Thread: This potential loss takes the cake for me

I get a call today from this guy that lives about five or so miles outside of my small town. He says that his sump pump failed a day ago and there is water in his finished basement. I drive out to his house, he asks me to take my shoes off and we walk downstairs into his wet wet basement. I have my Delmhorst and I immediately walk into a class 2, Cat 2 loss (this guy and his wife live right next to a farm field). Throughout his 900 sq foot basement 800 feet is wet. His sump pump room reeks of dog poo and piss. Bathroom floor has vinyl that has standing water on it and trim is starting to bulge. Drywall wet six inches to 12 inches up. Furniture galore too with a workout room that has a stair climber and treadmill. Wife is a lawyer as well and they have a Audi A4 (2006 in garage). He asks me what potentially it will cost and I tell him that I use Xactimate which is what I use for my pricing schedule for insurance purposes. He keeps pressing me on a price and I ballpark 2 to 3K without tearout of drywall or trim put pad has to come out and maybe (if not to late to salvage carpet) dry carpet in place.

I leave expecting a call anytime and four hours later I get antzy and give him a call. He informs me that alledgedly he doesn't have insurance to cover any water intrusion in his basment at all even though he has a sump pump and lives in a area that is known to have high ground water table. He also tells me that he cant afford 2k for a dry out but he would have to ask his wife.

I am pissed I didn't get the job becasue I could dry his whole basement in four days or less and I was ready to move all furniture and tvs to do it. Oh well, thanks for letting me vent. Time to move onto next loss.

It happens, some people dont seem to understand how important it is to dry the structure out, even if it costs some money to do so.