Joey: Ok, so for those that don’t know who you are – Who are you, what’s your position, and what do you do at Summit?

WADE: My name is Wade Vaughn. I have been with Summit for 4 years now. I started out as a temp to hire in the mitigation department. Over the past 4 years, my roles and responsibilities have grown numerously, from just carrying demo bags to now leading, estimating, and helping homeowners with their flood and mold losses.

JOEY: ALRIGHT, SO ON THE MITIGATION TEAM THERE ARE TIMES WHERE YOU WILL GO AT IT ALL DAY, YOU GET A CALL AND YOU GO AT IT ALL NIGHT, THEN YOU GO AT IT AGAIN ALL DAY THE NEXT DAY. WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING?

WADE: Basically what keeps me going is I… I enjoy it. *chuckles* as weird as that sounds. It’s the sole fact of being able to be there for that customer at that time of need when nobody else can. It’s not an easy job. It’s not for everybody but the select few that it is for, we get a certain sense of pride out of being able to be there and be that person for the homeowner in their time of need.

It’s not for everybody but the select few that it is for, we get a certain sense of pride out of being able to be there and be that person for the homeowner in their time of need.

Wade vaughn

JOEY: CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A SPECIFIC TIME WHERE YOU FELT LIKE THROWING IN THE TOWEL BUT YOU PUSHED THROUGH IT? WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THAT?

WADE: There’s been a couple, but I guess the most recent one I can remember, I think it was last December [2019]. We were actually getting ready to do a mold remediation on a restaurant in downtown [Salem, OR]. We were all gearing up, getting ready to go out and it had severely rained the night before. Then we get a call from the same property manager saying, “Hey, the roof just failed across the entire building.” So we have our mold remediation, restaurants, and several other offices above that and the water just flooded all the way down 3 stories. We got that call at… We clock in at 7:30, we got the call at 7:40, we had teams out there at 8:10, and we didn’t get finished until 12:30 [AM].

JOEY: WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OR THE REWARD FROM THAT JOB? FOR YOU PERSONALLY OR FOR SUMMIT AS A WHOLE?

WADE: For me personally, it was being able to be there and, not only direct people to do the correct thing, but be able to walk all these people through “this is what’s happening, this is how we’re gonna fix it, and this is what to expect.” And throughout the whole process they were extremely happy. And even coming from a single homeowner with just a minimal bathroom flood to that large building, nobody really understands what has to happen and so being able to be that person and educate them and give them a clear sense of “Hey, this is what’s happening. There are going to be these hiccups but we will always be here to answer your questions.” And it gives them that ease and peace of mind.