Fire always happens unexpectedly
Fire always happens unexpectedly and it usually has a devastating effect on people’s lives. It is therefore very important to know who to call if disaster strikes.
This was precisely the case at this North Dublin gastropub. The Harbour Bar in Rush is a family-run pub by the sea, with a lounge, bar and restaurant that employ 20 staff.
The fire broke out at 4:30 am on a Tuesday morning and quickly spread through the lounge and bar area causing extensive damage to this family-owned business. The lounge was gutted and the bar and the restaurant also suffered from heavy smoke and soot damage, and therefore were not fit to be open for business.
How a Public Loss Assessor Helped
On the same Tuesday morning, Trevor Kelly of Insurance Claim Solutions received a call from the distressed owner. The situation was looking grim. Apart from massive financial losses, the 20 staff jobs were in jeopardy, unless something could be done quickly to minimise the loss of business income and prevent the regular bar patrons from venturing elsewhere.
Trevor arrived at the site shortly after receiving the call. He quickly assessed and documented the damage and reassured the business owners that he would do everything he could to help them.
Using his extensive contacts, Trevor had a specialist fire and smoke restoration contractor on site and starting to work at 1 pm the same day. The cleaning, treatment and decontamination of the premises commenced immediately, and within three days a large portion of the premises was ready for business and trading.
Claim Negotiation
Negotiating the claim called for specialist insurance knowledge, negotiation skills and claims-mitigation experience. The claim involved not just reinstatement of the premises to its pre-loss condition but required negotiation with the insurance loss adjusters for new fittings, seating and furniture.
The claim also included a Business Interruption element for Alan and Zhang, the bar owners, covering the trading income lost while the premises were closed. This part of a claim is often the hardest to agree.
The Harbour Bar Is Back In Business
“ICS secured the best possible compensation settlement terms to allow us to reinstate the business to a very high specification and standard, whilst ensuring that the business kept on trading successfully during the project. Trevor not only handled the entire claim process from start to finish, but also acted as a building consultant, assisted with project management and attended site meetings regularly during the reinstatement works, freeing us to focus on salvaging our business.”
The Harbour Bar is now back in business and trading.
The new Harbour Bar
