Greg Mckeown hasn’t been sleeping all that well of late. He just hasn’t had time. Having received 192 calls about major and minor roof problems since the Jan. 14 storm that featured heavy rain and wind gusts of 70 miler
Greg Mckeown hasn’t been sleeping all that well of late.
He just hasn’t had time.
Having received 192 calls about major and minor roof problems since the Jan. 14 storm that featured heavy rain and wind gusts of 70 miler per hour, Mckeown’s roofing business has been busy.
“The last few weeks, I have been going to bed around 1 a.m. and getting up at 6 a.m.,” said Mckeown, who owns and operates Greg’s Roofing based out of Kapa’a. “If there was five of me, I probably still wouldn’t be able to catch up.”
Mckeown’s wasn’t the only company whose employees were kept making repairs, cleaning up debris and damage, or otherwise kept jumping after the storm.
The Grove Farm Company, which owns and operates Puakea Golf Course, used their entire golf maintenance crew, approximately 18 people, to do landscaping work at the course after the big blow.
“It was mostly plants and broken trees and branches,” said Allan Smith, Grove Farm vice president and chief operating officer. “It went very well. The crews did great work.”
The crews had several dump trucks, excavators and utility carts at their disposal, which helped make the cleanup easier and efficient, he said.
According to Smith, many members of his maintenance crew had previous working experience after Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992. The experience certainly helped after the Jan. 14 storm.
Despite a successful cleanup, there was still damage at the site.
After consulting with several local nurseries, estimates for damaged specimen trees could run over $100,000, said Smith.
According to Mckeown, he still receives approximately 20 calls a day from interested Kauaians with major and minor roofing problems.
He has three crews helping assess damage, and hasn’t had to add more despite the heavy volume of calls.
“I have a great deal of confidence in my crew,” he said. “They can get the job done.”
While Mckeown’s company isn’t the only roofing business on the island, it may be the busiest.
“There are a lot of roofing companies that don’t want to deal with it,” he said. “They don’t want to hassle with the insurance companies.”
Many insurance companies were also busy, handling a heavy volume of claims after the storm. Despite large numbers of claims, the Hawaii Insurers Council reported few problems.
“I know that there were a lot of them (claims),” said Paul Ables, a legislative consultant with the council. “But, as of right now, we haven’t heard of any problems. It’s been pretty smooth.”
Business Editor Barry Graham may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or mailto:bgraham@pulitzer.net.
