To minimize subsidence damage, insurance claim investigators typically conduct manual subsidence inspections. MeshNetics and Box Telematics say these are time-consuming, costly, and labor-intensive efforts requiring two engineers for an on-site building inspection.
Also, due to high costs, they are performed on a weekly basis at best – meaning that the task is an inefficient monitoring practice. As a result, claim assessment could take anywhere from one to two years.
The companies claim that automated building subsidence monitoring solves this problem by enabling timely action that helps prevent serious damage, while reducing costs, improving efficiency, and elevating accuracy.
Crawford & Company deployed a standards-based wireless system to monitor the building’s structural integrity. The wireless MeshNetics nodes with tilt measurement sensors are placed in and around buildings. They form an ad-hoc mesh network, using MeshNetics ZigBee stack software, and transmit data through the Box GPRS gateway to the monitoring company’s server. The data is then stored in a database and reports are generated. The whole process is completely automated.
Mark Woolridge, M2M sales director at Box Telematics, commented, Wireless m2m technology is the future of 24/7 remote monitoring of building subsidence. Our web based portal gives Crawford the opportunity to make quick and accurate data decisions without the need for regular on site evaluation by their staff.
The first ZigBee-based wireless trial has already enabled Crawford & Company to reduce claim investigation time from an average 12 to 18 months to only two months. Building structural integrity data is now collected on a regular basis and is available via the web in real-time. The automated system eliminated the prohibitive cost of engineer labor for manual data logging.
