A Business Recovery Blueprint for East Texas

A roof leak, electrical fire, or extended power outage can interrupt far more than the work happening inside a building. Payroll, customer service, deliveries, and access to records may all be affected. In Season 4, Episode 6 of The East Texas Restoration Report, hosted by Patrick Castillo of SERVPRO of Lufkin, the focus is business recovery planning: deciding what must keep working and how to restore it safely.

Start With What Your Business Cannot Afford to Lose

FEMA’s Ready.gov business preparedness resources and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s emergency preparedness guidance provide a foundation for this work. Start by identifying essential functions, the people responsible for them, and the resources they require. For a Lufkin retailer, that might mean payment processing and inventory access. For a Nacogdoches medical office, it could include patient communications, protected records, and temperature-sensitive supplies. Set recovery priorities before every task feels equally urgent.

• List critical operations and how long each can reasonably remain unavailable. Identify dependencies such as electricity, internet service, refrigeration, or specialized equipment.
• Assign a primary decision-maker and a backup. Document who can authorize emergency spending, contact the insurer, and communicate with employees.
• Keep secure, accessible copies of vendor contacts, insurance policies, leases, equipment inventories, and essential records. Test whether backups can actually be restored.
• Identify alternate work locations, suppliers, and communication methods. Keep an offline contact list in case phones, networks, or cloud accounts become inaccessible.

A repaired building is only part of a recovered business.

Plan for East Texas Conditions, Then Practice

Across Lufkin, Nacogdoches, Longview, and surrounding communities, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding, hurricane remnants, and extreme heat can disrupt facilities and utilities. Humid conditions also complicate drying after water intrusion. Businesses operating in converted homes may have concealed wall cavities, aging plumbing, or residential-style roof systems that deserve attention during pre-loss inspections. Know where utility shutoffs are, but designate their use only to people trained and authorized to operate them safely.

• Write separate procedures for evacuation and sheltering. Identify safe locations, account for employees and visitors, and include accessibility needs.
• Maintain roofs, drainage paths, and plumbing. Move vulnerable records and equipment away from likely water entry points when practical.
• Practice a realistic scenario, such as a summer outage or storm-damaged roof. Test employee notifications, backup access, and temporary operating arrangements.
• Review insurance with your agent before a loss. Ask about limits, deductibles, flood exclusions or separate coverage, and business interruption triggers, waiting periods, and coverage duration.
• Document property conditions and inventory in advance. After a loss, preserve photographs, receipts, damage records, and interruption-related financial documentation without entering unsafe areas.

Know When to Call a Professional

Call emergency services for immediate danger. Seek qualified restoration help promptly for substantial water intrusion, contaminated water, or fire and smoke damage. Suspected structural or electrical hazards require appropriately qualified specialists before reentry or equipment use. Notify your insurer promptly and ask about documentation and mitigation requirements. Coordinate assessment, drying, cleaning, and repairs with operational priorities, but do not let reopening deadlines override safety. Review the plan after drills, staffing changes, renovations, and actual incidents so it remains usable when conditions change.