Onsite Insight Podcast by RV Housing Group

Insurance in Crisis: Navigating Catastrophes

• RV Housing Group

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We explore the challenges of CAT events and how insurance reps and housing agencies can better serve families during disaster season. Brad Iturriaga discusses RV Housing Group's disaster response strategies and emphasizes the importance of maintaining high-quality service even in high-pressure situations.

• Catastrophic events create unique challenges due to simultaneous claims and limited housing availability
• Insurance representatives need dedicated partners who understand priorities and can respond quickly
• Nationwide inventory allows for flexible response, regardless of where disasters strike
• Service quality must remain consistent during high-volume periods through experience and preparation
• Genuine empathy is essential—treating displaced families as people, not just claim numbers
• Real-world response examples include housing an elderly couple who had been sleeping on hay in their barn
• Pre-season coordination between carriers and housing providers improves response effectiveness
• RV Housing Group's growth stems from consistently delivering on promises and showing genuine care

If today's episode gave you new ideas or insights, we'd love to hear from you. You can connect with us online at rvtemphousing.com or reach out to us directly on LinkedIn, and if you found this valuable, don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone who needs it.


Speaker 1:

When disaster strikes, families need more than just a place to stay. They need stability, comfort and a solution that works for them. Welcome to Onsite Insight, the podcast that gives insurance reps and housing agencies the tools, strategies and insights they need to make temporary housing simple, effective and stress-free. I'm your host, drew Powell, and each week you'll hear from Braddy Turriaga, ceo and founder of RV Housing Group, how we can streamline housing placements, serve families better and take the headache out of temporary housing, because when people need help, the right solutions make all the difference. Let's get started, brad. Welcome back, man. Hey Drew, how are you man? I'm great, but you've lived a lot of life since our last episode.

Speaker 2:

Catch us up, yeah, I know, yeah Well, just you know moving and vacation and you know a lot in the short amount of time, that's for sure.

Speaker 1:

It's been a very full life. So you're getting settled in now though. So that's good, yeah, for sure. And business is doing great. We're able to serve a lot of our great partners. So, if you're listening or watching out there, thanks for partnering with us and doing business, and we're always happy to serve a lot of our great partners. So if you're listening or watching out there, thanks for for uh partnering with us and doing business, and we're always happy to serve and and uh help out. So it's been a it's been a good few months of being able to serve our great clients.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely, um, we've been, we've been extremely busy and we're, you know, we're really grateful, um, for the opportunity to to serve our clients, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, I want to talk just kind of briefly today about something that's it's a, it's a, it's a tough subject, but it's a place that we get to show up and serve in. We're coming into like storm season. So if you're new to you know being an insurance rep or whatever, or if you've been around for a while, I should say you know that this is a very busy season, a very real need, and so we're going to talk for a few minutes today just about that how we can partner with reps during these cat events. And just let's start here, what makes cat event so uniquely challenging for reps and agencies well, I think, uh, I think first it's it's so much, so much of it.

Speaker 2:

Is that it it all happens at once. You know there's just such a there's just such an onslaught of of needs and claims happening. And you know, I mean, especially on a large cat event like a hurricane, you know, and it's, you know, a bad hurricane, you know it's even worse, right, there's just so many people in need. So, yeah, I mean, I always think about the reps in those times. You know they're working long hours, working extra hours, working extra just to try to take care of as many people as possible. But then it's also challenging because they're looking for housing and most of the homes in that area, that immediate area for sure, are just not really inhabitable because they've probably been hit by the storm as well. So, yeah, a lot of challenges in a cat event like that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Well, even as you're talking, even hotels and places where people would go to stay locally are sometimes unavailable because they're either out of power or they've been hit themselves, and all that Right right. So tell us, when a major disaster like that hits, what's some of the first things that our team does to mobilize to be able to be available for, especially with such a large quantity of need in one focus area.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we're going to look at our inventory and start prepping. We're going to assume that there's going to be a large need. You know, start just. We're going to assume that there's going to be a large need, um, and you know, we're going to start making sure we have all of our ducks in a row to be, uh, to be effective, uh, to be, um, you know, to be quick in our response. Uh, because for us as well, right, I mean we're talking about the reps being, you know, becoming very busy, but I mean it's, it's the same for us. And so, you know, we, we kind of have want to make sure that we have everything together on our end so that we can be, you know, you know, be super helpful and ready to attack when our clients call.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Talk a little bit more about just how do we plan for demand, Because you know for us, you know we don't know if the hurricane is going to hit Texas or the Carolinas or Florida. You just never can tell where it's going to hit or where the storms are going to hit, and sometimes it's not even a hurricane or direct hit, Maybe it's just a lot of flooding in a certain area. And because we're a nationwide company, talk a little bit about how you begin to prep our team when it comes to being ready to respond wherever that that storm may hit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's. It's just kind of acknowledging that we don't know where it's going to go, what's going to happen, but just being ready to jump when it does happen. Right it's. It's not really an if but a when.

Speaker 2:

You know we're dealing with different disasters. You know you mentioned flooding. You know these tornadoes that have recently hit unfortunate, very unfortunate situation. You know a lot of casualties and it's. You know these people have no home, right, but they have property. So you know we're already starting to see, kind of you know, an influx of demand. But you know it's just it's just making sure that we're ready to go, no matter where it is. You know, and that's why that's why it's so important that we have units, kind of all throughout the country, right, just ready to go. And you know whether it's fires out west or you know, you know a snowstorm, a bad storm up north. You know we just never know. Obviously, down south we have the hurricanes and stuff, but we just never know where it's going to be. So we don't really assume and target certain areas, we're just really looking at the country as a whole. You know to say hey, at any point in time we can get units to that state or to that city, whatever that is in the lower 48.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, is there anything that the reps can do now just kind of in in preparation and I'm glad you touched on all the different kinds of ways that we show up and serve people but specifically coming into like a storm season here, is there anything we should be doing now to prep with reps or any advice you would give there?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean there are certainly. It's certainly advantageous to maybe have a meeting with our client, you know. Certainly advantageous to to maybe have a meeting with our client, you know, and and kind of talk through their strategies and their plan. You know, their cap plan. Every, every company has one, um, every carrier has one. It's just, you know, it's just really understanding what that is so we can best partner with them. So when something happens, we know exactly what they're going to be asking of us, right, and they know exactly what we're able to provide. And so that that that is really, um, you know, that's the best, that's the best possible scenario is that we can get a meeting, um, you know, with our clients and kind of just talk through logistics and what the plan is going to be.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, on that note. Is there, is there a way that that we work with the reps even when, when these happen, as far as coordinating and even prioritizing the most urgent needs and families first? Is there a system for that, or how does how does that work when there's a bunch coming in at once?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, we really rely on our clients to to give us that information. Um, you know they're, I think they're. You know they get in, uh, you know, uh, kind of um, uh, a big wave of claims coming in at one time, right, and I think that they are probably looking at those saying, hey, who has no roof over their head, right, and so, um, and, and they'll relay that information to us. Typically, and those are the ones that are like, hey, really fast, you know, how quickly can you get a unit out to Mr and Mrs Smith's property because they have no roof over their head right now they're sleeping in their car, or you know that type of situation.

Speaker 2:

You know we had an elderly couple last year that, after a storm, were sleeping in their barn on a haystack. I mean, this is incredible. But we got it out there the next day, right. So they got the claim that day. We got the claim the next morning, so they slept on the haystack the night before and then the next day we had a unit out to them, right. So we're ready to deploy quickly and we're ready for situations like that that are, you know, more emergency type situations. So we're certainly going to rely on our clients to let us know hey, do they or do they have a safe place to stay? You know, currently maybe they're with family or friends or something like that, but um, but if not, we're ready to move.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, in those high pressure situations, knowing you know, if anyone's listened or watching any of the other episodes of the clips, they know by now that service is, is your top priority. And so how do we make sure that during these high pressure situations, we ensure that our service doesn't drop in the middle of this, that we maintain that same level of of quality service?

Speaker 2:

Um, for for some companies that maybe have never dealt with this before, you know, maybe some of our competitors, uh, it's, it's, it's extremely stressful, um, I remember, at the very beginning, you know when you try, you think you have everything in place and and you get some curve balls, but you know, at this point you know we're doing, we've, we've been there and done that.

Speaker 2:

I mean, there's really, you know, we've kind of seen all of the different cat events and you know, from from somewhat moderate to to terrible, um, and you know it's just, it's just really knowing and having knowledge and experience um, in in handling these things. And you know, everybody on our team has has been through that now at this point, and and um, and some multiple times for sure, but we just really have a good understanding of of what to do. So we're not, you know, we're not, flustered. We are, you know we're, we're still, we're still calm. You know we're calm, cool and collected. You know, know what we have to do. It's not like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do in this situation? They need this, but you know it's just man, there's none of that and I'm grateful because I won't say that's always been the case.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, I mean I don't know if you mind sharing, but you know, early on in the company's history it wasn't right. When you started the company and started the business it was kind of born in one of these events. But back then you didn't have, it wasn't much of a team, it was just a couple people and you were just Working long hours, man, long long days, seven days a week.

Speaker 2:

I'm telling you, at the beginning it was right after CAT event Hurricane. It was right after, right after cat event hurricane, the ones in St Charles and or not sorry, st Charles Lake, charles, louisiana, and it was back to back hurricanes that hit there. And golly, man, we were working, I would say, probably 100-hour weeks just to make sure we were able to take care of all of the needs that we had. And I will say I don't think we dropped the ball. I mean, it was pretty incredible to look back on and it's something that we're very proud of, for sure. But, man, I came with a lot of stress and anxiety.

Speaker 1:

I bet, I bet. Well, now there's a more robust team and inventory and systems and all those things you know so it's. But let's, let's take just a slight turn for a minute. But you know when, when these events happen, you know it's crisis events, a lot going on, and it's easy for you know vendors like ourselves, reps, whatever to just get into business mode and just to be like, hey, we got to crank these things out, whatever. But what? What role does? Like empathy and even communication? What does that have? What role does that play with these families are in crisis, because I think it's easy to forget sometimes, when you're just trying to get the job done, that there's real people here. They're in a, in a season of trauma. Does that matter to to you? How do we? How do we approach that?

Speaker 2:

It matters to me a lot. You know. They are in in so, so many cases and honestly, I'll say, in some ways I understand why. But just a number. You know, and we are, you know, we're hearing their stories for sure, as you know.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's a lot, of, a lot of tears shed on our initial calls with the policyholders, and you know, and I would say tears shed on our end as well, right, and you know, and I would say tears shed on our end as well, right, and that's important.

Speaker 2:

I think it's important that they know that we understand and empathize with them, right, and I think that goes a long way toward our relationship with the policyholder, right, right, and toward them understanding that that we're one of the good guys, right, and toward them understanding that we're one of the good guys, right, and we want to.

Speaker 2:

We're just trying to do our very best to take care of them, to make sure that they, you know, have a safe roof over their head, and you know, and that if anything happens along the way, like we're going to, we're there to hold their hand and answer the questions and make sure things are taken care of. So, you know, it's it's important to me that we're empathetic, you know it's. It would be, I guess, easier to just, you know, kind of call them another number as well, um, you know, and less less emotionally taxing on the team. But I really, I really appreciate the ability to kind of put ourselves in their shoes and I think, you know, just based on feedback from from our clients and policy holders alike, you know people really really appreciate that and it's, you know, I think, just industry-wide it's not so common anymore for people to care, like to legitimately care.

Speaker 2:

You know it's easy to say you can't prove that with your actions. I think probably not always the case. But you know, I think that just goes a long way, man. I think that's what's contributed for sure to our growth so quickly is just making sure that we're doing people what we tell them we're going to do and showing them that they're important and that we care. You know, and, and I think just kind of all of that combined is what has led to our, to our success and our growth.

Speaker 2:

And you know, look, it's easy for a company when they get to a certain point and realize, hey, they have, they have good clients and they're sending them repeat business and those things right, it's easy to get complacent and say, hey, we've got a good relationship with these people. But ultimately that's the kind of the the crux when, when businesses either start to, you know, decline or you know they, they keep doing what they're doing what they've been doing and continue to ascend. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to keep doing what we've been doing, we're going to continue to ascend. We're not going to be complacent. We are super happy to have the clients we have and we will continue to take great care of them and their policy.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks for joining us on Onsite Insight, where we break down the future of temporary housing and how you insurance reps and housing professionals can make the process easier for your clients and your team. If today's episode gave you new ideas or insights, we'd love to hear from you. You can connect with us online at rvtemphousingcom or reach out to us directly on LinkedIn, and if you found this valuable, don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone who needs it. Until next time, I'm Drew Powell and this is Onsite Insight, where housing meets solutions.