Deep winters, old structures, long memory. The Great Lakes states work a claims calendar built around freeze: burst pipes, ice dams, basement floods when the melt comes, and lake-effect systems that punish roofs and siding for months at a time. The building stock is among the oldest in the country, and the region’s recovery trades carry generations of experience holding it together.

What this chapter is. The Great Lakes Assembly is the Disaster Recovery Trades Council’s chapter for Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, anchored in Detroit. Members are the drying contractors, rebuilders, estimators, and claims professionals who have made careers out of this region’s weather — admitted through application, pledge, and review.

For property owners. When the pipe bursts at 2 a.m. in January, the difference between a vetted professional and a search-ad gamble is the difference between a dried structure and a mold claim in April. The directory gives you reviewed members with verifiable licenses and real winter experience.

For professionals. Membership connects you to chapter peers who work the same freeze-thaw economics, alliance referrals routed by trade and territory, and a national standard behind your local reputation.

Questions about this chapter? Contact the alliance and choose “Regional chapters.”