Repair for Water damage

[Annie Yeh]

Hi , 

Newbies here.. I recently have a water leak in a house. I called a company that an insurance had referred to do the drying .  They said they also do full repair after it’s all dry up. So they demo part of the house they think needs to be repair and sent over the estimates to the insurance and insurance approved their estimates . I have already got paid by the insurance .

now it comes to signing the contract with this restoration company ( the same company that dry the house ) , and their contract was very basic .. it didn’t list in detail of what they were going to do  .. for example 

1.initial material ___$upfront 
2.drywall / paint  _____ $upon completion 

3.Cabinet completion _____ $upon completion 

4.Flooring _____ $ upon completion 

5. Final walk through ______ $ 

I ask for detail items that they were going to do . And they said that’s just the preliminary contract … I have no idea what that mean … I haven’t even pick out the flooring and vanity . 

got a second opinion and the contractor quote way above what insurance already approved from the first contractor . Almost 50k above the budget allow. 

Anyone has experience with this ? I need some advice . I want the repair start ASAP but can’t seems  to find  the right  person that’s honest and won’t take advantage of me  ? 😬

[David Friedman]

It may be a little too late since you accepted the insurance money already, but typically you would have a contractor in place (Ideally multiple quotes) before accepting the amount quoted to you by insurance.

If your insurance company referred you this company though then after doing more research on them maybe they are the best option? It kind of seems you are stuck with them though since you accepted the insurance money already.

[Aaron Porter]

you can go to your insurance claims agent (the claims person that you talked to on the phone and has probably sent you 10 emails)  you need to file an addendum to your claim as you need more money from your policy to repair the property.  Depending on how much more money is needed and x,y,z the insurance carrier may want to send out the adjuster to come and inspect the property.  

you may also want to get another quote from another contractor.

[Caroline Gerardo]

Insurance probably sent an inspector who gave a ballpark repair cost in addition to the cost estimate the clean up company provided.

I'm assuming you used the clean up mitigation company the insurance suggested, who may not be your best choice.

Get another estimate to return the property to full glory, cost for paint, glue, dumpsters, every nitty gritty drywall screw, plus putting your tenant in like kind housing. Get the numbers today. 

Email the adjuster and your agent that the initial draw is no where near enough to put the house back together without sending the estimates which will take a couple days. Reopen the claim TODAY. After you cashed the check it got closed. This is a negotiation. Start working the process daily BY EMAILS not phone to document everything. CC everyone.

[Stephan Sannikov]

Sorry about your water damage last it's definitely best to call a outside water damage company. Then a preferred contractor by their insurance as they often do not have the best interest in mind for the homeowner. We've used Water Damage they have been great

[Bill B.]

Allstate has covered 2 water damage claims for me over the last 25 years. (Both toilet supply line failures if that’s worth anything.)

I went with their remediation company (Service-pro) and their contractors for a few reasons.

1)They started everything the day of the leak/flooding. 

2) They guaranteed everything, out of pocket costs, timeline, quality of work, a year to find any defects, etc etc  

3) it was quick, painless, worry free. I literally wrote a check for the deductible. (They later sued the toilet line manufacturer and returned my deductible. Even though they didn’t collect enough to cover the total $35k loss.) and a week later I walked the property to confirm I was happy. 

This happened twice (two different properties, same cause.) it was awesome both times. What if it takes a month or two because your contractor won’t work until they’re paid. Or they want to do something “extra” not covered by the insurance, or they want draws on their work?  You could easily lose more in rent not to mention headaches and end up with a worse result. 

[Nathan Gesner]

I would speak with the claims agent and ask them for recommendations for remediation companies.