BBB StaffIt's been three months since the devastating Boulder County wildfires. To follow up on our efforts to bring our community together in the rebuilding process, we reached out to Scott Brasington of GreenPoint Roofing, a BBB Accredited roofing contractor based in Longmont, Colorado, to learn more about what’s happening now and what he’s doing to help the community.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
BBB: Thanks for your time today. This whole effort, putting the call out to businesses that wanted to help in the aftermath of the wildfires was a new thing for us. We're curious to learn from you. Can you tell us about what happened three months ago and where your head was at?
Scott: Well, so I'm a Louisville resident. Louisville is a very small, close-knit community. And what happened on December 30 was devastating for the community. Many families lost their homes, over 1,000 homes. I actually brought some sandwiches to the fire department the day after the fire and had a chance to meet some of the firemen and some of the first responders. I saw that a lot of work was being done – and rightfully so – for all the people who lost their homes.
I thought it would be nice for us as a successful company involved in the community to do something for the first responders. So, we are planning an 80027 Gratitude Dinner. 80027 is the zip code for Louisville and Superior. It's an evening of appreciation for the Marshall Fire first responders and their families.
At GreenPoint, we’ve also put together a 10-person planning committee for an event that's going to happen on June 18 at Community Park, in Louisville. Our vision is to have local Louisville and Superior restaurants, food trucks, food tents, a brewery to donate some beer, a cider company, bouncy houses, three music acts. We're looking to throw a nice event for the first responders.
BBB: Wow, that’s amazing. Are you working with other businesses?
Scott: We're in the planning stages now. This will take some significant funds to put together so we're gonna have four different levels of corporate fundraising: $500, $1,000, $1,500, and $2,000 levels of donations; the restaurant donations; and then we're going to go to individuals in the community. We've got GreenPoint Roofing; I am also owner of HighPoint Painting, and ProGreen Solar. So, all three of our businesses are going to participate on a corporate sponsorship level.
BBB: Do you hope that over time it can move from sponsorship to helping the rebuilding efforts in everything you’re corralling?
Scott: Well, this is more for the first responders. They put their lives on the line. And what they went through, for that period of time, I can't imagine what they went through. I just saw the exhaustion and stress on all their faces, the magnitude of it is just so large. This is a thank you for helping protect our small community. Any funds that are left over in our fundraising will go to victims.
BBB: I'm curious if you could talk about what things are like now? Where is the rebuilding process?
Scott: I think it's going to be a long, long road. You know, people are trying to navigate the insurance process. I think that most homes were underinsured. They were insured at the time they purchased their home, but I feel that they're not being adequately compensated to rebuild. So, I think that most people are rebuilding but it's going to be a long, long road for that. And fortunately, because it's a tight-knit community and Colorado is a great giving community, there's been some nice funds that are going to help these homeowners rebuild and get back to where they were.
BBB: You just described families are underinsured. Better Business Bureau is always going to provide tips for consumers when they're hiring a business. Can you help us gain an understanding of the current stage for families, especially when they’re underinsured?
Scott: They don’t know where to go. They don't know which direction to turn. There's a big debate right now within Louisville, particularly with the building codes. They've raised some building codes just recently for homes to be greener and more efficient, which I think is a great thing. But it adds expense when you're building a house. So now that these folks are trying to rebuild, they've got maybe a 10 or 15 percent price increase just to meet the local code. So, there's a big debate right now in Louisville that maybe they can negate those codes for the folks that lost their homes.
BBB: Have you talked to any families about what they're experiencing?
Scott: I mean, a lot of families are displaced. They're staying with friends; they're staying with relatives. The rental market was already tight as it was. So, there was a scramble for rentals. Some folks have made the decision just to sell their property as is. I think that it's still pretty fresh with everybody and people are just trying to figure out what direction to go and navigate the insurance process. In roofing, we handle hundreds of insurance claims annually. This is a whole new ballgame when you're trying to do it with a house fire where you've lost all your belongings and the structure. It's not easy. It's going to take years for things to get back to any type of normalcy.
BBB: We're about three months removed from this. Do you feel like that the support is still there from the state or from other organizations?
Scott: I do know that a lot of money has been raised, I think they are still trying to figure out how to disperse those funds. Because for a lot of people, their house may not have burned down but they were in the fire zone, and they had to get all the insulation replaced. They had to get all their carpeting replaced. They had to get the interior of their house painted. They maybe didn’t lose their entire house but they're having these struggles to face these costs when insurance companies are not covering all those expenses.
BBB: As your local BBB, how can we be a resource to support you and everyone in the community?
Scott: By promoting great businesses that you can count on. I mean, the dust is starting to settle. It's been three months. The shock is starting to wear off a little bit and people are trying to make some steps forward. And I think that anywhere that they can get some help, especially from an organization as reputable as the Better Business Bureau would be beneficial. A lot of people are not used to insurance claims; how to choose a contractor; how to choose a smoke mitigation company; how to choose an installation company. All those things would be beneficial if BBB could give some guidance to homeowners and residents.
BBB: I wondered if you could talk about how the businesses in your community united because of this?
Scott: A friend of mine, Jeff Youngstrom, put together an event that hosted homebuilders and just let them set up a table and have a Q&A session with homeowners. I think that event was great, where people could go in and talk to different home builders and ask questions about the process and how to move forward.
BBB: We really appreciate your perspective, Scott. We're also interested in hearing what GreenPoint Roofing is doing. Are there any other efforts that you're planning down the road?
Scott: For the rebuilding process? You know, we'll work with several builders to understand what these homeowners are going through. We want to provide the best product, as cost effectively as we can to help these homeowners when it comes time for the roofing portion. We've also got a sister painting company that will be out painting as well.
BBB: We really appreciate that. We're proud to hear your perspective because you care about your customers and the community.
Scott: It's embedded in our culture here at GreenPoint – the community involvement. We are constantly trying to be part of our local communities by helping in many ways: volunteer road cleanup, we donated a roof on Veterans Day to a military veteran, we do a Toys for Tots toy drive every Christmas, last summer we did a blood drive in our parking lot. We're constantly trying to be involved in the community, to help where we can.