On January 20, 2021, rental unit 2201 Governors House, located south of Martin, was totally destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire was undetermined in the investigation by the Martin Volunteer Fire Department. The night of the fire, we had wind gusts up to 40 mph.
We contacted our insurance carrier, Amerind Risk, to file a claim on our loss and also sent them the required photos, police, and fire department reports. After Amerind received our claim, we received $171,000 in March 2021 to rebuild through Force Account.
We began to rebuild by demolishing the concrete crawlspace foundation wall and recovering the site for our new construction of the former Governors House. The completed crawlspace foundation in May allowed us to start the actual framing portion of the construction in July. Although the construction superintendent, Lenny Lone Hill, had a very inexperienced crew, he managed to complete the home on February 28, 2022.
The challenges we faced with COVID-19 forced us to adjust the hours we were able to work with available staff and the delivery of materials, which was also effected by the supply on hand. It was a valuable learning experience we will implement with our future Force Account projects.