Great points that each of you made, however I think we are missing the point. This Validation tool is not designed to replace a psychometrics chart or moisture meters. However these can also be challenged if the same person doing the drying is the author of the charts. That is why when we clerk a project we author and document the charts and verify that equipment is running, etc.... .
This is a simple tool that works well for validation purposes and the best part it is simple and easy to use. What brought this about is not to determine the RH or Temp as we all know that these two items are the recipe to drying the structure, but what we found is regardless of the RH and Temp we needed to validate recommended sizes and qty's. Why? In a audit we learned that a price was negotiated for a Time and Materials job on drying equipment with the adjuster. That seemed to work for the adjuster and the drying contractor, but the questioned that remained was somewhat a hidden and a validation audit found the hidden answer to a very common hidden question. See the results below
The Scenario below is the best way to describe the importance of Validation Services
Dehumdifier orignal price was set at $125.00 per day / No Monitoring (No Monitoring - Defined - Monitoring was not included in the daily rate it was a separate item - charge as a Labor Item) Negotiated and Agreed Price - $100.00 per day (ea)
Air Movers - Orginal price per day - $25.00 - Negotiated and Agreed Price - $22.50 per day
According to the Sizing and Recommended # of units for this area was ( 5 XLRG Dehumidifiers (LGR) and (8) min / (16) max airmovers. Using this as a reference tool here are the results of our findings - The price was negotiated on the surface but who can validate that extra equipment wasn't placed to overcome the negotiated price? We seen the charts and moisture readings and we also take into consideration of who was the author of the charts?? Complex yes, worth the Valdiation - We say "YES" and this example backs up our reason why we say "YES",
Equipment as Billed (with Negotiated Prices) |
RATE |
QTY |
DAYS |
TOTAL |
|
Dehumidifier XLRG (LGR) |
$ 100.00 |
$ 7.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$5,600.00 |
|
Airmovers |
$ 22.50 |
$ 18.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$3,240.00 |
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
$8,840.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Validation Results ( |
|
|
|
|
|
Dehumidifier XLRG (LGR) |
$ 100.00 |
$ 5.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$4,000.00 |
|
Airmovers |
$ 22.50 |
$ 16.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$2,880.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
$6,880.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT PRICE BEFORE NEGOTIATION - WITH VALIDATION RECOMMENDED QTY'S |
Dehumidifier XLRG (LGR) |
$ 125.00 |
$ 5.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$5,000.00 |
|
Airmovers |
$ 25.00 |
$ 16.00 |
$ 8.00 |
$3,200.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
$8,200.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SUMMARY |
|
|
|
|
|
BILLED - (WITH NEGOTIATED PRICES) |
$8,840.00 |
|
|
|
|
VALIDATION (WITH NEGOTIATED PRICES) |
$6,880.00 |
|
|
|
|
DIFFERENCE (Possible Overbilling?) |
$1,960.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BILLED (WITH NEGOTIATED PRICES) |
$8,840.00 |
|
|
|
|
VALIDATION (WITH ORIGINAL PRICE |
$8,200.00 |
|
|
|
|
AND RECOMMENDED QTY'S) |
|
|
|
|
|
DIFFERENCE |
$ 640.00 |
|
|
|
|
Question: Was this a matter of agreeing to a lower rate but making up the difference in placing extra equipment? Only one person knows the real answer to this question, but with our findings we did raise alot of awareness and the best part is our charts did not match the drying companies charts why? (2 different author's one being paid by the day and piece and the other being paid to clerk and validate the final results) Question still remains was this overbilled $1960.00 or was it $640.00? Bottom line is without this type of validation then who holds who accountable?
I wanted to respond to the post and the truth of the matter is we are Clerks that have a responsibility and are accountable to accurately report on activities, quanitify and Validate these daily. We clerk and validate projects and billings, we present our findings and the person that hired us has the option to challenge our findings further and then challenge the contractor or simply just pay the bill. That's the final option to the person paying the bill,
Clerking is a complex business when it comes to validating mitigation and/or rebuilding a structure but without tools like this and several others that we use then how can we back up our findings when it comes to challenges and expert litigation? A simple estimating program alone was not enough for us, we use many tools but the end of the day our findings can be 100% backed up with industry guidelines and standards, we all know that these are simply set in stone as references "ONLY". The industry is like any other - you present your findings you better be prepared to back them up and flip of the coin - you are presented with guidelines and standards that challenge your submitted report or billing, then you better be prepared to back up your submissions.
I think it is great that this is a tool that software companies are using or starting to use, but the experience I have in the industry is that most do not use the software that may have this available, but nearly 100% of everyone has Microsoft® Excel and that is what made this an easy pick.
Our Slogan is Simple - Validate IT - Before you Pay IT - Thanks for everyone's input and some will agree and other will not agree - that is not because one is right and one is wrong - That is the wonderful world of Business especially in an industry that requires adjusting and validations to determine the payment for a loss or service to one that wants more that what they had or simply to one that wants to maximize not only profits but the most importantly MARGINS and in some cases BOTH and that is when our job becomes the most important Validate IT and then Adjust IT