While ServiceMaster NCR is widely recognized for our response to floods, mold, and fire, we find that some of our lesser-known specialties are where we make the biggest difference. These include services like hoarding, trauma, biohazard cleaning in Alexandria VA and surrounding areas.
We were contacted last week by a client in the most unfortunate of situations; she had been removed from her home due to unsanitary conditions and brought to a state-run facility, unable to move back in until certain criteria were met. Lacking the ability to travel, a ServiceMaster project manager met her at the short-term care facility to go over the project and pick up her keys. Following the assessment of her home, the project manager returned to meet with her again and discuss the recommendations. Heavy cleaning of both bathrooms, carpeting, and flooring throughout was necessary due to heavy contamination, along with deodorization. It was then that two additional challenges cropped up: She had to leave the short-term care facility by the following Monday (this consultation taking place on Thursday), and she lacked any type of funds to pay for the work that was needed.
Given that we have served clients in the DC area for almost 40 years under the same family ownership, we see this from time to time. We often help in small unseen ways; reducing the cost of a project because of limited insurance coverage, providing consultations at no cost, or suggesting ways in which clients can tackle a project more cost-effectively. This occasion, however, required something more. With a single call to the office, the wheels were set in motion- we decided to take this on pro bono, because it was obvious that if ServiceMaster NCR did not take care of it, no one would. A crew was detailed for cleaning the following day, with deodorization equipment to be operated over the weekend and picked up Monday before our client returned home. Since our client lacked access to a computer, we even dispatched a senior administrator with paper copies of the work authorization form for her to sign that same afternoon. The world seems like a harsh place sometimes, but there are lots of ways to a difference.
As you might expect from a company that specializes in emergency response and disasters, everything went off without a hitch. The photos speak for themselves, and we were able to get her back into the house within a very narrow window of time. Not costing her a dime? That’s just the icing on the cake.
