Can Water Restoration Companies Accurately Estimate the Cost of Renovating A Damaged House Before Starting the Process?

9/9/2020 (Permalink)

Here Is Why SERVPRO Is the Water Cleanup Restoration Company of Choice for the Greater Tallahassee Region!--Plus--We're Faster To Any Size Disaster!

In Your Search for Water Restoration Companies in Tallahassee Consider SERVPRO To Get Accurate Estimates and Superior Services

After you discover water intrusion at your property, one of the greatest concerns you might have is whether you have the wherewithal to restore everything to the preloss state. Your worries could center around cost or the time taken to complete the process. Getting estimates early in the restoration process can help eliminate the uncertainty. SERVPRO offers Tallahassee homeowners looking for water restoration company solutions that include precise estimates and a comprehensive restoration plan.

How much trust should I have in the estimates provided?

An estimate is only useful if the water restoration companies fixing your Tallahassee home use the right approaches when evaluating the damage left by water intrusion. Before our SERVPRO technicians inform you of the expected cost of restoration, or the time it might take to mitigate the damage at your house, we consider a couple of factors like:

• The number of equipment needed for water extraction or drying
• The percentage of affected areas including hidden ones
• The procedures needed to restore the damages

Performing initial evaluation without taking adverse steps such as demolishing walls and other assemblies within the structure and getting good information is the ideal approach because it helps you determine the steps you need to take before you make irreversible decisions.

Our technicians use various approaches to make such evaluations. We can use penetrative moisture meters to check the actual moisture levels within materials. We also use thermal cameras to check for wet areas hidden behind other materials. Thermal cameras identify temperature differences in materials, making it easy to pinpoint the affected areas without removing the covering materials first.

What else does evaluation reveal apart from the spread of moisture?

Water intrusion in a house can cause a wide range of problems, so any evaluation done must factor in other aspects, including:

• Mold growth
• Presence of stains
• Soiling patterns
• Physical deterioration levels in materials

Such factors can extend the time it takes to complete the restoration by several days, if not weeks. The issues might also necessitate the use of specialized cleaning procedures, thus increasing the costs incurred to renovate the home to its preloss state. For instance, when you notice stains on the carpet, you have to stop other cleaning procedures and focus on spot removal to ensure the stain does not set. In the case of mold, various time-consuming procedures, including setting up containments and removing the infested materials, are necessary before proceeding with the cleaning. Drawing on past experiences, our SERVPRO technicians can factor in these aspects to the timeline we quote.

Why should the equipment estimate matter?

Some aspects of an estimate, such as the number of equipment, crews, or other resources set aside for the restoration, may not matter to you. However, they affect the outcome, so even if you do not need to get into the specifics with the restoration crews, you need to know that the restorer you have chosen has a systemic way of determining what is needed to do the job. When estimating the number of equipment needed, especially for major tasks such as drying or water extraction, our IICRC Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification SERVPRO technicians rely on factors established as having a big impact, including:

• The depth of standing water
• Percentage of porous materials affected
• Level of wicking on the walls

The total surface area affected by the water intrusion

For the air movers, which we use to boost the evaporation rates, we need one unit for every 10 to 16 linear feet. Since such equipment is placed along the walls for typical drying situations, it is easy to estimate the number. In case a significant percentage of porous materials are affected, we can estimate the number of air movers by square feet, placing a unit every 50 to 60 feet. For dehumidifiers, we consider the number of pints a unit can remove per day. We also factor in the level of wetness in the materials to establish the square feet each unit can cover and thus an accurate estimate of how many units are required.

Using specific formulas to make estimations of the equipment needed minimizes chances of making errors and thus protecting you from accidental secondary damage such as mold development when the process drags on too long because of underestimating the resources needed.

Many aspects of water restoration require a technical understanding of the situation. Call SERVPRO of North Leon County to handle any challenging aspect at your Centerville, Florida State University FSU, Midtown Tallahassee property, “Like it never even happened.” You can reach us at (850) 536-6599.