What should you actually do in the first 72 hours after a disaster?
Written by Andy Kruger
BuildSOS CEO6 min read
The short answer
Day one is triage and communication: check on your team, assess your own business, activate your communication plan, and deploy a small assessment team focused on safety and documentation. Day two is mobilization and insurance. Day three is planning and operations, locking in contracts and pacing yourself for the long haul. A quick, accurate assessment speeds up recovery.
This is general information. Always prioritize safety — including structural stability, gas leaks, and downed power lines — before any assessment work.
Day 1: Triage and communication
- Check on your team first. Account for all employees and their families before anything else.
- Assess your own business. Check your office, shop, and equipment for damage, and secure the property.
- Activate your communication plan. Update your website and social media with your status and availability. Update your voicemail with key information about what you’re prioritizing.
- Contact priority clients. Reach out to the pre-disaster priority list you built during pre-season prep.
- Deploy a small assessment team. Focus on safety and documentation — tarping and boarding up where needed — not full assessments yet.
Day 2: Mobilization and insurance
- Set up a command center. Even a designated corner of your shop works, as long as it’s a central point for communication and coordination.
- Contact suppliers and subcontractors. Confirm inventory, delivery capability, and availability before you’re deep into commitments you can’t fulfill.
- Begin insurance advocacy. Help clients file claims, schedule adjuster meetings, and review policies for key coverages and deductibles.
- Triage new inquiries. Start sorting calls and emails by severity of damage and your actual capacity, not just order received.
Day 3: Planning and operations
- Develop a project pipeline. List potential jobs and start estimating timelines and resource needs.
- Hold a team huddle. Brief everyone on the plan for the coming week and assign clear roles.
- Finalize initial contracts. Get signed contracts for mitigation and repair work. Never start work without one.
- Establish a staging area for material deliveries and equipment.
- Plan for the long haul. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and your team to avoid burnout in week three when the adrenaline runs out.
Frequently asked
What’s the single highest priority in the first 72 hours?
Safety, for your team and for any property you’re assessing, before speed. A fast assessment that skips safety checks isn’t actually faster once something goes wrong.
How do I avoid over-committing in the early chaos?
Triage deliberately by severity and your real capacity, not just the order calls come in. It’s better to serve fewer clients well than to overpromise and fail everyone.
Do I really need a command center on day two?
Even an informal one — a specific corner of your shop with a whiteboard — prevents the confusion that comes from decisions and information scattered across texts and memory.
About the author
Andy Kruger
Andy Kruger is CEO of BuildSOS, author of When the Storm Comes, and sits on multiple boards and advisory groups shaping disaster resilience policy and research.
About Andy