Team H.C. Blake Inc. provides a vital role in maintaining the health and safety of our community. Therefore, we will remain open during this time of social distancing. If your plumbing, AC, heating or electrical is in need of repair or replacement, we will be there for you. If your plumbing backs up, we will be there to clear it. We want to be there in case of emergencies and make sure we keep our customers safe and comfortable at home. We also need to take caution to protect our team members and make sure they stay healthy as well.

I want to share our plan to address concerns and answer questions that you may be asking. Below is our process moving forward until further notified.

We will be following cleaning protocols recommend by CDC and state agencies.

Any team members that have fever, are showing signs of sickness, or who have been known to be exposed and not protected will be asked to remain at home.

Service call precautions:

Hours - We are open and running calls. If you need service, please call our main line at 256-534-0781 for service at any hour. We have local staff handling the phones from 7 am to 7 pm Monday – Saturday. We will close on Sunday. You can also reach Jim Batson, owner and president, at 256-468-3201, or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Customer Center Questions - When you call in, our office staff will be asking if anyone in the home has a fever, been diagnosed or had exposure to the virus. We need to know so that we can be proactive with our team’s response and level of protection. We will have some team members who do not want to be exposed to a high-risk customer and we will respect those wishes. We will also have team members who are willing to work in that environment so that we can respond to those in most need.

Many of our office staff will be working remotely. Please be patient as our customer care center as our internal communications may not run as smoothly.

We will give time frame estimates for calls, we will keep you informed of delays. We will use texting when possible to keep you posted. IF our office calls, please try to answer phone for efficient updates and call confirmation.

Social Distancing – in normal circumstances we would warmly shake hands with customers. During this time, we will keep a respectful distance. In most cases we can troubleshoot equipment from outside, in a crawl space, or in attics and basements with minimal face to face contact.

Sanitizing - You can be reassured our technicians will be following protocols to maintain a safe work environment by wearing gloves, wearing masks if needed, and disinfecting work areas in the home and in our trucks after each call. Mask availability will depend on them being available to purchase.

Your involvement on the Service Call - You may be asked by a technician to speak via video or Facetime and we may ask that you help control the thermostat while we are stationed at the equipment. We ask that you work with us so that we may provide the services needed.

Obtaining signatures for work - Our normal process is for repair work to be approved via signature before beginning work. In order to reduce contact, we will be suspending this requirement at this time so you will not be asked to sign a phone or tablet by our team. All approval will be verbal.

For equipment sales, we have the option of electronic signature approval via email and we will require signatures for replacement equipment.

Payment - During this time, we ask that all payments be made via electronic means via debit card, credit card, or 3rd party financing. We will not be accepting checks until notified. If you do not want to give this information to a technician, you may call it in to the office to be submitted prior to the technician leaving your home.

Maintenance Calls - We will be running maintenance calls during this time. If you are scheduled already, we plan to come but you are welcome to reschedule so please let us know. We will call before coming and go over any precautions that we need to discuss. As mentioned above, we can often work on equipment with minimal contact.

System maintenance is still very important and does not need to be put off for too long or ignored all together.

Measures we are taking for our team to be aware of - Some of our team members may be working remotely from home and therefore our internal communication may not be as smooth as we would like. Please be patient with our team so that we can take the best care of you and all our customers.

We intend to limit our time in groups as we have canceled all group meetings until further notice.

Technicians already work in isolation for most of the day and are not exposed to large groups during work. We will be limiting face to face interaction between our office team members and field team members.

Future Updates from H.C. Blake Inc. - We plan to work our plan in two week increments unless the situation changes. We will send out communications via email and social media if our plan changes.

We greatly appreciate our customers and team members here at H.C. Blake Inc.. We understand the value of trying to reduce the spread of this virus so that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed. We are confident that we will be able to handle this predicament as quickly as possible and return to normality.

Sincerely,
Jim Batson
President