Building Contractor Vs Fire Restoration Specialist

“Following a fire at my business or home, do I need to hire a fire restoration company, or will my local contractor be able to handle things?”

Typically, building contractors are very competent when it comes to new construction. However, before home materials can be repaired from fire damage, numerous steps need to be taken that building contractors might not be trained or willing to deal with. Water, smoke, and fie can all affect various parts of your house in different ways. That means that various areas might require different rebuilding, restoring, and sanitizing methods.

Fire restoration companies have all of the necessary specialized equipment, knowledge, and training to handle every unique situation. Quite often, damage happens in parts of a home or building that are not visible, such as in basements, attics, crawl spaces, or behind walls, or affect the plumbing, heating, electrical, and/or structural systems. Quite often, the damage takes places in an area far away from the fire’s source, due to the fact that water, smoke, and heat travel. Numerous building materials that are used in modern hoses become toxic when they become exposed to water, smoke, and fire. Also, smoky water or smoke that gets trapped inside electrical conduits, under floors, or inside walls will give off a bad odor for many years if they are not discovered and cleaned properly. Locating and treating those threats requires training and experience, in addition to having the right specialized equipment.

Some of the types of specialized equipment that fire restoration companies have include soot and moisture measuring equipment, specialized cleaning equipment, HEPA vacuum cleaners, commercial dehumidifiers and fans, ozone machines, negative air fans, air scrubbers, and thermal imaging equipment. This specialized training, knowledge, and specialized equipment are not things that local contractors will likely invest in or have on hand.

Also, before cleaning and repair work starts, a comprehensive evaluation needs to be done first. Insurance covers a majority of fie restoration projects. Fire restoration companies have the expertise to know what can be salvaged and what cannot, and know what it will cost to clean and salvage building contents. They can pack up the salvageable contents, take them to their premises, and then clean, deodorize, restore/repair and then store the contents until all of the home repairs have been completed. Building contractors are not capable of or prepared to handle this process.

Typically, restoration companies have employees with years of experience in working directly with adjusters and insurance companies. This can help to speed up by the process by several weeks or months. Also, building contractors are accustomed to being paid by the customer directly, with a lot of the project’s costs paid upfront. However, when it comes to insurance restoration funds, there can be several different stages, and inspections are required before the funds are released.

Restoration companies are also required to carry higher limits and unique insurance policies compared to contractors. Fire restoration requires hazardous materials to be demolished and removed. Products that might be completely safe in normal conditions, can become dangerous after being exposed to heat and fire. Restoration contractors need to deal with ammunition, gasoline, propane, household chemicals, oils, glues, plastics, formaldehyde, asbestos, lead, and dangerous drugs at times. Also, restoration companies are trained to clean up biohazards that are sometimes present following a fire, including medical waste, toxins, viruses, bacteria, urine, feces, and blood. Those risks need specialized insurance policies that are not carried by building contractors.

In this article, we have discussed several reasons why you should hire a qualified restoration specialist instead of a building contractor when your business or home needs to be restored following a fire.

We have all of the necessary experience, knowledge, and training in order to restore your business or home following any kind of disaster. We promise that starting when disaster strikes until the recovery is completed, you will have an experienced partner who can get the job done right.