Helping First Choice Alarms recover from an office fire

When a bin fire was started in the back yard of their office premises, First Choice Alarms thankfully knew just who to call to fix things once the flames had been put out.

“I’ve known the owner of First Choice Alarms, Mark, for a few years now,” explains AIR director, Joanne Ginty. “They’re usually our go-to supplier if a client needs a new security alarm as part of their property reinstatement.

“The company’s office premises are set up in a converted commercial terraced property on the main high street in Clayton le Moors, Accrington. Unfortunately, one of their outdoor bins caught fire. The exact cause of the fire wasn’t established, but it was located quite close to the building and caused damage to the exterior as a result.”

Before the fire was tended to, the plastic window frames were all blackened by the flames. The heat caused the double glazed window to crack, and also damaged the rendering on the back wall of the property, as well as causing damage to the outrigger.

“The bin fire devastated the back yard area of our business premises,” explains Mark Frodsham, owner of First Choice Alarms. “Fortunately, Joanne was there to help with the claim.

 “We’re a small business and we’re really busy. Joanne came in and knew exactly what to do. 

“We had to erect scaffolding, knock off the render, prepare the stone, re-render the back wall, and do some patch repairs to the outrigger,” says Joanne. “The fire had damaged the fascias, the guttering, and the rainwater downpipes, so we replaced those as well.

“There was a lot of mess in the yard, so we cleared that up and redecorated the yard walls and the gates to make it all presentable again.”

“I contacted Joanne directly, and she came and visited straight away to take a look at the damage. She went away and put together a quotation, which I sent to the loss adjuster who was dealing with my claim. They contacted Joanne with a couple of queries and negotiated on the quote. Before we knew it, it was all settled and Joanne and her team were here doing the repairs. From start to end, I think it took six weeks. I even asked the loss adjuster to pay AIR directly when the work was done so that I didn’t have to be involved at all, which was easy to sort out.

“I highly recommend Joanne, and can’t thank her and her team enough. She brought in her team of expert builders, glazers, window fitters and decorators, and they did an amazing job. It would have been so much more stressful without Joanne and Action Insurance Repair.”