Planet Mold Blog

Every year, more than 2 million poisonings are reported to Poison Control Centers (PCCs) across the country. More than 90 percent of these poisonings occur in the home. As one of the leading causes of death among adults, the U.S. Congress established National Poison Prevention Month for the month of March¹. This month EZ Breathe is helping to recognize the dangers and poisons in our everyday home that could severely affect your health.

During this month, homeowners are encouraged to become aware of simple tasks that can be completed around the house to prevent poisonings. Easy measures, such as childproofing cabinets and storing and discarding certain toxic cleaners, are common steps to take when protecting the home. On the other hand, one serious issue that is often overlooked in the home are the toxins that contribute to poor air-quality which homeowners cannot see. The Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has stated that poor air-quality and poor air movement in the home is a leading cause for the buildup of mold, fungus, and other allergens^2. EZ Breathe provides an effortless solution to homeowners everywhere to help eliminate this problem and create a healthier, happier home.

The E●Z Breathe home ventilation system improves air quality in the home drastically, making it a safer, healthier place for the entire family. E●Z Breathe manages to do all of the following while the E●Z Breathe unit maintains a slim profile that easily fits into any room of the house: it regulates humidity levels, reduces the chance of mold and mildew buildup, completes up to ten home air exchanges per day and removes unwanted dust, dirt and other allergens from the air.

“I think it is very important that people not only become aware of what toxins and allergens are in the air that they breathe every day, but also do something to reduce the health risks that can result from indoor poor air-quality,” states Erika Lacroix, President of E●Z Breathe. “January is Poison Prevention month and E●Z Breathe offers a simple solution to improve indoor airflow and to reduce the risk of illness related to poor air-quality.”

The E●Z Breathe home ventilation system is an easy, maintenance-free way of committing to a New Year’s resolution towards a healthier lifestyle. With no cartridges to replace, no filters to change, and no buckets of water to empty, E●Z Breathe makes for an E●Z Resolution.

Now that E●Z Breathe has taken most of the challenge and stress out of making a healthy New Year’s resolution, people across the nation are invited to jump into this New Year with a courageous resolution towards a healthier lifestyle for themselves and their families.

The E●Z Breathe^® Ventilation System Offers Complete, Balanced Home Ventilation:

Proven: This patented, third-generation system is the result of a continuous R&D effort that builds on the success of the original E●Z Breathe system

Effectiveness: Guaranteed to make a difference in the moisture levels in the home; effective in combating destructive dampness; and provides ventilation essential to dramatically improving quality of indoor air

Energy-Efficient: Uses same amount of electricity as a 40-watt light bulb, or about $2 to $4 per month

Balanced: Unlike other systems, E●Z Breathe expels stale air and replaces it with clean, conditioned air – and then circulates that fresh air throughout the home

Maintenance-Free: No filters to change, no water reservoirs to empty – E●Z Breathe is easy-to-use, easy-to-clean, and requires a quick vacuum

About E●Z Breathe^®

The E●Z Breathe System is a maintenance free unit that helps protect homes from excess moisture, molds, toxins, allergies and poor air quality resulting in a cleaner, healthier living environment. It provides powerful ventilation, supporting both the EPA and the American Lung Associations’ recommendations to use a ventilated system to reduce indoor air pollution. The E●Z Breathe unit is quiet, unobtrusive and fits easily into any room in the house. With no buckets of water to empty or filters to change, it requires no on-going time or attention. With its energy efficient design, it uses the same energy as a 40w light bulb with no on-going investment. It is a truly revolutionary approach to home ventilation and eliminates allergens. For more information, please visit www.ezbreathe.com.

Effectively utilizing referrals is one of the fastest ways to grow a business. Referrals are one of only a few ways available to both large and small environmental companies to increase their sales without investing additional financial resources.

Many business owners believe that by simply doing a good job for an existing client that they will become an automatic referral source. Offering a high quality service or product is a must, but companies need to do more than that. To truly maximize referrals, companies need to know how to ask for them and to look beyond just their customer base.

Starting with a company's customer base as a source for referrals is natural and they are typically readily available, but don't forget the other referral sources that exist. One of the best sources for an environmental or IAQ business to develop for a long lasting source of referrals is often people that they already refer business to.

For example, a mold remediation company may develop a relationship with several reputable plumbing companies whom they refer plumbing work to. These same plumbing companies undoubtedly come across situations that may warrant mold remediation work. By developing referral sources you are building a long-term relationship with a business person who is motivated to return the favor and when that happens, both companies win.

By creating these types of reciprocal relationships, you are also answering the biggest question in the minds of those you hope to refer business to your company, "Why should I refer business to company X?"

When communicating with potential referral sources don't forget the simple act of directly asking for the referrals. Don't assume because you have developed a good relationship or have done great work that others will automatically think to refer your company. Always ask for referrals.

There are additional things to consider when maximizing your referral base: 

• Become a low risk referral by offering guarantees
• Offer something the competition doesn't have or provide
• Cross promote your business with other complimentary businesses

One final important task to keep in mind when building a referral network is to never forget to thank someone who has referred business to you. A simple phone call or email may suffice or perhaps consider thanking them in a bigger way that shows you appreciate their efforts.

Cochrane & Associates, LLC, the environmental, mold and indoor air quality industries' only dedicated marketing, public relations and business development consulting firm works with clients to develop ways to maximize customer referrals. We hope you consider making referrals a prominent part of your company's business development strategy.

Health and Safety: Crawlspace remediation involving a water damage situation is at best a difficult process to cleanup and dry. Adding sewage and mold growth into the mix compounds the cleanup process exponentially. The restorer is further challenged with confined space safety issues including the lack of available natural light and communicating with other workers; working on their bellies and heat stress; exposure to all sorts of hazards from electrical shock and puncture wounds; breathing in dusty and unsanitary air to working in oxygen deficient workspaces.

Staying Focused on Remediating and Drying Category 2 Damaged Crawlspaces

Category of Water: Standing water in a crawlspace that came from a fresh water source is no longer Category 1 water. It is either Category 2 or Category 3.

Terminology: Try to avoid using the word “soil” in insurance company reports because soil is not covered in residential building insurance policies. Consider using the term “building foundation” because building foundation is a term that describes: “the structural system that supports and anchors the structure and transmits the structure’s load back to the foundation.” By mitigating the foundation’s water damage problem you are continuing to remediate the crawlspace and its supporting parts.

Extraction Practices for Standing Water: Extraction is the removal of standing water within the flooded crawlspace. Extracting Category 2 water from a flooded foundation that has open land attached to it requires permission to pump the water directly onto open land. However, removing Category 2 water from a flooded foundation that has adjoining buildings next to it generally requires the restorer to contain and dispose water by other means. Category 3 water is grossly unsanitary and it may contain pathogens and sewage. Category 3 water must be contained and legally disposed.

Extraction Practices for Absorbed Water: Having standing water in the foundation means the building’s supporting ground can no longer hold any more water. Sometimes this phenomenon is a result of high water table from an ocean, lake or river; in other situations it is due to saturated soil outside the building or water that absorbed in the foundation ground from a pipe break. The restorer is to consider all these issues before attempting to remove absorbed water. When water is from a pipe break inside the foundation - there is no pressure exerting on the foundation from outside sources. In this situation the saturated foundation can usually have its water removed by placing one or more sump pumps at a lower level than foundation footings. For just drying the ground’s top inch or two - air movers, low-grain dehumidifiers, desiccant dehumidifiers and heat drying equipment are the tools of the trade.

Wood Framing Drying: Removing wet insulation is one method to control the amount of building saturation followed by installing appropriate dehumidification equipment. Surface and penetrating moisture and humidity data loggers along with daily moisture monitoring are required to ensure the foundation framing is dry. When the foundation ground below a dry surface is allowed to remain wet, wood framing can experience an increase in moisture content to rewetting dry framing.

Background: 6 months ago we were called in to “independently document and confirm the presence of preexisting water damage and mold growth” on behalf of the restoration contractor. Our total cost to the contractor for travel, a visual assessment, pictures and a rather extensive report was $595.00.

Case: Since then, a lawsuit filed against the water damage restoration contractor. The building owner complained to their insurance company, the contractor caused mold spores to contaminate other parts of the building. The insurance company hired an environmental professional to test and guess what they found? Mold spores including Stachybotrys.

Some of the allegations against the contractor included: poor drying methods that resulted in mold growth to occur; and the release of mold spores into tenant areas because of inadequate containment. Damages against the contractor is $1.2 million because the building owner has to move out tenants and relocate them, take apart bathrooms and kitchens and put in all new materials.  

Defense: Once the restoration contractor’s attorney heard we had done a report and my deposition testimony confirmed: there were preexisting water and mold growth conditions; the contractor’s containment met the standards of care for our industry, the case against the contractor has been dropped! Yea…

On a side note: Initially, the insurance adjuster did not reimburse the contractor for our inspection and report, because she said: Hiring our company to independently document the claim and provide direction to the contractor was not necessary. The contractor’s attorney disagreed, because the insurance company owes the insured a duty to investigate the claim and complete an independent, fair, thorough and objective evaluation of the damaged property. Our billing will be paid by the adjuster since we are qualified to provide independent expert services.

The conclusion is: Hire a construction qualified environmental professional to look out for your best interests and protect your company (a qualified environmental professional who is also a licensed general contractor and has errors and omissions insurance coverage). At the time of loss they are expected to document: (1) preexisting and (2) current water damage (water, mold, sewage and hazardous conditions). They will (3) provide you with a photo-documented report and (4) a written scope of work for you to follow. (5) They will address in their report occupant exposures and worker health and safety issues including PPE. (6) On completion of work they will provide you with a follow up inspection to confirm all work has been completed as agreed and confirm the affected areas are clean and dry.  

Is your website generating the type and quantity of business leads to produce a strong return on investment? If it isn't you need to become familiar with web analytics.  According to Wikipedia, "Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage."  In simple terms web analytics tell you what is happening when someone visits your environmental website.

There are two main types of web analytics, off-site and on-siteanalytics.  Off-site web analytics include a website's potential audience, visibility and buzz.  On-site analytics measure a website visitor's experience at a specific website.  Did a visitor enter the website on the home page or begin at another part of the website and once there how long did they remain?  This information can be incredibly valuable when reviewing the effectiveness of an indoor air quality or environmental website's ability to create business opportunities and increase company revenues.

Information from web analytics can also help determine if a website is properly positioned and has appropriate traffic volume.  It will give real insight as to what visitors are doing during their visit. Since, in most cases the goal is to create a sale or begin a transaction, web analytics will tell you how successful your website is at converting visitors to customers.

Businesses always need to know what is working and what isn't in order to maximize their return on investment.  Both product and service providing companies can learn and implement necessary changes from the data provided from web analytics.
There are a number of web analytic tools currently available to help monitor a website's effectiveness.  They range from expensive software programs to free services such as Google Analytics that report such information as:

• How many visitors you have and in what specific time periods
• Which web pages are visitors landing on when visiting the website
• How many, and which pages, are visited
• How long are visitors remaining at the website and from where are visitors leaving the website
• What are the demographics of the visitors including from what city, state or country
• What is the conversation rate for visitors becoming customers and what is the revenue per click
• Effectiveness of Adword campaigns

Most of the information provided by web analytic tools can be graphed in user friendly formats. These can be used to compare web traffic with any marketing initiatives that a company may be promoting.  For example, if an email campaign is underway, is the website seeing a spike in traffic and are visitors landing on the pages you have links to in the email campaign?  Analyses of this data can help fine tune specific marketing campaigns and the company's website to make them more effective.  The web analytics' review process should enlighten management about what is and what isn't working, and what can be done to improve the customer experience. 

Another website worth visiting is Alexa which provides free web traffic metrics for any website you want to learn more about.  This is a great tool to compare the web traffic from your specific company with any of your competitor's websites.
Cochrane & Associates, LLC, the environmental, mold and indoor air quality industries' only dedicated marketing, public relations and business development consulting firm has been working with clients to develop websites that provide ROI and web analytics are an essential component for measuring that success.  Companies need to know which marketing campaigns are driving web traffic and how well is the website converting visitors to customers.

We hope you make monitoring web analytics a regular part of your marketing and sales process.  To learn more about web analytics or to learn how you can improve your customers' experience we invite you to contact the professionals at Cochrane & Associates.

About the author:
Paul Cochrane is the founder and president of Cochrane & Associates, LLC.  The company is a business development, marketing and public relations consulting firm specializing in the IAQ and environmental industries.  Mr. Cochrane is a 13 year veteran of the industry and has been a frequent guest author in industry publications and trainer for IAQ and environmental companies.  

For more information about how Cochrane & Associates can help your business thrive please visit:

www.cochraneassoc.com,
email info@cochraneassoc.com
or call 602-510-3179