DRYSTAR deals with professional dehumidification, drying and temperature control of buildings, sale and rental of drying equipment, as well as elimination of the consequences of water accidents, including settlement of damage events with a relevant insurance company.
Mag. Gernot Krausz, MBA
He graduated from the Vienna University of Economics, where he also received an MBA degree. His practical mentality combined with strategic vision makes him an architect of sustainable growth. His thinking represents analytical power and a sharp eye for numbers, processes and opportunities; according to him, numbers, market and people are inextricably linked.
Originally an Austrian family company, DRYSTAR, is part of the KOR Group, which unites various craft businesses under one roof. Today, they also operate in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Their headquarters for the Czech Republic are in Hostivař, Prague, and a new branch was established in Opava last year. DRYSTAR was introduced to us by their owner and director, Mag. Gernot Krausz, MBA.
How would you characterize DRYSTAR?
DRYSTAR is an Austrian company with the international overlap that provides the customers with fast and reliable assistance in the event of damage. As a family company, DRYSTAR combines proven expertise, personal responsibility and a true passion for the craft. DRYSTAR is made up of people who work with commitment, experience and heart every day and live by common values.
What do you expect from your employees?
I am convinced that, especially in the future, it will be important to support crafts. We need people who can help us with their craft skills in both our private and professional lives. We want to create a viable future. This is also why we place great emphasis on professional competence, technical precision and the ability to solve problems. Our employees should be responsible, customer-oriented and reliable even in challenging situations. Team spirit, a willingness to learn and a motivation to develop further are just as important. We are looking for people who work with commitment and enthusiasm and who share our values: people, passion, success, curiosity and responsibility. People are the focus for us, because motivated and well-valued employees are the basis for our success. Passion drives us to overcome challenges and create innovative solutions. We see success in shared growth, diligently creating value and secure jobs. Curiosity supports our learning, development and courage to try new things. We show responsibility to our customers, our team and the entire company.
Who are your usual customers?
Our services are used by international as well as Czech construction companies – large, medium and small. We are official partners of many insurance companies operating in the Czech market. We also cooperate with facility managers, administrators and operators of apartment buildings, plumbers, flooring and other companies from various fields that need and use our services.
What services and special assortment do you offer to customers, i. e. in the form of sales or rentals of dehumidifiers?
Our portfolio of services is wide. When it comes to insurance company customers who have problems with heating their apartment, cottage, office, etc., we provide complete care – from inspection of heated spaces to photo documentation, assessment of damage, offer of dehumidifying equipment, price offer for the insurance company to the implementation itself. Further we offer the possibility of renovation – bringing the premises into their original condition, where we are able to provide masonry, flooring, tiling, painting work, etc. As for the construction companies, we offer a range of products for classic drying services (dehumidifiers, fans, electric heaters) as well as equipment for special drying of floor and roof insulation. We also offer equipment for temperature control of buildings, which are mainly used in the winter. We offer condensation dehumidifiers for sale and we also service them. I can also mention, for instance, the localization of water leaks, which we also offer to clients and are able to provide.
There are times when you are called to handle damage events. How does it work and what partners do you cooperate with in the Czech Republic?
As part of our activities, we are regularly called to resolve damage events caused by water or increased humidity. Most often, these are pipeline accidents, flooding of buildings, subsequent drying of building structures and damage remediation. The way the process works is that we are contacted either directly by the client, the building administrator, or through insurance companies. Once the incident is reported, we go to the site, perform professional diagnostics, propose a technological procedure and start drying works, or possibly remediation works. In the Czech Republic, we have been cooperating, for a long time, with many important partners, especially with insurance companies, facility management companies, apartment building administrators, construction companies and emergency service technicians. Thanks to this network of partners, we are able to respond quickly and effectively throughout the Czech Republic. We also place great emphasis on education and prevention. We provide clients with professional advice in the field of proper ventilation, protecting buildings from moisture, preventing the formation of mould and early detection of hidden defects. We regularly participate in the education of building administrators and end users, as prevention is the most effective way to minimize damage and financial loss.
You gain satisfied customers mainly by providing reliable services. What is your company philosophy in this regard?
We do everything to ensure that the client is satisfied – whether by quickly settling a claim, helping the client, or providing the right information for dealing with liquidators and insurance companies. As for the construction companies, we solve their problems with drying out buildings when they do not have time to dry them naturally (by ventilation). That is why they contact us to determine the right drying technology for a certain small or large problem that they are trying to solve on their construction sites. Our company philosophy is ‘Good isn’t good enough!’ – everything from a single source to make our customers’ work easier.
Does the nature of orders in the Czech Republic differ in any way from those in Austria or Slovakia, for instance with regards to professional dehumidification, drying and temperature control of buildings?
All branches at home and abroad basically offer the same services. In Austria, we also help our customers with the issue of fire damage remediation. In general, we dry, temperature control and remediate buildings, houses, flats with our team, both after water pipeline accidents and after floods. An important factor is to plan the technology correctly so that the drying process does not take months. It is also necessary to know the drying time of different materials and types of houses (brick buildings, timber-framed buildings, etc.). For this reason, our company is something like a doctor who helps people dry out their homes and bring them into their original condition. Following that, we work closely with our existing customers in order to repair the damage as quickly as possible.
When looking back at this year, what significant projects the company worked on can you highlight?
This year has been really intense. We are still receiving calls from new clients who have not yet dried out their houses after last year’s floods. Many development projects are being built in Prague and the surrounding area in which we have installed drying or temperature controlling equipment. Our largest projects include the construction of housing blocks in Nový Smíchov, Waltrovka, the Dolní Morava complex and other large projects in the Czech Republic, where we have a long-term cooperation with construction companies that build these housing blocks, hotels, medical facilities or ice rinks.
What are your plans for further development in the coming year?
Our mission is clearly defined: ‘With our team, we create a viable future for our customers through high-quality services and products.’ This is also what we base our plans for the coming year on. We want to continue our growth course and expand our team in the branches in Prague and Opava in order to be even closer to our customers. On top of that, we are currently analysing other options for expanding branches in the Czech Republic so that we can also offer our services in other regions and further strengthen our presence in the Czech market.
Red. / Foto: Archiv DRYSTAR,Freepik.com
Kontakt:
DRYSTAR, pobočka Praha: Ing. Václav Sobotka (v.sobotka@drystar.cz)
DRYSTAR, pobočka Opava: Ing. Emil Kříž (kriz@drystar.cz)