What's your protocol for handling unexpected property damage on site?

We have a pretty simple rule: tell us immediately and never try to hide it.

Our process is basically:

1. Technician stops and documents exactly what happened with photos.
2. Leadership is notified right away.
3. We contact the client proactively — ideally before they discover it themselves.
4. We take responsibility for what we know happened without overexplaining or making excuses.
5. Then we determine the appropriate fix: replacement, repair, reimbursement, or occasionally a service credit depending on what was damaged.

I’m a big believer that the communication matters almost as much as the damage itself. Most reasonable clients understand that accidents happen. What destroys trust is finding damage later and feeling like nobody was going to tell them.

We also don’t automatically dock the employee for every accident. There’s a big difference between an honest mistake and negligence/repeated carelessness. If there’s a pattern, that becomes a coaching or performance issue.

For higher-value damage, I’d also document everything thoroughly and involve insurance if necessary rather than trying to casually handle something that could become a larger liability issue.

The goal is really: disclose fast, own it, fix it fairly, and then look internally at whether there’s a training or process change that could prevent it from happening again.