By CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — Devlin Helferty is pretty pleased with his staff at Helferty’s Disaster Restoration as they recently awarded the Platinum Project Award for DKI.
DKI (Disaster Kleanup International), is the largest group of independently owned restoration companies across Canada and the United.
At its annual general meeting, DKI presents several awards to its members who apply for them, said Mr. Helferty.
“We submitted for a large project we did in Pembroke at #2 Crandall,” he recalled. “It was a large condo building that had a severe fire that affected the entire structure.”
The Platinum Project award is for large, complex jobs, Mr. Helferty said. He believes there were about 100 applicants with the list cut down to five by the awards night.
“We were competing with all of the other members across Canada, which includes cities like Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, those with major population bases, so that’s why it’s such a big deal for small-town guys like us to win such a big award, because again, these guys have a bigger population base, and a lot larger buildings that they’re working on in their vicinity,” he explained.
“It was a really big deal for us to be the winner,” Mr. Helferty stated.
At the AGM, which Mr. Helferty attended knowing the company was on the shortlist as an award winner, he recalled, “It was really exciting. There was a sense of pride. In our group there are a lot of really large companies that have been around for a really long time.”
When deciding on who should get the award, the examiners look at the size of the job and how complicated it was; what the outcomes were and how it’s affected your DKI membership and how good the exposure is for DKI as a national brand.
There are only a few adjusters who work on these types of jobs across the country, he said.
“We managed to impress a couple of very important people at top positions in insurance companies,” Mr. Helferty said.
Following the announcement that Helferty’s Disaster Restoration was the award recipient, Mr. Helferty said, “It was really nice. I got a lot of nice handshakes and pats on the back from guys that I really respect, who have very large companies.
“To see them impressed with the work we can do it really made us feel good and have a real sense of pride for the company, especially for our staff, because it took a lot of dedication to pull off the job of that size and to do it as well as we did.”
The award is prestigious within our industry, he said. Not only is winning the award good for his company, it’s good for the area. It shows that small businesses can do bigger jobs and there’s no need to bring large companies in from the city to our area to help out when things go wrong.
That job has given Helferty’s Disaster Restoration good exposure to many insurance clients and there have been a number of other jobs since then, Mr. Helferty said.
“I believe this job gave us the keystone to getting other jobs, because we did such a good job, we were able to showcase our abilities,” he said. “We kept work in Renfrew County that may have gone to the city.”
This job demonstrates that the company has been growing in the right direction with training, equipment and teaming up with the right sub-contractors, he said.
“It’s not just anybody who can take on a job like that and do it well,” he said.
Recalling the job, Mr. Helferty said it was a fire that occurred on a cold, November night in 2015. It was a 46-unit condominium with common areas, with a total of about 93,000 square feet in the shape of a U.
“It the largest condo unit in Renfrew County,” he said. “It has three stories plus a loft.”
They were called in to provide emergency service which took two months to complete, and half of it was providing 24-hour service.
“It was two months from start to finish, seven days a week,” Mr. Helferty said.
At the peak time there were about 75 people working on the job, and for the first month, in two shifts. The majority of the people worked during the day.
The fire started at the east end of the main hallway on the third floor. Because the arial fire truck was used, about two-thirds of the building was under water and the west wing suffered smoke damage.
The top units were wet about two feet up, which meant they were gutted from ceiling to floor, he said.
There was no power to the building, so a large diesel generator was brought in.
Helferty’s Disaster Restoration is the only restoration company that owns an in-house commercial desiccant dehumidifier, which is designed for large commercial jobs, he said.
They removed all the burned areas and then tarped it to keep the weather out, he explained.
Preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, Mr. Helferty said his mom and Dad, Lynne and Don, began the business in 1968. When his mom was diagnosed with cancer in 1997, he took over the business, building it from three employees to its current 15 to 18 full and part-time employees.
Helferty’s Disaster Restoration deals in cleanup of water, fire and wind damage; environmental cleanup with oil spill work, vandalism and bio cleanup.
While the business has continued to grow year after year, Mr. Helferty noted there has been a lot of growth on the commercial side.
“Since the job on Crandall (Street), we’ve been helping other DKI members around Ontario and Quebec,” he said. “This summer, we were down to Toronto to help with commercial water damage.”
In the fall, the Peterborough Memorial Centre had a major breakdown just days prior to the home opener of the Peterborough Petes. There was fog on the ice and water condensation throughout the area, he recalled.
While management were told to cancel the home opener, Helferty Disaster Restoration employees went to work and within a day, had the arena back to NHL standards in time for the home opener. It’s a 4,500 seat arena of over 100,000 square feet.
Mr. Helferty said there are many people to thank for this particular job in Pembroke that they won the award for.
Three of the most important people are his wife Sarah Davies and their two daughters, Nia and Vivan. He recalled them visiting the site so they could spend a bit of time with him during the job.
The sub-contractors were Dumpy’s from Pembroke; B-Line Wreckers from Pembroke; Saffco Plumbing and Heating from Pembroke; Cassidy’s from Pembroke; Detailed Roofing from Pembroke; Nature’s Outlook from Foresters Falls; Gary and Ron’s from Cobden; Layman Fire and Safety from Pembroke and Joan Lehto Pro Cleaning from Eganville.
Others include Rick Mackay, property manager; Mike Kruschenske and the rest of condo board members; and primary adjuster Alan Gallagher.
But, the condo owners are to be thanked for their patience, Mr. Helferty said.
“Many are seniors and were uprooted for two years living in temporary residences,” he said. “It was very challenging for them to have to leave their homes for that amount of time.”
Some were able to move back into the west wing this past September/October and some who live in the centre wing are moving back in now.
The east wing remains under construction.
