BELFOR
REVIEW
SERVPRO REVIEW
COMPANY INFORMATION
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Company Name
Belfor Property Restoration
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Company Overview
Belfor offers recovery and restoration services to restore structures damaged as a result of floods, fires, and natural disasters.
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Number of Locations
Belfor has more than 300 locations spread throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Belfor’s key focus is on restoration services, meaning that it responds post-emergency to help clean and restore a property to the pre-disaster situation. On top of that, however, Belfor differs slightly from many of its competitors by offering preventative services. This allows customers to prepare in advance of an emergency and take active steps to limit the damage that may occur.
Furthermore, Belfor has a range of additional restoration services that other companies simply don’t offer. The breadth of offerings from Belfor is one of the greatest on the market. Although many companies offer remediation and restoration services, there is none that has the niche services that Belfor does.
HOME RESTORATION
Like many companies in the restoration marketplace, Belfor focuses most on emergency response to fires and floods. For the average consumer, this is their most likely interaction with Belfor.
The Belfor website focuses on the emergency call-out options, with the 24-hour hotline prominently advertised. This part of the business is fairly typical in terms of services offered. Belfor offers both short-term restoration services as well as more ongoing restoration.
For example, Belfor can help with restoring contents and cleanup in the aftermath of a fire or flood; however, it can also help with weekly cleaning services or more in-depth non-priority services such as air duct cleaning.
Some of the services provided are:
- Emergency response
- Contents restoration
- Air duct cleaning
- General contracting and reconstruction
PREVENTATIVE SERVICES
Belfor’s first big distinction from many of its competitors is that it offers preventative services to help decrease the chances of damage in the first place.
Very few companies in the restoration industry offer consulting for customers. Not only does it provide a whole new layer of liability for the company, but it also undermines the traditional services on offer.
However, Belfor has a relatively full suite of preventative services for both residential and commercial clients.
- Shrink wrap
- Consulting services
- Environmental services
- Corrosion control
NICHE SERVICES
What really sets Belfor apart is its ability to offer advanced and niche services for restoration and protection. Belfor is able to provide restoration services that other companies simply cannot. While most focus on damage relating to fires and flooding in homes and offices, Belfor can provide the following:
❏ Electronics restoration
❏ Document and media recovery
❏ Ultrasonic cleaning
❏ Semiconductor services
❏ Marine and offshore restoration
Additional
Company Information
As mentioned above, Belfor’s niche expertise is what stands it apart. In fact, a number of notable cases demonstrate the extent to which Belfor has mastered the art of advanced restoration and mitigation.
- After Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, Belfor helped three theaters in Houston to restore specialist equipment, including thousands of musical scores, ballet costumes. Belfor also helped with the restoration of three Steinway concert grand pianos.
- In 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit the Cayman Islands, threatening the Cayman Islands National Archives. Belfor’s UK and Canadian teams both provided expert help, and the archives were saved throughout the use of thermal vacuum freeze-drying technology. Over 4,000 boxes of documents were saved from being destroyed by water damage.
- Belfor was called onto site within days of Hurricane Katrina to help Tulane University salvage its library as part of the ‘Landmark Undertaking’ project.
- In the aftermath of a large earthquake in Chile, Belfor was called in to help protect one of the largest data centers in South America. There Belfor installed more than 750,000 square feet of shrink wrap. The building experienced no further damage, saving an estimated one million documents.
- In 2012, Super Storm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey. Within two days of the storm making landfall, Belfor had 1700 individuals working in New York City to help mitigate damage and begin the process of restoration.
These stories demonstrate that Belfor has both a depth and breadth of services available.
While most consumers are unlikely to need thermal vacuum freeze-drying or 750,000 square feet of shrink wrap, it shows that Belfor is able to provide almost every service that a customer may need. It also demonstrates the expertise that Belfor has, as well as the technology it is able to utilize on large scales and within a relatively short time frame after an emergency. All of these serve as a great advertisement for Belfor’s offerings.
BELFOR
RATINGS AND REVIEWS
BBB RATING
BBB RATING: A
Belfor received an A rating from the Better Business Bureau.
PROS AND CONS OF USING BELFOR
Although the stories above of Belfor’s global exploits feed into a sense of a company operating in extreme circumstances, the average consumer is not necessarily helped by these exploits. However, what Belfor’s notable achievements do demonstrate is a clear sense of purpose taken to extreme and impressive levels. This filters back down into Belfor’s day-to-day service.
PROs
It’s actually quite easy to be distracted by the notable international performances from Belfor. However, its regular service is actually extremely strong. No business grows to the size of 300 international branches without providing quality services. Specifically, the two main advantages of Belfor are as follows:
- Technological expertise. Belfor uses high-end technology as a matter of course throughout its operations. This allows it to achieve greater results than other comparable companies. Of course, this expertise is visible when it comes to large-scale restoration projects, although it is also present in the more common work that Belfor does.
- Award-winning performance. Belfor regularly picks up awards for its successful performances as a franchise operator. This suggests a level of excellence in processes and operations that run throughout the company.
CONs
While the advantages of using Belfor are present, clear, and fairly conclusive, there are some drawbacks. This is especially true given how congested the marketplace is for domestic restoration services. The main critiques of Belfor are the following:
- Belfor's website. For a company so willing to innovate and so much at the cutting edge of performance, the website is extremely clunky. Indeed, although Belfor’s website tries so clearly to emulate those of its competitors, it should look to illustrate its differences. Logging on to the Belfor website does not give an accurate indication of the company’s values or strengths.
- Poor customer reviews. Belfor is victim to the occasional poor customer review. While the internet has the capacity to amplify the voices of unhappy customers, Belfor’s customer reviews aren’t as stellar as the company’s overall performance suggests.
OUR RATING
Based on our five-point rating system, we rank Belfor as ‘Good.’ Although the international performances are flashy, and the company appears to be a well-run, operationally sound entity, it is difficult to ignore the fact that its customer ratings are not in line with the overall strength of the brand.
- Excellent
- Good
- Average
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- Very Poor
BELFOR HISTORY
Belfor was founded in 1946 in Dearborn, Michigan. Like many domestic service companies, Belfor didn’t start out in its current incarnation; instead, it began as ‘Quality Awnings and Construction.’ In 1981, the company changed its name to Inrecon LLC (a combination of ‘insurance’ and ‘reconstruction’) and began to focus on restorations. This fueled the company’s growth and, in 1997, a fellow Michigan-based company named Masco bought 25% of the company.
Parallel to this, a company in Germany – Haniel EnviroServices – was founded in 1980. In the period between 1998 and 2001, Haniel acquired Inrecon and changed its name to Belfor. The two companies pooled resources and used this as a base to grow further. At the time of the acquisition, Increcon had sales of $180 million annually, with a staff of over 1,000 people.
In April 2019, Belfor was sold to a private equity firm called American Securities. This change of ownership has done little to change the overall operations of the company.
HOW BELFOR OPERATES
BRANDING
Belfor’s branding centers on an empathetic and professional approach to the work it does. It states that it understands that it does more than just repair property, homes, and businesses. This gives it additional responsibilities and ensures that it brings additional professionalism to the job.
BUSINESS MODEL
Belfor is set up internationally as a franchise operation.
ULTIMATE SELLING POINT
The key USP that Belfor brings is the additional extras as part of the service. It calls this ‘value adds.’ These range from things like using high-end technology on everyday jobs, to using environmentally responsible products, to responding faster than competitors. Each of these serves to give Belfor a feeling of excellence.
Ultimately, an international conglomerate of the size of Belfor is an impressive entity; particularly given it has grown from such humble beginnings in Michigan (and Germany).
In addition, the international performances from Belfor have been truly remarkable, especially since they have often been in the near-aftermath of violent storms and earthquakes.
For the regular consumer, however, Belfor also has an impressive range of offerings and executes well with the same high-level technology it uses on more media-savvy restoration projects. Belfor might not shrink-wrap your house in an acre of material, but it will bring expertise and professionalism to the job.