Choosing a restoration company

The licensing gap

North Carolina doesn't issue a separate state license for water or fire damage restoration or for mold cleanup. Licensing comes in with the rebuild: a construction project costing $40,000 or more requires a contractor licensed by the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors (G.S. 87-1), and plumbing and electrical work carry their own trade licenses. The board's website lets you look up a general contractor's license. In practice that means a company can legally dry out your house with no state license at all. The rebuild is different. If the same company is putting the house back together and that part reaches $40,000, get its general contractor license number and check it on the Licensing Board for General Contractors site.

Separately, ask any company for a certificate of liability insurance, plus workers' comp if employees will be in your house. Without them, an injury on your property can land on you.

Seven questions worth asking on the phone

1. Will I get moisture readings on day one and every day after?
2. What decides whether a wall gets cut or dried in place?
3. How will you dry my crawl space, and what reading tells us it is done?
4. Do you do the rebuild yourselves? If not, who does?
5. After a fire, how do you decide which rooms and belongings get cleaned?
6. Is there anything in your authorization form that assigns my insurance benefits to you or sends payment to you?
7. If the insurer declines part of the bill, who owes it?

• Scope and price on paper, up front. What comes out, what stays to be dried, plus how many days it should take.
• A meter log with photos. First day and last day at minimum, so an adjuster can see the house really reached dry.
• Time to read. Nobody should rush you past a signature line, least of all on a page about your insurance.
• The source, named. Say what let the water in and who is fixing it, so you aren't paying for the same room again next spring.

Franchise or independent

No rule says so. A franchise is a local owner operating under a national brand, and quality depends on that owner. An independent shop can have the same equipment. A written scope, moisture readings you get to see, proof of insurance and, on a big rebuild, a North Carolina general contractor license tell you more than the logo does. One practical difference shows up after a storm the size of Chantal. Franchises can pull crews and equipment in from other cities, while a small local shop may have a waiting list for weeks. That cuts both ways, and the questions above apply to both.

Walk away if you see

• Someone at the door the morning after a storm, contract already filled out. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule lets you cancel most home sales of $25 or more within three days.
• A push to sign the insurance paperwork right now.
• A request for a big cash deposit before any work starts.
• A large rebuild with no general contractor license, or one issued to a different name.
• Moisture readings that don't exist, or that you're not allowed to see.

Where we come in

Durham Restoration Desk doesn't do the work. We send your request to one independent restoration company that covers your ZIP, and we ask each company we send work to to meet the four standards listed above. You should still check its license and insurance yourself and ask it any of the questions on this page.