Floodzilla

CASE STUDY

Our hotel client had an upcoming event reserved for a 400 guest wedding. A week and a half before the wedding, the bride and her family dined at the hotel’s restaurant. Excited about her upcoming reception, the bride asked the manager to allow her party a sneak peek at the room. The manager had to then explain how the hotel had a burst pipe the day before and that the scheduled room was completely destroyed. The conversation that resulted could have been an episode of a hysterical bride screaming at her vendor on the hit t.v. show “Bridezillas”.

Scope

The scope of work needed to complete this project:

1. Remove water and all damaged finishes – flooring, wall, trim, and some drywall.
   
2. Acquire all the material necessary to replace.
   
3. Replace all carpet, padding, trim, and wallpaper.
   
4. Repaint ceiling and trim.
   

Challenges

The challenges of this project included:

1. Technicians could not work during hours when other, unaffected banquet rooms had events.
2. Replacement carpet was not in stock.
3. The available routes to the dumpster were through the main lobby or down the main corridor of rooms.
4. The bride was on the phone with the hotel manager every couple of hours adding pressure with each call.

Solution

Our solution for the project included:

1. Coordinated with hotel banquet team to establish hours of work.
2. The project was in the midwest. Because the carpet distributor located in North Carolina, could not get the materials sent on time to meet project deadlines, Resicom dispatched a truck to pick up the carpet ourselves.
3. We scheduled debris removal and material delivery according to the hotel schedule. Overnight, we would allow our tradesmen access through the mostly empty lobby. During normal work hours, we utilized the corridor route to limit disruption to guests.
4. We broke out our crews into four distinct teams, each with a separate start and finish time to establish project management clarity, as well as improving our ability to update information.
5. We reported an hourly update of the project status so the hotel manager could relay the information to reassure their client.
6. We organized the workflow of the project differently from the typical execution of a beautification project. There is a certain order of the work that is followed to limit risk of damage to finished areas and improves productivity. In this case, the goal of streamlining productivity was secondary. Our mission was to get the job done on time, not necessarily executed in the proper order.

Summary

This project involved a rigid deadline with expensive repercussions for our client if it was not met. We understood the pressure and designed a way to successfully meet the deadline while maintaining effective communication updates. By assigning the project components to different team leaders, even though they were all in one room, we established a different approach to project management. We had to organize the tradesmen to understand that on this project, the typical way to execute a project was not the right way. This thinking went against everything their experience taught them. This multiple mini-team approach enabled us to manage the tradesmen and ensure that they understood our approach and why it would ultimately make the project a success.