Is This Restoration Quote Fair? A Durham Checklist

Is this restoration quote fair?

You can't judge a restoration estimate by its total. You judge it by whether every line has a quantity you can check: square feet, machines, days. A quote that says "water mitigation, $6,800" and nothing else is asking you to trust it. For reference, Fixr's typical water job runs $1,200 to $5,000.

Updated October 29, 2026 · Sources at the bottom

Five lines to check

Area. Hold the square footage up against the moisture map. If the map shows a wet hallway and the quote bills the whole first floor, ask why.

Machines and days. Count the air movers and dehumidifiers and the days each is billed. Drying should stop when the meters say so, and you should be able to see what the meters said.

Category. Each water category has its own price, clean to gray to black: Fixr gives $3.75 to $4.25, $4.10 to $6.50 and $7 to $7.50 a square foot. A supply line leak billed at the sewage rate needs an explanation.

Tear-out. Every item on the removal list should come with a reason it couldn't be dried where it is.

Rebuild. Find out whether putting the room back is in this number, in a second estimate, or nobody's job yet.

Where quotes get padded

Antimicrobial sprayed in rooms that stayed dry. A dehumidifier still billed on day six when the readings were normal on day three. A full contents pack-out for a clean-water leak in one bathroom. A mold protocol on a leak somebody caught the same morning. Daily "monitoring" charges with no daily readings attached.

Each of those is correct on some jobs. On yours, it should trace to something in the photos or the moisture log.

The signature page

A plain work authorization just lets the crew begin. Some go a step further: they assign your insurance benefits to the company or instruct your insurer to pay the company directly, and then the claim conversation can happen without you in it. Ask the person holding the clipboard to show you the payment and assignment paragraphs. Reading a page takes three minutes and the wet drywall won't notice.

Two other protections. If the contractor knocked on your door after a storm, the FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives you three days to cancel most at-home sales of $25 or more. If the rebuild reaches $40,000, North Carolina requires a licensed general contractor, so look up the license before money changes hands.

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.

A second opinion is normal

For emergency extraction you take who can come. For everything after that, getting a second number on the same scope is routine. Send us the first scope and your ZIP, and another company can price the identical work in writing.

Questions Durham homeowners ask

Should I pay a deposit for restoration work?

Emergency drying is usually billed afterward, or to the insurer with your written permission. A deposit on a rebuild is ordinary. The FTC's home improvement scam guidance flags a big cash deposit up front, especially to someone who showed up at your door, as a warning sign.

Can my insurer make me use its restoration company?

Usually not. Most policyholders can pick their own restoration company. Ask the insurer, in writing, how it treats a company outside its network, and read every form the company gives you, watching for language that assigns your benefits or sends payment straight to them.

Who decides when the drying is done?

The meters. Get the day one readings, the daily readings and the target number the company is drying toward. When the wet area reads like the dry parts of the same house, the machines should leave.