Just 2 Minutes - Interviews by Kamil Sarji

20-Water Damage & Mold Solutions: Expert Advice from Carmine DeLuca

• Kamil Sarji • Episode 20

Share episode

Send us a text

Water damage can be a nightmare for homeowners, leading to mold and health hazards if left untreated. In this episode, Carmine DeLuca from All Dry RI shares expert advice on how to handle water damage before it escalates. Learn how his company tackles mold issues, why immediate action is essential, and what steps you can take to protect your property. Carmine discusses the critical timeframes for addressing water damage, the types of water contaminants that can lead to mold growth, and how to ensure a thorough cleanup. Whether you're a homeowner or a real estate professional, this episode will equip you with valuable knowledge on disaster prevention and recovery.

Key topics include the importance of detecting leaks early, how biofilm can lead to unseen mold issues, and what happens when water damage isn't immediately addressed. You'll also discover how financing options can help homeowners manage unexpected costs and how to work with insurance companies to ensure proper coverage for water and mold damage.

Tune in to hear Carmine's firsthand experiences and real-life examples of how quick action and expert intervention can save homes from extensive damage.

Whether you're a seasoned agent looking to stay ahead, a newcomer eager to learn, or a client seeking reliable real estate advice, "Just 2 Minutes" offers a wealth of information in a convenient and enjoyable format. Join us as we explore tips, tricks, and insights from industry leaders and professionals that can help you navigate the dynamic world of real estate.

Join Us:

Tune in to "Just 2 Minutes" and elevate your real estate knowledge. Subscribe now and never miss an episode of quick, insightful conversations that make a big impact. https://kamil.buzzsprout.com

Stay Connected:

For more information on joining our team or how we can assist you with your real estate needs, reach out to us today!

Kamil Sarji:

Welcome everybody. I'm Kamil Sarji, your host today. And we have Carmine here. Carmine, you want to tell us about you?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah. My name is Carmine DeLuca. I'm with All Dry Services of Rhode Island. We are a disaster restoration company providing water damage, fire, smoke, mold, trauma, biohazards, anything that might affect a property we can help out with.

Kamil Sarji:

Boom. It's amazing. All right. So, this show is called Just Two Minutes, and it's basically me asking random questions for the first two minutes. It's timed. No stress. And then after that we talk about the real estate industry. We talk about you, your background. I have some questions. I'm really excited about you being here today. So, you ready for the questions?

Carmine DeLuca:

Great. Yeah, let's go.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay, my timer here. All right, three, two, one uh, Carmine, what's the first thing you do in the morning?

Carmine DeLuca:

Uh, the first thing I do, um, that's, that's a good question. Um, I, I, uh, I like to eat. I like to have a nice breakfast, um, relax, you know, catch up on the, uh, uh, maybe what the weather's going to be that day. Cause it changes so quickly. Even if you heard the news the night before,

Kamil Sarji:

hmm, its changed you

Carmine DeLuca:

know, it's, it already changed. So, uh, yeah, catch up on a little of the news, the weather, and then have a nice breakfast.

Kamil Sarji:

In your opinion, who is the best flutist in the world? Is it Sir James Galloway or Genie, Beckstress, Breckstressor?

Carmine DeLuca:

Okay. As far as flutists go, um, I, I'm not a, A student of the flute, if you will. So, um, that's a tough question for me to answer.

Kamil Sarji:

That's why I'm asking you.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah. If you ask me, uh, about who are

Kamil Sarji:

those two? Like,

Carmine DeLuca:

I have no idea who they are.

Kamil Sarji:

James, Sir James Galloway or Jeanne Bextresser, if you have to guess.

Carmine DeLuca:

Jeanne Bextresser.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay. That's a good opinion. Uh, do you sing in the shower?

Carmine DeLuca:

No

Kamil Sarji:

you don't. Okay. If you were to sing in the shower, what song would you sing?

Carmine DeLuca:

Big fan of Willie Nelson. Julio Iglesias when they do a duet.

Kamil Sarji:

That's what you would sing if you could.

Carmine DeLuca:

I'd sing a Willie Nelson song, yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

What's the biggest favor that you did for someone?

Carmine DeLuca:

It was probably, um, when I was in the military. When I was in the Air National Guard. And, um, I met people, I was in basic training, was in, uh, Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. And we had to, uh, pass a physical, we had to do some routine, uh, uh, running. And you had to get to a mile within so much time. And there was one fella, I believe he was from Oklahoma, and he was having trouble. Making the time and so I held back to pace him so that he could make the time and complete the cost

Kamil Sarji:

So you stuck around for

Carmine DeLuca:

yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

Wow, okay

Carmine DeLuca:

yeah,

Kamil Sarji:

cool. So what'd you think of those questions?

Carmine DeLuca:

Fine. Yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

All right. Awesome Carmine so exciting to have you here. You've been in the industry for a while

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah,

Kamil Sarji:

and you are really good. I would say in my opinion really good at connecting with Realtors. What's your secret sauce?

Carmine DeLuca:

Just attending a lot of networking events and just being honest and up front with people. You know, don't over promise or don't kind of go outside of your lane. And I was with, prior to coming on with AllDry, I was with a much smaller restoration company. And we primarily just did water damage and mold remediation. But it was through working with that company for 12 plus years that I got to meet a lot of realtors because we were solely focused on, for the most part, again, those two things, water damage and mold.

Kamil Sarji:

So now you guys offer more. Now you have an opportunity.

Carmine DeLuca:

All dry, national franchise. They were part of a group of almost 300 franchises our group is probably the largest, territory wise, in the country for AllDry because we own all of Rhode Island, so as a franchise we own every territory in the state. So we own all of Rhode Island, all of Connecticut, and we just acquired all of Southeast Mass.

Speaker 7:

Wow.

Carmine DeLuca:

So we have an office in Plymouth Mass, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, in Berlin, Connecticut, which is just south of Hartford, and an office in Stanford.

Kamil Sarji:

That's amazing. So you broaden your coverage area.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, so I'm fortunate that I just have to worry about Rhode Island. But it helps out because whether, you know, you're a realtor, an insurance agent, a property management company, you might have clients. on either side. So you might have clients in, you know, Swansea, Stoughton, Fall River, the Attleboros, or you might have clients in Putnam and Killingly and, you know, nearby Connecticut. So we can service those areas. And then if it's further out, if it's down the Cape, or if it's down in Stanford, we have offices in Plymouth and in Stanford to handle that. So I can be the easy button for a lot of folks. that have a broader coverage area themselves.

Kamil Sarji:

So question about your business is super high stress because people calling at 2am, the water's coming down, or the house is like burned. You don't get those calls.

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, I do. So, well, There's a balance. So I have my cell number on my business card. So people can call me 24/7. They can call me if they just have a question on something, if they're not sure. In the case of an insurance project or a damage at a property, we offer a service whereby we can go out and provide a free evaluation and free estimate. So that's critical for homeowners especially to understand how big of a problem do I really have. Because you don't want to just call that 800 number. You want to have a better understanding of what's going on, get that estimate. Now you can have that conversation with your insurance agent. They know your claim history, they know your deductible, and they can help you decide, is this worth calling in a claim? So yeah, so I have my cell number on there, but you know,

Kamil Sarji:

So people call you, like, there's a waterfall in my living room. You get that call?

Carmine DeLuca:

I get, I can get that. Like, right

Kamil Sarji:

now, there's like a waterfall in my room.

Carmine DeLuca:

Exactly.

Kamil Sarji:

You get that?

Carmine DeLuca:

I get that call, and it is very stressful for us. You almost have to be a counselor, you know, to just kind of put people at ease and say, Okay, we can help you with this. Don't worry. Make sure that they've already taken certain steps. If it's a water issue, that they know where the shutoff valves are. Make sure that that's been taken care of. And depending on the nature of the problem and the extent that they're, you know, supplying us with, we can determine quickly we need to get there. So those emergency calls, we can dispatch. Sometimes we have to dispatch crews, you know, at midnight. And other times you might get the call and they say, Okay, I had this problem, but I was able to shut the water off. And, you know, and they don't even want you to come on up, but they want you to be there at 7 o'clock in the morning. So, we helped them, kind of, you know, walk them in from the ledge, because they're obviously upset already about the damage that's being done.

Kamil Sarji:

So, in a house, in a disaster, water, smoke, fire, mold, death. So, all these things, there's a timeline, like, to get in there and get it taken care of.

Carmine DeLuca:

Right.

Kamil Sarji:

There's an amount of time that you can wait before taking care of it, right?

Carmine DeLuca:

There is, so obviously some things you want to address, you know, immediately.

Kamil Sarji:

If there's a fire, put out the fire, then let's, right?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, so usually the fire department, you know, the fire, it can be a small fire, and in a lot of cases, the damage that's caused is more water damage than from the actual fire. Because the job of the fire department, if they're called in on it, put the fire out. That's all they're worried about. So they're not worried about how much water is being applied or where that water is going at that point in time. They're worried about putting the fire out. Some fires are small contained. The homeowner might contain the fire. It could be a small kitchen fire. I've had instances where people use their stove, their oven area as a

Kamil Sarji:

for heat

Carmine DeLuca:

for storage.

Kamil Sarji:

Oh my gosh

Carmine DeLuca:

because they have a limited cabinet, storage space, so they might have some Tupperware or some plastic items that are, cause they're bulky, they store them, and then they forget about it. And they go to, you know, bake a cake or something, they preheat the oven, and all of a sudden that plastic melts and You get, you know, a nice coating of black smoke all over everything. But yeah, so there are some things that you want to obviously respond to very quickly and others, again, you, especially if it's going to be a self pay or they're not sure if it's covered by their insurance, uh, you know, to send someone out at, you know, two in the morning versus eight o'clock in the morning. We try to balance it out and think about the cost for the customer. So if there's no need to, you know, put someone out there that it's not that much, it's not that urgent. And so it's, we're saving them on the cost.

Kamil Sarji:

Time, on the emergency, pay for the emergency call.

Carmine DeLuca:

Exactly, yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay. So, I know with water, like water damage in the basement, there's a certain amount of time before it starts growing molds

Carmine DeLuca:

depending on what's, the furnishings, what's there. So usually it's, you know, between that 24 to 48 hours.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay.

Carmine DeLuca:

And, again, that depends on the materials that are being affected, it depends on the temperature, it depends on nature of the water loss. So I've had instances where if a water heater has failed or is leaking, there are different levels, if you will. So sometimes it could rupture and all the water comes out all at one time. Other times it can be a slow leak. And so what's happening is it's always heating. So it's like, if someone were taking a shower, so you draw so much hot water out, then it refills and it begins the heating process again. Well, that's gonna create, and I had this happen actually, it was a condo in Cumberland, and the people were on vacation.

Kamil Sarji:

Ohh no

Carmine DeLuca:

And the water heater was leaking. And so there was a constant hot water coming

Kamil Sarji:

out.

Carmine DeLuca:

And so it was, it was like a rainforest in the, all the insulation was all mold. It was really, really bad. So yeah, it depends on, you know, a lot of things. Most people that had unfinished basements because of all the rain that we've gotten. You know, in, you know, the last several months they've experienced water d you know, water in their basement.

Speaker 8:

Mm.

Carmine DeLuca:

And it's ground water. Okay. So it's coming up the ground water is not necessarily clean water. It's not water that came from a feed line.

Kamil Sarji:

Yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

You know, to your washing machines machine or drinking water.

Kamil Sarji:

Yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

There, there is still contaminants in that water.

Kamil Sarji:

Mm.

Carmine DeLuca:

And you won't see it. Until, if you had an inch of water and then it recedes, and then you see this layer of film that's left on the floor.

Kamil Sarji:

Wow. Okay. So what does, what kind of things are in that kind of water?

Carmine DeLuca:

So, that's a good question. You'd have to have it tested. Hmm. I mean, but there could be all types of bacteria.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay.

Carmine DeLuca:

It could be chemicals. It could be residue from, you know, lawn fertilizers.

Kamil Sarji:

Fertilizers, yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

And, so again, you don't know. But what's left is called a biofilm.

Kamil Sarji:

hmmm

Carmine DeLuca:

Now, a biofilm is often found in bathrooms, as well, around your shower. You'll, sometimes you notice you get in a little black area around the grout line.

Kamil Sarji:

Even the silicone is not supposed to grow that stuff, but it still grows that stuff.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, it's, well, it's not growing on the silicone, it's growing on the biofilm. Biofilm,

Kamil Sarji:

oh!

Carmine DeLuca:

And the biofilm, in that case, is created by the shampoos, the soap, the dust, particles that are in the air that fall on that and they build up. That's where the mold is growing

Kamil Sarji:

on top of the silicone not on it's

Carmine DeLuca:

on the biofilm on top of it Same thing when they have a water that just comes up from the ground They'll call us the problem that happens during these events We get a hundred phone calls because like it affects everybody all at once The first 20 people that call us love us the next 10 or so, you know It's like we don't have so many vehicles. We can only no matter how big of a company you are It's like You're not servicing 100 clients at one time.

Kamil Sarji:

So that's what, something I wanted to bring up is that Rhode Island had a lot of rain.

Carmine DeLuca:

Right.

Kamil Sarji:

Did you guys see, like, a lot of And you're saying, like, the first 20, but then how do you take care of everybody?

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, what happens is that water recedes. So the ones that require the most help is the ones that have a finished basement area. So maybe 10 percent of those folks that call are in that situation because the people that have finished basements over the years they've learned and they have sub pumps. Or they've managed to come up with, whether it's a French drain system, or a or have a sub pump to protect their basement. So it's the people that don't have a finished basement that they say, why do I spend money putting a sub pump in there? We don't have anything down here and we've never had water. Well, now, so when you have that real high water table and that water comes up, what those people unfortunately don't realize is There's going to be a biofilm that's left when the water recedes. And unless that's cleaned properly, there's a potential for mold to grow on that.

Kamil Sarji:

Wow.

Carmine DeLuca:

You know, so there's an education component that, you know, homeowners have to learn. It's hard. You don't want to emphasize it or push it so much that they feel like they're being sold. Like, Oh no, that's not, you're just trying to.

Kamil Sarji:

So there's way more to it then it's wet. Put the fan on it, dry it. You're good.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

It's more to that.

Carmine DeLuca:

There's more to it than that. Exactly. Exactly.

Kamil Sarji:

And how do they know? Like what do they,

Carmine DeLuca:

well, again, it's just a learning process that they need to go through. It's kind of like a trial and error thing.

Kamil Sarji:

When they see mold growing on it and they'll,

Carmine DeLuca:

they might have to go through that. And experience that and say, yeah, you know, that guy told me that this might happen and it did. So next time I know if I have this problem, I gotta handle it differently. I've gotta make sure it's clean.

Kamil Sarji:

So mold is like easy to see visually. Is there, how do they tell if something else?

Carmine DeLuca:

Odors, you can tell by a different environment. You're upstairs in the kitchen, fine. You have to go downstairs to get something. Now all of a sudden you go in that room and it's like, Oh my God, my throat feels sore or my eyes hurt. Something.

Kamil Sarji:

Yeah, listen to your body.

Carmine DeLuca:

Exactly, yeah. That'll be the first signal. Because there are cases, we're helping someone out right now, that had insulation, blown in insulation, put in their attic. And it was safe on heat. I question realtors a lot on this. And you know, I said, if you're listing a house and the homeowner is bragging that, Oh, the heating bills are so low because I had this company come in and put in blown in insulation. Well, the problem is that they don't always protect those areas that rely on the airflow. So. The soffits, the edges, outer edges of the roof line, there's baffles, there's like foam baffles that are installed when the bat, batting insulation is put in. And those baffles are there so They're not

Kamil Sarji:

air can flow.

Carmine DeLuca:

The air can flow through and the soffit vents aren't covered Well, sometimes when companies come in and blow in the insulation, they don't block though. They don't protect those You might have an air conditioning unit up there that has a drip pan underneath it There's a drain in the drip pan so that when that builds up with water fills up with the water it can drain out If they don't protect that drip pan, that blown in insulation is going in the drip pan, it's covering up the soffit vents. And so not only do you not have airflow, but now when that air conditioning unit runs all summer, you could, you could have a water damage.

Kamil Sarji:

And we were talking about how some of those bathroom fans Vents are just shooting right into the attic instead of shooting it outside,

Carmine DeLuca:

right

Kamil Sarji:

so now you're creating more moisture in the attic and just making, that's like so common.

Carmine DeLuca:

Oh, absolutely.

Kamil Sarji:

The guy was saying it was like 40 percent of homes have that.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, and sometimes it was originally connected, but over a period of time it might have disconnected. It might have came loose. It might have deteriorated and slipped off. You know, people use the attic for storage sometimes. Maybe somebody, you know, banged into it and knocked it off. But in that case, you're pumping up moist, warm air right, right into the attic space. Depending on how close it is to the roof line, that's when you can have a problem.

Kamil Sarji:

So, okay, we're talking about the attic, we're talking about the basement. One more thing I wanted to bring up about the basement is, it's so annoying. I see this a lot, but you have the hot water tank, right? And what do you have underneath it is the tray to protect it. You know, if it blows up, it protects it. But like you said, it's going to keep flowing and flowing. It's going to fill up that tray and just like, the basement is going to be flooded. So the best way for that is to put an alarm.

Carmine DeLuca:

There are detection devices now that you can have installed that will measure or sound an alarm and alert. There's probably ones that can send an alert right to your phone, Wi Fi now.

Kamil Sarji:

But you know, that's good for the people who are on vacation that didn't even know their basement was flooding with a hot water heater. And the second thing is just hook up a stupid pump, the condensation pump. Those little You know, HVAC system to the tray.

Carmine DeLuca:

To that tray.

Kamil Sarji:

So just, if there is a

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, you know, it depends on how high that tray is and what's the

Kamil Sarji:

How much you can fill.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, and at what level does, does that pump work? So there are some pumps that require maybe three or four inches of water for them to be effective.

Kamil Sarji:

Crazy. They're so scary, hot water heaters. So scary.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

Because, you know, you have it in the basement. That's one thing that's going to blow up.

Carmine DeLuca:

Right

Kamil Sarji:

I mean, they have newer systems now, but goodness.

Carmine DeLuca:

I forget the gentleman's name, but whoever invented indoor plumbing is the culprit for all of this, you know.

Kamil Sarji:

Put the water heater outside in the garden. Put it in the house.

Carmine DeLuca:

There are so many, you know, there's even some new products that they're now finding. Problems with plumbing pro, you know, issues. I recently had something at my house and it was a drain pipe. And it, it's a black PVC pipe. And when I stopped at a plumbing supply company and inquired about it, they said, Oh, those, we're not selling that pipe anymore because it's no longer up to code. And so I asked them why. And it was because over time, the material becomes fragile. So it's subject to cracking and, and splitting. And I said, that's, I've got a hairline crack and I'm thinking, how, how did this thing, you know, crack? So, yeah, something that's invented today and works great. You don't know until you're 10, 20 years in that, okay, this is a problem.

Kamil Sarji:

So I want to talk about a couple things. Speaking of Rhode Island and the rain that we've gotten and the disaster of flooded basements and flooding homes. A lot of them aren't in flood zones. Insurance is not covered. What do they do and how can you guys help them with affording to How do you pay for the repair? Is there a payment plan or what's

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, we do offer financing.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay.

Carmine DeLuca:

We have a financing vehicle that we can connect our clients with if they need it. In Rhode Island, some of the flooding that occurred, some of the rains that we had, we were declared a disaster area. So, there are homeowners that have applied through FEMA for assistance, and they're, up until like a month ago, I was getting calls that, They just got their money from FEMA, and, but they couldn't do anything in the meantime because they didn't have, so they lost a lot of, you know, what potentially could have been saved, because they just couldn't do anything. Yeah, so, as far as the flood insurance goes, that's, you know, you really have to ask a lot of questions. I live in Western Cranston. I've lived there my whole life, so I know the area. When I built my house, I put in French drains, I made sure that my, the elevation was, I actually raised the house a foot to get it up a little bit higher.

Kamil Sarji:

You lifted it yourself?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, I'm pretty, pretty strong. So when the, when the excavator was there and digging out and I started to see a puddle of water, I said, okay, stop here. I said, we're going up a foot. And that was, And then I put the French drains in on top of that. So even in the 2010 floods that a lot of people had water in their basement, I didn't. So I was, I was fortunate. But what I've learned over the years from being in this business and people that have had flood insurance is there are so many restrictions and so many like, Oh, it only applies if this happens. And then more recently, I learned that the basement isn't covered.

Kamil Sarji:

In a flood insurance.

Carmine DeLuca:

In a flood insurance policy.

Kamil Sarji:

I mean, water comes in, where is it going to go?

Carmine DeLuca:

So, and now I don't know what the policy was, I don't know what the company was, it could be different levels of coverage, but one of the things that I was told is that, well no, if it's in the basement, nothing is covered in the basement. It has to be on the first level.

Kamil Sarji:

Oh my gosh

Carmine DeLuca:

so, I said, okay, so either my house has to be on a slab,

Kamil Sarji:

yeah

Carmine DeLuca:

or the basement has to literally fill and the water reach the first level.

Kamil Sarji:

A lot of southern homes don't have basements, so maybe they're designed for those types of homes.

Carmine DeLuca:

Which, in the 2010 flood, that did happen to a lot of people where the basement's completely filled and it went into the first level. But then the other thing I found out is that contents aren't covered. So now you know, we had a homeowner that learned all this the hard way, unfortunately. And she lives in Cranston by one of the rivers. And it got flooded. Her house was from the river, right? It was flooded. But it still wasn't covered because the other caveat is that it just can't affect your house. There have to be other homes in the area. that have to be affected in order for it to qualify for, as a flood, for coverage. So, my advice is just ask a lot of questions. If you're, if you're someone who needs or is considering flood insurance, just ask a ton of questions. When, how do I qualify? What are the things that, you know, and what's covered? What isn't covered, and

Kamil Sarji:

Do you guys go back and forth with the insurance company? Like, you know

Carmine DeLuca:

So

Kamil Sarji:

Assessor

Carmine DeLuca:

We use a software called Xactimate, which is what probably 99 percent of the adjusters, insurance adjusters use. So oftentimes, the way we write up a project, when it's busy, a lot of times, the insurance companies are overwhelmed. They don't even have an adjuster to send out. So they rely on us, or companies like us, to provide them with the exactimate estimate.

Kamil Sarji:

And they believe you?

Carmine DeLuca:

They believe you if you have a good reputation.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay.

Carmine DeLuca:

They believe you. And so you're always going to get, you know, the adjuster is always looking to make an adjustment someplace. But in our case, we go in with the attitude of trying to save as much as we can. Now, what does that mean? It means that if, you know, if one wall is affected in an area and it might have been wet, you know, for a couple of days, if that wall is compromised, it's no longer structurally sound, that has to be removed. It can't be dried in place. But it doesn't mean the other three walls have to be cut out. So, we don't go in trying to create as much

Kamil Sarji:

More work for yourself. For

Carmine DeLuca:

More work for the homeowner, more headaches. We are focused on the remediation part. We don't have an in house rebuild division, so we don't have another mouth to feed. We don't have another division to pass off to. So again, we're going in and we're trying to save as much as we can and we educate the homeowner. So that they know what to expect from the insurance adjuster or from the insurance company, depending on the nature of the loss. So if it's a clean water loss and I see you have a beautiful carpet here, but you know what, if you've had this carpet in your house for 15 years, you might be ready for a new one. And so your first thought is, Oh, take this carpet out. I'm tired of it. I want a new carpet.

Kamil Sarji:

Yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, not that easy. It's a clean water loss. It just happened last night or this morning.

Kamil Sarji:

Yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

We're here, you know, in a very short period of time. We can extract the water, dry it, clean it in place. If we rip this out, we're going to have to send a piece of it to a lab to have it tested for structural integrity. And then the insurance company might deny if the carpet is structurally sound. They might deny this because it was a clean water loss. And they're gonna say it could have been cleaned and dried in place. So, there's where you have to be careful. The company that you work with, again, and I'm not The insurance company. Both the insurance company and the restoration company.

Kamil Sarji:

Restoration, they're gonna use you guys.

Carmine DeLuca:

That's, everyone's going to use us. Hopefully that's the case. Yeah, that's what we want. But these are the things, again, that people need to experience sometimes, before they realize, oh yeah, there is a difference.

Kamil Sarji:

So one important question is, alright, you get there within 24 hours to fix the problem. What if they call you and you're like, I'm swamped, I can't get there till four days from now. How is the insurance company, are they going to be okay with, Now there's more damage because it was four days.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah. If that's the case, and this happened again in 2010, it was a different company, but everybody was overwhelmed. Everyone was overwhelmed. And when someone calls, it's our responsibility to provide the service when we can, as fast as possible. And if we can't, I'm not going to tell someone to wait four days for me. I'm going to say, no, you need to address this very quickly. So if we're absolutely booked out and slammed.

Kamil Sarji:

And so are the other companies.

Carmine DeLuca:

So probably the other companies are as well, but I would say, listen, I'll keep your name on our list. But don't necessarily wait for me. If someone can help you sooner, then that's in your best interest. That's what you should do.

Kamil Sarji:

But my question is, is the insurance company gonna bust their balls about getting this done faster, now there's more money?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, you know, in a case like that, where they have evidence that they've reached out and they couldn't get someone because of the scope of, I mean, those situations only occur. When, and this has been, again, my experience in 15 years, those situations only occur when, like, it's a global event.

Kamil Sarji:

Disaster, yeah.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, and, and meaning, like, the entire state is underwater. And there are thousands of people that are calling for help.

Kamil Sarji:

I'm afraid it's going to happen one day. I mean, with the rain on and off.

Carmine DeLuca:

There could be different levels of it. Now, fortunately, for myself and for my customers, we have a lot of resources that we can reach out to. So we've got the office in Plymouth that we can bring in both equipment and crews. We've got an office in Hartford, or just south of Hartford, that we can bring in equipment and crews. Wow. In Stanford, if it was in the southern part of the state, we can bring in crews. So we've got those resources available, and, It's all owned by the same, our corporate group owns all this. So I'm not reaching out to another all drive franchise. I'm calling our office in Plymouth, and say, I need help up here. You know, send two crews up and bring a trailer load of

Kamil Sarji:

Cat litter.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, whatever. Dehumidifiers and fans and

Kamil Sarji:

So, yeah, that's interesting. Cause, you know, if the water stays there, or damage stays there, it's gonna get even worse.

Carmine DeLuca:

Exactly.

Kamil Sarji:

How many companies are there in Rhode Island? How many disaster restoration

Carmine DeLuca:

It's a growing number. I believe the last time It was around 50 or 60.

Kamil Sarji:

Wow. Rhode Island's small.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yes.

Kamil Sarji:

You know, 50 or 60 in Rhode Island.

Carmine DeLuca:

That are doing business in Rhode Island. And again, they're all levels, you know, there are carpet cleaners that

Kamil Sarji:

That also do that.

Carmine DeLuca:

Migrate and get into this. And they're doing water extraction. And so they're not doing mold, they're not doing bio, or trauma, or fire. They're just doing the water extraction and drying if someone had a water damage. So they're all different levels. Yes. of expertise and, you know, capabilities, but there are in the 50 to 60 range.

Kamil Sarji:

So I just looked at a house. It seems to be happening a lot, but they want to list the house. I went in to look at it, walking around. As soon as I got to the house, there's smoke, cigarette smoke,

Carmine DeLuca:

cigarette smoke.

Kamil Sarji:

It's like stinks. Like it's really hard. How do you resolve those types of issues?

Carmine DeLuca:

So there are a couple of sides,

Kamil Sarji:

like painting everything and like,

Carmine DeLuca:

Well, you can't paint, first of all. Not yet. So one of the first things that has to be done is you have to do the inspection, look at the areas that are affected. A lot of times that smoke residue, that film is, it's on the walls. It's on the ceiling. So there's special equipment, chemical sponges, that are used to wipe that residue off.

Kamil Sarji:

So that's something you guys do?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yes.

Kamil Sarji:

Cigarette smoke?

Carmine DeLuca:

Yes.

Kamil Sarji:

Oh, wow.

Carmine DeLuca:

We can help to clean that. And then there's called an ozone machine. So it's like an air purifier. But it's an ozone filter system. So that can help to take those particles out of the air. But before we work with painters, um, a lot of times they'll have that situation and they'll go in and they say, we can't paint these walls until they're cleaned properly. And then we'll get a call to go in and clean it so the painter can come back in.

Kamil Sarji:

Wow. Okay. Yeah, I was just curious. So what's all dry do? Water damage?

Carmine DeLuca:

Water damage, fire, smoke, mold, trauma, biohazard, pretty much everything. Well, we don't do asbestos, we don't do lead, lead abatement, lead testing. Those are the things we don't, two things we don't do.

Kamil Sarji:

So trauma, what's, and have you, have you got into these, when there is someone calling, do you, have you gone into those places and seen

Carmine DeLuca:

the damage? Myself, no. I, I might take the call for what the need is, but I'm typically not on site.

Kamil Sarji:

Okay.

Carmine DeLuca:

We have people that are certified and trained to go into those situations. So that happens in an environment where there's either elderly or a large apartment where there's a lot of people in a small space. So for some of these larger property management companies that have communities, they might have four or five buildings. There's 60 units in a building. So now you have two or three hundred people. In this community, and at any given time, you know, these are generally low income housing communities, and at any given time they might have an issue like that.

Kamil Sarji:

We had someone here that was talking about, because they, they worked at the coroner's office, talked about the damage in the wood from the blood and the body fluids, and yeah, just, it's a lot.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, it's a lot to deal with, and every case is different, depending on, you know, how long that person had been there. Sometimes people find out right away, and so it's not as much damage, and other times, it could be a week, or more, and that's, yeah.

Kamil Sarji:

So, Carmine, how do people find you?

Carmine DeLuca:

Well,

Kamil Sarji:

Besides going to networking events.

Carmine DeLuca:

Yeah, so we obviously have a website. Uh huh. We had some posters.

Kamil Sarji:

What's the website?

Carmine DeLuca:

Some billboards. Alldryri.

Kamil Sarji:

Awesome. Well, thank you very much for stopping by.

Carmine DeLuca:

Thank you.

Kamil Sarji:

And, uh, hope to see you soon.

Carmine DeLuca:

All right. Thank you, Kamil, very, very much. Really enjoyed it.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Kamil Sarji

Host