Smart Thinking A Gulf Coast builder survived after the storms thanks to detailed advance planning.
Hurricane Andrew pushed The Mitchell Co. into action. The production builder, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., had divisions throughout Florida and the Gulf Coast. The company had experienced destructive storms in the past, but time had passed between them, and that’s when “people tend to get complacent,” says John Saint, president and CEO.
After watching video of what went wrong in the aftermath of Andrew, The Mitchell Co. developed its first disaster plans. Those plans have evolved to include a personal disaster plan for each employee, stockpiles of water and ready-to-eat meals, and generators to keep the business operating.
The last two hurricane seasons tried every facet of the plans. But they worked, and as a consequence, the company even managed to close 25 homes the week Hurricane Katrina hit. Saint attributes the success to the plans’ foundation in taking care of employees. “If we get our people taken care of, our business will come back quicker,” he says.
The company encourages employees to evacuate hurricane zones. But before they leave, they need to tell the company where they’re going and how they can be reached. That helped the company to know where every employee but six was after Katrina. The employees know how to reach the company, too. On their first day at work, they’re given a communication card to keep in their wallet with instructions on what to do, where to go, and whom to call in the event of a disaster.
They’ve taken communication a step further, too, by installing a satellite phone network that will work even if landline and cell phones don’t. Office phones operate off the network, and every manager has a portable satellite phone as well. Saint says it’s a worthy expense that many businesses could absorb: It cost just $9,000 for the network.
Thanks to its size, the company has been able to install other, more-costly disaster recovery pieces, such as portable generators for subcontractors (to help keep the subs working on Mitchell projects, not storm-related roof repairs) and a 12,000-gallon fuel storage tank to keep employees and subcontractors driving after a storm.
“A lot of these are the things you learn because you didn’t do them the first time,” Saint says. The company has a disaster evaluation meeting 30 days after a storm, and it asks employees to e-mail suggestions for improvements. And—as experts recommend—the company has integrated storm planning into its annual budget plan. “The last question we ask,” Saint says, “is, ‘Is your hurricane plan together? What did you not have last year [that you] need this year?’”
