Property Damage Appraisers Designated an Essential Business During COVID-19 and Working to Keep Appraisers and Customers Safe During the Process

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused states to issue new health and safety protocols that all residents must follow, such as social distancing, standing six-feet apart and wearing masks and gloves. Those precautions have caused a number of challenges for professionals in a range of industries.

Tom Dolfay, CEO of Property Damage Appraisers based in Fort Worth, Texas talked with HousingWire about how his company is dealing with the crisis and keeping their appraisers and customers safe. A method the brand is doing to avoid face-to-face contact is having customers take video or pictures of the damage and then the appraising process continues from there.

One challenge Tom talks about is figuring out how to get an appraiser inside the home without compromising safety.

“The challenge is getting inside and it’s become an issue,” Dolfay said. “I think people are as concerned about having one of our appraisers in their home as the appraiser is going inside their homes. With one of the tenants we’ve talked with, the options included getting our guys masks and uniforms. By this point, what ends up happening in a lot of cases is we just asked the tenant to do either a high-end video or take photos of the inside and then we’ll go from there. It’s almost like doing a photo op while we’re able to work on the outside.”