Business Innovators Radio - Managing Restoration Services for Water, Mold, and Fire Damage with Larry Mitchell

Starting point is 00:00:02 Welcome to the Agents Lounge podcast, where we talk all things real estate with the industry's top performers. Join us as we dive into the inspiring journeys of successful agents and uncover the secrets to their success. Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, we got the tips and tricks to help you navigate the world of real estate. Brought to you by Integrity Comfort Solutions. So grab a seat and join us in the Agents Lounge. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Welcome to the latest episode of the Agents Lounge, sponsored by Air Integrity Comfort Solutions, your local leader in HVAC, maintenance, sales, installation, and repair.

Starting point is 00:00:44 As always, I'm Larry and co-hosted by Francisco. Today on our show, we have a different little way we wanted to go. I know we usually have realtors on our show, but, you know, when we're talking about the trades and real estate, it takes a village. And so in our village today, we have Mr. Larry Mitchell of All Dry, you know, professional restoration and cleaning services. And I totally understand a lot of people may not have this at the top of our list. So we wanted to make sure we brought in somebody who could really delve into this topic a little bit more for us. So welcome, Larry. We're glad to have you here from one Larry to another.

Starting point is 00:01:26 If you wouldn't mind telling us a little bit about yourself and your background and what brought you to where you're at right? now. Sure. Yeah. First of all, thank you for having me. This is great. It's my first podcast, so it's a very exciting event for me. I can check it off the list. So I grew up in Massachusetts. I went to the Air Force Academy. I was an officer in the Air Force for quite a long time. I was a pilot, flew several different airplanes throughout my career, flew in combat. And about the second half of my career, I held various staff positions, including Squawner commander. As a squadron commander, I led an organization of about

Starting point is 00:02:06 240 people, which was great. It was in Guam. We lived in Germany. My family's seen the world. Wow. Okay. It's really awesome. Learned a ton about leadership and large organizations in that. I retired in 2017 after 23

Starting point is 00:02:23 years and got a job here in San Antonio as a vice president of an aviation company. It was a really unique experience for me. It was a small business, but it was also a defense contractor. So we did some subcontracting. We're a prime vendor on a couple of contracts, learned about joint ventures, and learned all about the federal acquisition system from the provider side rather than the warfighter side. So I did that

Starting point is 00:02:51 for about five years and got the entrepreneurial itch with my wife. We decided to go down the franchise route, which is a perfect setup for veterans. A lot of veterans. A lot of veterans don't know what to do after their service. And franchising is a really unique opportunity to get that template. So you don't necessarily have to be an expert right off the bat. You can kind of grow into it, which is what we did. We went with a brand called All Dry Restoration based out of Jupiter, Florida. We bought about five and a half territories here in San Antonio, so pretty big-sized area.

Starting point is 00:03:26 And it's been awesome. We learned a ton. We get to serve people again. and it's a great fit for my wife and I and our family. That's amazing. That's amazing. Now, you know, San Antonio is notorious for the wild weather we get from time and time. And today in San Antonio, it's 70 degrees in sunny skies, low humidity. I wish it was like that year-round.

Starting point is 00:03:50 Unfortunately, it's not, and that's where experts like yourself come in. So why would someone want to consider, you know, professional restoration and cleanup as a priority in their home or their business or any kind of anything like that. Yeah, sure. So, yeah, my wife and I joke about the weather here. We thought it was going to be, you know, like this all the time in the winter. Our first summer here or our first winter here was definitely not that way. It felt more like Seattle.

Starting point is 00:04:21 How long have you been in San Antonio? About six or seven years now. Okay. Yeah. But closer to seven, I think. I've been coming here my whole career. So familiar with the city back when six. You know, for was truly a farm road.

Starting point is 00:04:33 Yes. Like when the dinosaurs were on the earth, right? 30 years ago, yeah. But, yeah, as far as restoration, you know, we're the kind of service that you don't think about until you need us. And then when you need us, you need us like yesterday. Yes. So consider, you know, you're a homeowner and you come home and there's an inch of water in your kitchen.

Starting point is 00:04:54 You know, or you have a rental property and it's between tenants right now, your property manager and, you know, you're a clean, and crew shows up to make ready and there's there's mold growing in the pantry. You need that fixed right away. So it's not a fun topic to think about when you don't need it, but that's why we're here. So we know how to work the system to make sure that we get the issue fixed, the, whatever the issue is as fast as possible within the constraints that the property owner wants to operate in. You know, you brought up an interesting topic there. You said, you know, restoration is you don't, you need us, you need us like yesterday.

Starting point is 00:05:41 And I would say that's very similar to HVAC because when you need us, you needed us like yesterday. Right. Exactly. You know, when it gets hot, people need us like, can you come down dying? Right. Or when we got our first cold blast, the same response. Yeah. So people come home and their washing machine or dishwasher leaked all over the place, panic ensues.

Starting point is 00:06:06 And if someone calls in that type of situation, what do you bring to the table to kind of help defuse the situation a little bit? Yeah. Well, first of all, we triage every situation, right? So if it's a mold issue, it's probably been going on for a while. You don't necessarily need us out there this afternoon. If it's a water issue, you know, we will tell our existing customers who we all, always have great relationships with, hey, we've got another customer's got an emergency. We've got a, we'll be back to this job, but we have to go over and extract and stabilize,

Starting point is 00:06:40 stabilize this environment for this other customer. And everyone understands, you know, that's how, that's how it works. So we strive to have a response time within an hour, even as small as we are in the city. It depends on, you know, if my tech's at home and he's got a, to jump in his truck and get to the other side of the town, if there's some traffic, it's going to take us a lot longer. So we always have an immediate response as is possible, safely possible, and it's super important to get whatever the process is started to avoid what's called secondary damage in a property. So something gets wet. It's not going to be long before Mother Nature takes

Starting point is 00:07:21 over and mold starts growing. Well, you know, I'm glad you brought that up because Maybe not the most exciting topic, but when we're talking about this, tell us a little bit about the dangers of standing water, standing moisture altogether. Yeah, sure. So water gets everywhere. And, I mean, you can literally walk into a place that just had a water loss an hour ago and everything looks normal. Smells a little weird, right? Because things are wet that shouldn't be wet. But it's not long before everything kind of looks normal.

Starting point is 00:07:55 And it's really a difficult to conceptualize what's about to happen to that property. If water gets under like pergo laminate flooring, it's got to come up. There's no save in it because eventually that material will soak up all the water. It gets between the moisture barrier and the slab. The slab is like a big sponge, so it's a rigid sponge. it's going to soak all that water in. You've got to get all that out. And there could be, depending on the size of the leak,

Starting point is 00:08:29 tens of thousands of gallons of water where it shouldn't be. I mean, I can only imagine the people would feel you're talking about that much water or moisture underneath their kingdom, their home, their business, whatever. How does one go and identify the amount of water or moisture or damage in there? Yeah, so we use, and hopefully every restoration company out there, uses specialized tools to identify what's wet and what really should be dry. And including thermal imagery, we have thermal cameras that we come in, and that helps us spot temperature differential. So if water is in drywall and it's evaporating, that area is going to be cooler than normal dry drywall. And so that gives us a clue as to where the water is.

Starting point is 00:09:22 The real way to test, though, is with a moisture meter. We have specialized moisture meters. You can pin materials or we have moisture meters that can radiate waves into materials about, you know, quarter inch or half inch. And tell us what the moisture content is of that particular material, whether it's wood or drywall or, you know, we have probes as well can go into walls and test the insulation. Wow. Oh, you know, I've talked to some of our clients before, and they will say, or they will at least imply sometimes, you know, my home is waterproof, it's silkproof, you know, because it's made out of X material. Is there truly anything that's, quote, unquote, waterproof? Nothing. Not in your home. I mean, maybe your Apple Watch.

Starting point is 00:10:09 Oh, that's a good point. But I'll tell you that it is going to look normal. for at least a little while it's going to look normal. Even you could have a hose running in your house for overnight. And you turn that hose off and wait a day. You're going to walk in and it's going to smell funky, but it's going to look normal. The problem is that the moisture has permeated through all those materials. And eventually, if you don't address it correctly, that's within three days, it's going to start growing mold.

Starting point is 00:10:41 And there's no way to get out of it except to do. do demo in certain places and to get a dehumidifier in. A lot of times what people will do is set up fans. That doesn't do anything. It's just blowing moist air around and it's not drying anything out. You've got to get a commercial dehumidifier in. You have to get a train certified expert in your home so they can do the correct calculations, get the right amount of dehumidification in there, and use the correct demolition. techniques, and there is demolition involved, nine times out of ten, especially if we're talking outside walls, because that insulation got wet. It's got to come out. There's no getting around it.

Starting point is 00:11:26 Sometimes if it's an inside wall, then we can just remove the baseboard and drill holes where the baseboard was, and we can dry effectively in cavities on the walls that way. But again, if it's an outside wall, usually we're talking about cutting into the dry wall. Wow. Okay. Now, when you're talking about something like that, is that something that you guys could do or do you have to bring someone in to kind of do more of that deeper work necessary? We are experts in demolition where it relates to water, mold, fire, damage. And so what we do, think of us as the cleaning experts, right? We come in, we, first of all, we help our clients understand exactly what they're dealing. with. And by the way, that part of our service is completely free. The demolition part. No, no. The consultation. Oh, okay. Okay. So if, especially for realtors, if it's some sort of closing that's happening in like three weeks or something, we can come in

Starting point is 00:12:31 for free and help the seller and the seller's agent understand exactly what's happening. We don't typically work for buyers just because we have to work for the property owners. but that piece of information is invaluable. And you can make decisions about what to do next. And again, that's a service we provide for all of our clients. Realtors are not for no cost. One, the first in-home consultation is always free. Okay, okay, good, good, you know.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Now, when we talk about something like mold, can you elaborate a little bit on the dangers? I mean, people know about mold. I hear about like, oh, mold equals. Bad. But when we're talking bad, like, how would you kind of help somebody understand how bad mold is? Sure. So, you know, a lot of people don't think it's all that dangerous because the EPA doesn't publish limits from both, right? And the reason that they don't publish limits, I've been told and trained, is that everybody's sensitivity to mold sports is different, right? So you and I could walk into the same place. You feel sick right away, and I don't feel anything for two weeks, right?

Starting point is 00:13:47 It's because your biology is such that your physiology isn't reacting to the mold spores the same way that mine do. And so there's no way to publish a standard like they have for, say, lead or asbestos. There's just no way to do it because everyone's different. So that kind of has turned into this false narrative of there's good mold and bad mold. There's mold all around us all the time. It's just a matter of your individual sensitivity to that. And so the only way to know exactly what you're dealing with when it comes to mold is to get a licensed. In Texas, we've licensed mold assessors and remediators is to get a licensed assessment company to come out and do mold testing.

Starting point is 00:14:34 They typically do an air sample outside, an air sample inside, and then if there's visible mold, they can swab that. They send it off to the lab, and literally the next day you have results. And you know exactly what you're dealing with, what kind of mold, what species, and the concentrations. Wait, where, where it? Species of mold? Yeah, of course. Okay, so we got like the T-Rex of mold, but then we have like the little chameleon of mold. Yeah, it's aspergillus penicillium is the most typical. species of mold and again everyone's different so you know you could like my wife all the time she's

Starting point is 00:15:12 like uh my allergies are terrible today i'm like i'm no idea what you're talking about i just i don't have allergies like i'm lucky right not come wood uh but uh it affects her much differently than it affects me and every species is different some are much more dangerous typically than others uh and some you have to cladosporium you've got to get rid of it the right way. And literally, you have to capture every mold spore that has grown in that property in order to prevent that from happening again. Wow. Okay. Did you know about the different species of mold chief? Yes. Inside AC units, they love it in there. Yeah. Very damp environment. Cold, dark place. Yeah. Dark. And we also, as an HBAC company, we help customers prevent it from growing inside

Starting point is 00:16:02 like your AC units by sometimes installing UV lights or good filtration system. You have a good filter. It's going to prevent it from spreading throughout the whole house. But if you don't have any filters and your AC is turning on the whole time, I mean, the effecture is. You're spreading the mold spores throughout your entire house. Yeah. You've got to deal with it inside your HVAC. Is there a truly effective way to get rid of all of that if it's in?

Starting point is 00:16:31 Yes. And where it's like, I don't got like one species, third cousin from its other side, still lingering inside. Well, I mean, there's mold everywhere. Yeah. Right now, today, there's mold inside and outside. It's a question of, is it a normal level or not? Is it a level that humans are normally exposed to? And if there's not, and again, everyone has different exposure symptoms.

Starting point is 00:16:56 And some people have higher risk of, like, pulmonary patients. have higher risks, those with suppressed immune systems, they've got to maintain much cleaner environments. The UV lights inside the HVX systems is an outstanding way to control not only mold, but other pathogens that can get into your system. The HPA filters, they work. Like, they're tested and they work. You've got to make sure you do your research. That's like a hospital type air filter. Yeah, and airplanes have it.

Starting point is 00:17:33 In fact, during COVID, airplane cabin, once it got airborne, was one of the safest environments out there because it's a combination of outside air and HEPA grade filtration that's being recirculating. You run up a good topic because a lot of people tend to think being in an airplane, it would be confined space. You're just breathing in all sorts of junk, but it's really quite sanitary. It is. Once the engines on the airplane are running and you're not just running off the airspace. APU in the back of the tail. And that air handling system is in full gear. It is one of the safest environments for your lungs that you can find.

Starting point is 00:18:13 Larry, have a question for you. For those homeowners or businesses, what are some things that they can do to either prevent bacterial growth from growing in their home? And if they're not unsure, what are some of the ways you can help? Yeah, sure. One of the simplest things you can do is go on Amazon, get a home hygrometer, temperature, humidity meter. You know, you can get a wireless one that you put in three different spots in your house. If you have a higher-end HVAC system, you know you can actually set the humidity levels in the home.

Starting point is 00:18:47 You want the humidity level somewhere around 40 to 45%, which is typical. For the purposes of mold, if you get to 60%, you're in molding. danger territory. 60 to 70%. If I walk into a place that's got a water loss and it's a contained, normal contained environment, we've seen humidity levels as high as 80, 90%. And I mean, you're talking structural damage at that point, not only mold growth, but structural damage. So I would say the simplest thing and the cheapest thing that someone can do, and especially for realtors that are dealing with vacant properties, is to have a hygrometer system in the home to make sure that the humidity levels are maintained.

Starting point is 00:19:30 Well, you know, you brought up another interesting point because I would imagine a lot of the clientele you have are reactive things, something happened and they're, but we want to try to think maybe proactive. That's what something we sell on the HVAC side is maintain your units, change your filters, have us come out in service, you know, and I would think in almost any kind of service industry, there's proactive and reactive things that someone could do. And so you're talking with the hygrometer. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:01 That would be something that's very proactive. And, you know, it should be at the same level, I'm assuming, as changing an air filter. You know, if you want to keep me out of your home, bring you guys in on a regular maintenance plan. That's tip number one. Tip number two, have a plumber that you trust come and give you a risk evaluation. or we could come in and do a risk evaluation. We see what the water losses, typical water losses are. Toilets, you know, wax rings fail all the time.

Starting point is 00:20:34 People don't realize those wax rings are really only good for about 10 years. So if you buy a home and you're moving into that home and you're changing the toilet seats, it's simple enough. It's almost a DIY project. Change out the wax ring. You're good for another 10 years. I'm not dealing with any toilets. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Well. Not yet, sir. Not yet. Knock on wood. Yes. That's what we do each part. This NPR broadcast. But really, you know, in Texas, we have very hard water.

Starting point is 00:21:04 So having a water softener is huge. I mean, I can't tell you how many times we've been into a home that the valves have failed. It was a slow leak. They didn't know about it. And now a lot of insurance companies won't cover seepage unless you have a seepage endorsement on your policy. So, oh, yeah, there's all sorts of endorsements. Yeah, and so you've got to do that preventative maintenance. The HVAC system is key.

Starting point is 00:21:31 Plumbing, you know, flushing your water heater, making sure that you have a plumber in your home once every year or two, just to evaluate everything. Making sure your water softener is operating properly and you're avoiding buildups that are really super tough on, not only valves, but copper pipes. Wow. What about, um, issues with sealing the home or infiltration from the outside. Yeah. So your HVAC's got to be working properly. Otherwise, you're going to get condensation in places.

Starting point is 00:22:04 You don't need it. And I'll tell you what, I mean, the blown-in insulation stuff is great, but if it gets wet, it's a big pain in the butt because you get to scrape it out. There's no way to dry it. And so those super-efficient homes that have those really high-end spray foam stuff, If you have a water loss from HVAC or plumbing in the in the attic, man, it's going to be a big job. Just expect that. And I would say like older homes that have a lot of, they're not as contained as foam.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Yeah. Homes or newer homes, they're going to have a lot of air leaks or, you're going to have moisture coming into the windows, through the doors, through any crack that the home has. Right. And, you know, it's kind of a, it's almost good and bad because this, These older homes that are peer and beam here in San Antonio, you know, they've got, you're literally your planks are, you look through the planks and there's dirt underneath.

Starting point is 00:23:01 They let a lot of moisture in, but they also breathe, right? Which means there's a natural cycle of humidification and dehumidification that happens. Like today, when the weather's great and you've got a nice light breeze, it's pulling all sorts of moisture out of that home. Whereas a home that's tightly sealed, water gets in, now it's crows. critical. You've got to get that water out. No messing around. You cannot mess around with this stuff. And don't do it yourself. It's not going to work.

Starting point is 00:23:29 Well, you brought up a good point because, you know, we rerun to a lot of people that are DIY with this stuff. Yeah. And I'm a DIY guy. Yeah. I mean, you go to Google and Amazon and you're like, oh, yeah, I could do this or whatever and you end up compounding the problem instead of bringing in an expert who knows what they're doing, like us and HVAC or yourself in restoration. You know, leave it to the experts. It's okay to self-educate and make yourself aware. That's what we want people to do, but we don't want you to put yourself in any danger and make the situation harder for you.

Starting point is 00:24:02 Yeah, and I'll give you a perfect example of that. You know, RPM Hill Country is a property management company that we both know. They had a client who had a home. Their client, they're making it ready for the next tenant, and they had some pet issues, pet odor issues. And so the homeowner, good on them, he's a DIY guy, wants to do it himself. But he rented a carpet cleaner from Home Depot, brought it in, cleaned the carpets, and the smell got worse. And they didn't understand why. And so RPM called me in to do a consultation.

Starting point is 00:24:42 Again, free consultation. I went and tested the humidity in the home. It was off the charts. because that home rental DIY carpet cleaner, it cleaned the carpet, but it also left moisture in the carpet pad. And so that moisture, when a pet urinates on a carpet pad, it stays there. It doesn't come out. Despite what any kind of chemical you buy or whatever. You can clean your carpet.

Starting point is 00:25:10 You can't clean your carpet pad. That's the bottom line. And so, you know, through this free in-home consultation, I was able to help the property manager advise his client. We pulled up the carpet, showed all the stains on the back. If a carpet is stained more than 30 percent, it's got to be replaced. There's really no point spending money on deodorization and pulling. So in that case, the correct sequence is you remove the carpet. This is more than 30 percent stain.

Starting point is 00:25:42 remove the carpet, remove the carpet pad. You have to pull the tax strips out because those are all stained, especially for male dogs that urinate around the corners. And then you have to scrub the slab because remember slab is a rigid sponge. It's soaked up that urine. You got to scrub that with an enzymatic cleaner, purpose built. And then you have to dry it out. And once that's done, now you can put things back together. There's no way to get that urine smell out of your house without doing it.

Starting point is 00:26:12 in those the correct steps. PSA, potty train your animals, ladies and gentlemen. It is worth it, yeah. Yes, yes. I mean, I know not to sound gross or anything, but urine is pretty corrosive. It is, absolutely. I mean, and it changes chemistry over time as well. And so same with smoke and nicotine.

Starting point is 00:26:34 It gets in everywhere, and people are surprised at some of the measures that we have to take to eliminate those orders. Well, I know one of the services you do as unenviables, it may sound, is sewage restoration. Okay, your sewage line backs up or something bus. Yeah. And, you know, God forbid, I mean, water is one thing, moisture is one thing, but something like that. How would you approach something like that? It's really, the principles are the same.

Starting point is 00:27:04 The big difference is that with a cat one, clean water loss, you can dry things out. if it's a cat three, cat two or cat three sewage loss, then you need to remove any materials that have been touched by that contaminated water. It's a biohazard. There's no saving it. There's no saving it. You can't wash it. It's got to come out. The only thing that, so if sewage backs up into an area that's finished, all of those materials have to come out.

Starting point is 00:27:36 The flooring, the drywall, the insulation, the tax strips, carpet, carpet pad, everything's got to come out. So you're just looking at a shell. Yes. We bring it down to the studs. And we have to decontaminate first before we can start drying. So that involves a combination of hepa vacuuming. If it's mold, if it's sewage, you're talking antimicrobials. and we use pure botanical anti-microbial solution.

Starting point is 00:28:07 It's a surfactant that is super environmentally friendly. It comes from essential oil from the time plant, T-H-Y-M-E, the herb that you cook with. And so it smells actually kind of nice, but it's super effective on all those harmful biomes. Wow. And our time's almost suck, but I'm always confused with insurance claims and calling somebody to fix it. What's the process when you get to your home and your home's blood?

Starting point is 00:28:43 Sure. Yeah, you and I talked about this the other day. You know, the first step is to call in an expert, okay? It's gotten to the point with insurance carriers. Everyone knows the insurance industry is a challenging one for carriers. And so I don't blame them, but they're using every tool available to set your rate. And if they can raise your rate, it's a business. They're going to, if they can find a way to prove that you're at higher risk, they're going to do it.

Starting point is 00:29:09 So they've started accounting for any time you call the carrier and ask them about a loss in your home, that counts as a claim. And they use that data, even if you don't end up making a claim, to put you in a higher risk category. And so your insurance rates at renewal could go up just by calling your carrier. I mean, it's kind of crazy, and people don't know this. So I always encourage if you have an agent, work with your agent. If you have a specific problem, call an expert. You know, hopefully you can call someone like us. We get great reviews and, you know, we serve our community,

Starting point is 00:29:50 and we don't charge to come out and give a consultation. But call an expert first. Get their advice. It's going to be, hopefully it's free, and it's going to give you information about what to do next. Well, to kind of summarize as we close for the day, the restoration you do, of course, water, moisture, fire and smoke. Very important. Sewage. Any kind of contamination whatsoever.

Starting point is 00:30:16 So for our listeners, would you mind providing your contact information? Yeah, actually, you put me on the same. spot here. The best way to get in touch with this is go to our website, Aldrysatx.com, and all of our contact information is there. We have people answering the phones 24-7, and we always are happy to talk to anyone, even if they're not an existing customer. We just love helping people. Realtors would benefit a lot from what you do as well. 100%. We understand what's important to realtors.

Starting point is 00:30:48 And just to wrap it up, before meeting you were mentioning you involved in certain organizations, What are some of your passions or things you like to? Sure. Yeah, well, I'm an aviator. You know, that's from the Air Force. I fly out of Bernie Stage Airfield. I have a glider up there, so we do sailplanes. And so aviation is one of my big passions, and leadership is the other.

Starting point is 00:31:12 I'm heavily involved in the North San Antonio Chamber. They've got outstanding leadership programs, and we support, through the board that I serve on, we support fundraising to give scholarships to those two programs. Outstanding. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you, Larry, for coming on here.

Starting point is 00:31:33 It's been great. Thank you, guys. Super interesting. And this is an invaluable service for our listeners. Again, all dry SATX.com. Thank you for coming, Larry. And for our listeners, we will see you next time on the Agents Lounge. You've been listening to the Agents Lounge podcast, brought to you by Airtegrity

Starting point is 00:31:55 comfort solutions. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes, please visit agentsloungepodcast.com.

Business Innovators Radio - Managing Restoration Services for Water, Mold, and Fire Damage with Larry Mitchell

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