THAW
When Houston
Freezes Over,
We're Already
Moving.
"The only crew answering phones at 3 AM."
— KHOU 11 News, Winter Storm Coverage, Feb 2021
Avg. dispatch time
Storm monitoring
Commercial sites served
Liability claims, contracted clients
The Storm That Cost Houston $195 Billion in Uninsured Losses.
Uri wasn't a fluke. It was a preview. Temperatures dropped to 13°F. The grid failed. And commercial properties across Houston discovered their ice event protocol was a blank page.
Property managers with pre-contracted removal had crews on-site within 90 minutes of freezing rain onset. Everyone else spent three days calling vendors who weren't answering — while tenants fell, sued, and left.
Avg. liability per unprotected commercial portfolio
Days avg. property inaccessible without coverage
Houston commercial district, February 15, 2021 — Day 3 of Uri
Uri 2021 — Property Performance Comparison
| Metric | Without Coverage | With Thaw Contract |
|---|---|---|
| First Response Time | 72–96 hours | < 90 minutes |
| Slip & Fall Incidents | 14 reported | 0 incidents |
| Tenant Complaint Volume | 230+ calls/day | < 8 calls/day |
| Insurance Claims Filed | $2.4M aggregate | $0 |
| Days Property Inaccessible | 6.5 avg. days | < 4 hours |
| Emergency Vendor Premium | +340% surge pricing | Pre-negotiated flat rate |
Pre-season contracts fill fast. Uri proved why.
One Ice Event. Two Properties. $1.1 Million Apart.
January 2024 brought 31°F temperatures and a quarter-inch of freezing rain to Greater Houston. A four-hour window. Two comparable mixed-use commercial portfolios. One had a Thaw contract. One didn't.
The numbers below are from actual insurance filings and HOA board minutes. The names are protected. The math is not.
Low temp
Ice accumulation
Active icing window
PARKING DECK CLOSED — LIABILITY RISK
Uncontracted property, Jan 16 2024, 6:00 AM
January 2024 — Total Cost of Ice Event by Coverage Status
| Cost Category | Uncontracted Property | Thaw-Contracted Property | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slip & Fall Settlements | $847,000 | $0 | −$847K |
| Emergency Vendor Surge Fees | $62,400 | $0 (flat contract) | −$62.4K |
| Tenant Lease Breaks / Vacancy Loss | $118,000 | $4,200 | −$113.8K |
| HOA Special Assessment (ice damage) | $38,500 | $0 | −$38.5K |
| Insurance Premium Increase (next year) | +22% avg. | +0% (no claims) | Significant |
| Legal Defense Costs | $95,000 | $0 | −$95K |
| TOTAL EXPOSURE | $1,160,900+ | $4,200 | −$1.15M |
* Data sourced from Harris County court filings and HOA board minutes. Property identifiers withheld.
Houston averages one significant ice event every 18 months. The last one was 14 months ago.
NOAA's 2026 winter outlook shows a 68% probability of a sub-freezing event in Harris County before March. This isn't a question of if. It's a question of whether your portfolio is contracted before the temperature drops — because once it does, we're already full.
27% of pre-season slots remain. Q4 2025 sold out in 11 days after the October forecast release.
Hour-by-Hour: What Happens to Your Portfolio When the Next Storm Hits
| Timeline | Without Thaw Contract | With Thaw Contract |
|---|---|---|
| Dispatch Timeline | You start calling vendors. Most don't answer. One quotes 4× surge. | Thaw crew already staged at nearest depot. Rolling in 45 min. |
| First 6 Hours | Black ice forms on all pedestrian surfaces. Parking decks inaccessible. | Salt lines applied. Entry points cleared. Tenants notified. |
| Hour 12 | First slip reported. Property manager notified by tenant attorney. | Second treatment pass complete. Zero incidents logged. |
| Day 2 | Insurance adjuster on-site. HOA emergency meeting called. | Property fully operational. Thaw provides post-event report. |
| Next 6 Months | Legal discovery, insurance premium review, tenant lease renegotiations. | Nothing. You never lost a day. |
"Every property manager who called us the morning Uri hit heard the same thing: we're at capacity. The ones who called us in October were already on the truck."
— Marcus Webb, Thaw Operations Director
Lock In Pre-Storm Coverage
We call within 2 hours. Contracts are finalized before the next forecast event. Once we're at capacity, the list closes.
Houston Commercial Property
Liability Exposure Report
2026 Edition · 14 pages · PDF
Download Our Liability Exposure Report
Not ready to talk yet? Start with the data. This report quantifies your portfolio's specific exposure based on property class, location, and Houston's ice event history.
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