Questions You Don’t Want to Forget to Ask Your Water Damage Restoration Specialist

License and Insurance

The first things you should want to know are whether the company you’re considering hiring is legitimate and whether you’re protected if you use them. You don’t want to use a company that’s not licensed to do the work they’ll need to do on your home – you may not be able to count on them to stand by their work, your home insurance may not cover the cost, and you can even be fined for using an unlicensed contractor. 

You also don’t want to use a restoration specialist that’s uninsured. For one thing, they’re probably required to be insured by the state, so proof of insurance further confirms the company’s legitimacy. Aside from that, if the company doesn’t insure its own workers, you could end up being sued if a worker gets hurt on the job at your residence. 

Flooding and water damage are enough problems for anybody to have to deal with at one time. You don’t need the additional hassle that comes with using unlicensed and uninsured workers, even if it seems like they’ll be cheaper upfront. Do your due diligence and ask to see proof of current licensing and insurance.

References and Length of Time in Business

Next, you’ll want to know if they’re any good at their job. You don’t want to have to hire someone to fix mistakes left by the first contractor you hired. Once you’ve ascertained that they’re a legitimate, licensed, and insured business, it’s time to ask to see references and find out how long they’ve been in business. 

References, especially from people you could actually get in contact with, are a great way to see for yourself what kind of work the company does and also what kind of experience previous customers had with the company. Were the workers respectful of the client and the property? Was the company responsive to questions or concerns? Were they helpful with insurance claims as well as restoration work?

The length of time a company has been in business is a tricky subject. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with a business that’s new, or new to the area – everyone has to start sometime. But you also don’t want to risk it with a company that might be closed in six months. What if you have a problem with their work, but the business no longer exists? The length of time the company has been doing business in your area is a factor you need to consider carefully.

Available Equipment

If you’ve determined that a company is licensed and insured, has been in business long enough to assure you that they’ll be sticking around, and has good references, you’re probably feeling pretty good about them. However, it’s still important to find out if they can handle the job you have for them, and that means asking some questions about the equipment they have. 

This can be an issue with new companies or with very small ones that may just not have the resources to take on more complicated jobs, and you need to know that if you have a severe flood on your hands. The online magazine Restoration and Remediation lists some of the equipment that a water restoration service should have, including moisture meters, axial and centrifugal air movers, low-grain refrigerant dehumidifiers, and air scrubbers. 

A legitimate water damage restoration service will be happy to fill you in on the kind of equipment they use and what kind of jobs they can handle.

Warranties on Work

Your home is a long-term investment, so you have to think about the future, not just today. When you’re having work done on your home, including restoration work, you need to think about how long it should last, and what you’ll do if it doesn’t last as long as it should or function the way you expect. That means asking about warranties. 

It’s not enough for a company to tell you they have a warranty and leave it at that. Find out what exactly the warranty covers, under what circumstances you can use it, and how long it lasts. You should also find out what, if anything, might invalidate the warranty.

Conclusion

Choosing the right water damage restoration company means knowing which questions to ask. Ask to see the service’s license and insurance, find out how long they’ve been in business and whether they have references they can share, inquire about the kind of equipment they’ll be using, and get detailed information about their warranties. Compare the information for a few different companies to make sure you get the best service for your home.

Source

• https://www.randrmagonline.com/articles/89254-what-equipment-do-i-need-to-start-a-water-damage-restoration-company