Pure Restore uses Encircle to handle Marshall Fire job influx

Location: Westminster, CO

Founded: 2020

Industry: Full-service restoration

Challenge:
Handling massive volume of jobs following the Marshall Fire, while starting up the contents division of their business

Solution:
Encircle for handling all job documentation (including contents inventorying) in a centralized location, accessible to all teams

Result:
Better relationships with adjusters, smoother communication across teams, and a successful rollout of their contents division

Pure Restore, a full-service restoration business with 13 employees, has been all hands on deck since…well pretty much since they started in 2020.

In late 2021, they were looking to expand their services to include contents work. In order to do so, they were beginning to set up a warehouse facility and had committed to training the team on Encircle, the new software they had been testing.

Little did Pure Restore know, that as the final days of 2021 dwindled down, the most structurally destructive fire in Colorado history was just ramping up, a mere 12 minute drive from their HQ. An abundance of dry grass and a humid spring, followed by a dry summer and fall, allowed for a major grass fire to begin. Unusually high 115 mph wind gusts caused the fire to spread rapidly, amplifying the devastation.

The Marshall Fire burned over 1,000 houses in Boulder County December 30th through to January 1st. To make matters worse, the majority of the people affected were not fully covered by insurance.

With their community stricken by such horrific damage, it became clear to Pure Restore that the residents needed support and guidance dealing with the aftermath of the fire, and navigating through the slow-moving property claims settlement process.

THE CHALLENGE

Additionally, by using Encircle, Pure Restore was able to reduce the amount of new hires they needed, and focus on their existing staff. “Encircle has helped with retaining employees and making them feel like a lot of their documentation work is done for them. They just need to run the app. As long as they follow the steps, everything else is taken care of on the back end,” commented Pena.

Organization + efficiency = time saved

In a time when they were busier than ever before, the Pure Restore team was able to easily and consistently document all of their work in the field using Encircle. This information was accessible for all staff members, meaning everyone could view how jobs were progressing and where equipment was being used, in real time.

“Every person on our team is more connected. It’s totally revolutionized the way we’ve done business digitally. We can find information from the office easily, and then give it to project managers in the field,” commented Pena. He then went on to explain that minimizing the time between those interactions and increasing their accuracy has been game-changing: “Encircle buys you time, which is literally the most expensive and hard to acquire thing in this business. What would have taken eight hours, we can do it in 30 to 60 minutes now. ”

Pure Restore’s admin team also benefited from the increased organization Encircle provided during this high influx of claims. Instead of having to seek out job information from different sources, they had access to all the information they needed in one place, formatted the same way.

“Encircle provides the perfect centralized hub for our business. We get a full overview of multiple departments and projects within the company. When it comes to saving time and creating accurate documentation for each job, Encircle can’t be beat,”

- Emma Carroll, Office Manager at Pure Restore.

Enhanced operations in other business areas

While Pure Restore was heavily focused on helping their clients through their claims from the Marshall Fire, they also needed to continue operating the other areas of their business. Pena explained that their team has been able to use Encircle to document all job types, not just the fire and smoke-related restoration claims. “We are a small team, and we're running multiple contents jobs, we're still running water jobs, we're still getting mold inspections, we’re still doing indoor air quality requests. If it wasn’t for Encircle, we would be absolutely jammed up right now. It's making our lives so much easier when we would otherwise be very overwhelmed."

Pena added, “Of any software we use right now, Encircle is our swiss army knife - it does everything we need it to. Some people may have heard of Company Cam. But that doesn't achieve the same level of organization and equipment tracking as Encircle, while also tracking contents inventories.”

THE RESULT

Increased professionalism, reduced pushback from adjusters

Growth and Expansion

Pure Restore has gained a wealth of experience and confidence to handle contents work in the ongoing aftermath of the Marshall Fire. In fact, several restoration companies in the area, who normally are competitors, have started referring contents work to them. As a result, Pure Restore has decided to create an entirely separate contents business: Best Contents Cleaning. Staffed with its own dedicated team and armed with Encircle as their software of choice, Best Contents Cleaning is ready to serve their community and help more people through tough times.

When asked about the future of Pure Restore and Best Contents cleaning, Pena responded: 

“As the company grows, everyone has a little less contact with each other. As our guys become more experienced and independent we're spreading them all out in the field. Encircle is helping fill our communication gaps, and it has been a huge safety net. Whether we're running a contents job today, or a water job tomorrow, or we're checking on a water job from two days ago, it's all on there.”

Learn how you can improve your efficiency for contents work with Encircle