Would you rather cook or order in?
Christine: Order in.
Kelsi: What’s your least favorite food?
Christine: Mussels.
Kelsi: Are you better in the morning or are you a night owl?
Christine: Night owl.
Kelsi: Drama or comedy?
Christine: Drama.
Kelsi: If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Christine: Mac and cheese.
Kelsi: Oh. Perfect.
Christine: Let me say, when I said drama, I really meant reality TV drama. That’s really what I meant, not like a true drama. Give me some good reality TV.
Kelsi: Awesome.
Glyna: We want to thank you so much, Christine. And again, I think we’ve read all of the information to get ahold of her. Thanks so much and that’s all we have for today.
Christine: Thank you for having me on, guys, and thank you for everybody that tuned in. Thank you, guys.