The cost of damaged water pipes can easily be underestimated when only repair costs are tracked and documented. Improve your understanding of the real costs of a damage with this checklist, based on insight from experienced professionals who have spent years working in the water industry. What percent of hard and soft costs does your company collect? How do damages affect your brand?
May or May Not Be Collected
• External Collection Costs/Agency Commissions
• Barricades/Traffic Control
• Permits (city/county/state/provincial) to install replacement cables
• Legal fees and litigation costs
• Exposing the damage for repair
• Materials used in repair
• Restoration of the area
• Actual cost of internal labor
• Heavy Equipment used
• Generator/Power Equipment
• Food, lodging, travel expense
• Emergency mobilization (Contractor/Locator)
Time
• Damage site investigator
• Collection efforts
• Out of service complaints
• Insurance resolution discussions
• Overtime for unexpected increases in workloads
• Employee time/travel for deposition and trial
Overlooked / Difficult to Track
• Customer loss of use (refunds/credits)
• Resolution of customer complaints
• Engineering/re-engineering due to the cut
• Workload delays
• Damage data capture and submission (software and/or manual)
• Emergency One Call ticket notifications
• Facility owner records updates
Soft Costs
• Negative public feedback
• Difficulty maintaining customer relationships, especially large businesses with inconsistent services
Societal Costs
• Businesses closing
• Employee down time
• Road closures/traffic delays
Investing in damage prevention improves your bottom line and keeps your workforce continuously focused on proactive work.
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