Water and Fire Damage Restoration Cost in Durham, NC

What water and fire damage restoration costs

A web page can't price your job, and that includes this one. It can give you the published national ranges, who published them and when, and the handful of things that decide whether a Durham job lands low or high. Fixr's typical water job is $1,200 to $5,000. LawnStarter's average fire and smoke job is $20,470.

Updated October 29, 2026 · Sources at the bottom

Water

Item	Published range	Source
Whole job, typical	$1,200 to $5,000, $3,000 average	Fixr, Jan 2025
Whole job, typical	$1,305 to $5,707, $3,455 average	Bob Vila, May 2023
Pumping out water, per sq ft	$3.75 to $7.50 per square foot	Fixr
Clean supply line water, per sq ft	$3.75 to $4.25	Fixr
Gray water from appliances, per sq ft	$4.10 to $6.50	Fixr
Black water from sewage or floods, per sq ft	$7 to $7.50	Fixr
Severe jobs, water deep in the structure	$20,000 to $100,000	Fixr

Fire and smoke

Item	Published range	Source
Whole job	$2,900 to $38,325, $20,470 average	LawnStarter, Jul 2026
Per sq ft of affected space	$4.25 to $6.50 per square foot	LawnStarter, Jul 2026

Mold and the rebuild

Item	Published range	Source
Mold remediation	$1,500 to $9,000, $3,500 average	Fixr, Aug 2025
Mold inspection	$450 to $800	Fixr, Jan 2025
New drywall, per sq ft	$1.50 to $3	Fixr
New hardwood, per sq ft	$10 to $15	Fixr
Roof leak fix	$350 to $1,500	Fixr, Jan 2026

All national published figures. None is a Durham average and none is a quote; local labor can run either side of them.

Five things that move the number

Where the water came from. Black water costs about twice what clean water does on Fixr's scale, and anything from the Eno or a creek counts as black.

How long it sat. A leak found in an hour is a small job. A water heater that dripped for a week while you were at the beach has wicked up the walls and may already be growing mold.

The crawl space. Most Durham houses have one. Drying it is real square footage on the invoice that you will never walk on.

Where the smoke went. A small fire with the furnace fan on can put soot in every room.

The finish you are matching. Plaster and old heart pine trim in a 1920s Trinity Park house cost more to put back than builder-grade drywall in a 2005 East Durham townhouse.

Reading the invoice

A restoration bill is a list of units. Square feet extracted. Air movers times days. Dehumidifiers times days. Square feet of drywall removed. Cleaning by the room or by the hour. The equipment lines are the ones that grow, so ask up front how many drying days the company expects and ask to see the meter readings behind every extra day. Checking a quote line by line.

If an insurer is paying

Insurers and many restoration companies build estimates in the same estimating software, so your line items should map to categories the adjuster already uses. The deductible is still yours, and so is reading the forms. North Carolina claims.

Questions Durham homeowners ask

What is the average cost of water damage repair?

Fixr's typical range is $1,200 to $5,000, averaging $3,000 nationally; Bob Vila's is $1,305 to $5,707. The kind of water matters most. A clean supply line runs $3.75 to $4.25 a square foot; sewage and flood water run $7 to $7.50. Rebuilding is billed on top.

How much does fire damage restoration cost?

LawnStarter's national average is $20,470. Its range runs $2,900 to $38,325 depending on the size of the fire, or $4.25 to $6.50 per square foot. Because smoke moves through the ductwork, one burned kitchen can put every room on the cleaning list. Replacing burned framing costs extra.

How much does mold removal cost?

On Fixr's numbers, most remediation jobs cost $1,500 to $9,000 (average $3,500), or $10 to $30 per square foot; Bob Vila's lower range is $1,125 to $3,439. A crawl space job runs $500 to $2,000, and mold in the ductwork $3,000 to $10,000. The swing comes mostly from how much material gets torn out, which is why the scope belongs on paper.