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What Questions Should You Ask a Fire Damage Restoration Professional?
Ryker Bingham | Mar 08, 2022
There aren’t many events more traumatizing in life than experiencing a fire in your home. When the time comes to begin the restoration process, you will need to find a reputable
fire damage restoration company that checks all the boxes.
Be sure to ask the following questions when looking for the right fire damage restoration professional:
- What are your certifications and credentials?
- How long has the company been in business?
- Who owns the company?
- Does your company handle the insurance claims?
- Is your work guaranteed?
- Do you provide turnkey service?
- How do you handle estimates?
- Are your technicians available immediately?
- How long does the restoration process take and what does it entail?
- How do you handle communication?
- What would former customers say about your work?
Fire damage restoration is a lengthy and involved process. Finding the right company is key, along with asking the most relevant questions.
What Are Your Certifications and Credentials?
When a company is going to perform work on your home, you want the best and nothing less. That’s why you must ask for certifications and other credentials. The best restoration companies will hold certifications from the Institute of Inspection Cleaning Restoration Certifications (IICRC), which means the company has reached specific levels of excellence. You should also ask if each individual technician hold additional certifications.
How Long Has The Company Been in Business?
Whether it’s the company or the founder, you'll want to choose a team with at least a decade of restoration experience. Pro teams also have extensive knowledge of working with insurance companies to provide you with the best service possible.
Who Owns The Restoration Company?
Don’t be fooled, many restoration companies are franchises of larger, nationwide companies. You might not receive the best service when working with such a company. However, if you find a small business owned by someone local to the community, you will quickly realize the level of care and service cannot be matched.
Does Your Company Handle Insurance Claims?
Going back and forth with your insurance company after a house fire can be challenging. An experienced restoration company should have no problem working with you and your insurance company to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible. That way, you and your family can focus on healing and rebuilding.
Is Your Work Guaranteed?
When a company believes in its work, it should have no problem guaranteeing the work performed. This question should be asked before you inquire about an estimate. If the company is unwilling to guarantee their work, there’s no point in asking about estimates or moving forward in the discussion.
Do You Provide Turnkey Services?
Dealing with the aftermath of a fire is challenging enough. Having to find multiple restoration companies to perform the work before moving back in makes the process even more difficult. Make sure you ask the restoration company if they provide turnkey services. The company should be able to handle all of the following:
- Drying out the property
- Removing damaged items
- Remediating smoke damage
- Remediating any mold that has grown
- Removing damaged drywall, flooring, and furniture
- Cleaning the home
- Rebuilding rooms from the floor to the ceiling
How Do You Handle Estimates?
Trusted restoration companies will provide potential clients with free, no-obligation estimates. This ensures that you are not surprised by any additional fees when the time comes to make a payment. It also allows you to review multiple companies since you aren’t forced to accept an estimate from the first company you contact.
Are Your Technicians Available Immediately?
Fires don’t wait until the morning to happen. Fires can happen in the middle of the weekend or during overnight hours, which is why you need to ask each company if their technicians are available 24/7, 365 days a year.
According to the American Red Cross, most fires happen during the colder months and occur in the early mid-evening hours. In some parts of the country, such as the mountainous regions of Idaho, the occurrence of fires are likely to be seen between August and October. The best fire restoration company will be able to send a representative to your home no matter the day or time to conduct an evaluation.
House fires are caused by a number of variables, including:
- Careless cooking
- Heating
- Failed appliances
- Electric malfunctions
- Smoking (falling asleep while smoking and improper disposal of smoking materials)
How Long Does The Restoration Process Take?
Depending on the severity of the fire, you might not be living in your home right now. That’s why this is such an important question to ask. It’s understandable that you want to get back into your home as quickly as possible, but without sacrificing the quality of the work.
Your safety should be the company’s top priority, never rushing through the restoration process simply to let you back into your home until it is safe to do so. There is no exact timetable for how long the actual process takes. It could be anywhere from a few days to a few months after a major fire, for example.
What Does The Restoration Process Entail?
The fire damage restoration process typically entails five steps:
- Evaluation of the damage
- Securing the property
- Cleaning up the property and removal of damaged items
- Sanitizing and repairing the property
- Rebuilding the property
How Do You Handle Communication?
The best fire damage restoration companies out there will handle communication with their customers appropriately. Whether it’s by phone, email, or text, make sure you receive answers to your questions in a timely manner. Restoration companies should never leave their customers out in the cold, especially after they have suffered such a traumatic experience as a fire. Quick turnaround for phone calls and emails is of the utmost importance.
What Would Former Customers Say About Your Work?
It is imperative that you ask the restoration company for references or testimonials from former customers. Hopefully, their customers are not repeat customers. Restoration companies should have one-time customers simply because dealing with one fire is enough. However, other issues arise throughout homeownership like storm damage and flooding. Ask the restoration company for references from their former customers or where you can find testimonials about the company online. If all else fails, check out their reviews on Google.
Final Thoughts
Suffering a fire in your home is devastating, no matter the extent of the damage. You could lose belonging, your sense of security, or worse. Thus, it's absolutely necessary to have at least some basic knowledge of questions to ask a fire damage restoration company. Being overly prepared is never a bad thing!