Insurance Restoration Services Process
If you have water, fire, wind, or storm damage, we can help you start the restoration process and bill through your insurance company. The first step is calling a restoration crew come out and assess the damage. Next, call your insurance company to notify them of them of damage and let them know you have a restoration services company on the way.
Our professional restoration service crews will help you find the right way to approach the damage; so you can get your property back to normal. This page will help you learn about the entire process of suffering damage and billing the restoration services through your insurance.
Insurance claims can be a hassle due to the paperwork, deadlines, checks, and other things that tend to come up. Not to mention all the work that goes into restoring the property.
Having a crew that has a lot of experience with helping people that suffer fire, wind, water, sewage, and storm damage helps bypass a lot of hassle for every customer. Our crews know how to properly document the damage and restoration process to keep your insurance company happy. They also know what to say and what not say to protect our customers.
All insurance companies and plans are a little different. We do a lot of work, so we have experience with just about every insurance company. It is important to have the right coverage, but we can also help you if you don’t have the cover you need. That is how we were able to earn so many positive reviews on on Google and Yelp!
Common Questions About The Restoration Process:
“How does the insurance claim process work for restoration services? I just had some damage to my home from wind/water/fire/storm – what happens now?”
The Short Answer
The restoration insurance claim process generally consists of the following five steps:
- Call a restorarion services company to get a crew out to assess the damage and give you an estimate for repairs.
- Call your insurance company.
- Get approval from your insurance company (claim number) and have them speak with the restoration service provider if there are any questions.
- Pay the deductible to the restoration crew to cover the initial costs of the work.
- Start doing the work to give the property the second chance it deserves.
- Finish the work and submit the bill to the insurance company.
There are additional notes and details below. Remember that 2nd Chance Water Restorations offers 24/7/365 emergency service to meet your needs – call us at (866) 575-5814 for a free estimate 24-7!
The long answer
When disaster strikes and your property takes damage, it is on you to take swift action. Your insurance company will want you to mitigate the damage as soon as possible. If you do not take swift action, you may have issues with your insurance company. In times of a natural disaster, where a lot of people have damage, you tend to have a little grace period. However, the property owner is always responsible for acting to mitigate the damage as soon as possible.
If your home has damage from a fire, falling tree, flooding, sewage backup or anything else, your responsibility remains the same. Fear and anxiety can set up due to the condition of your property and that is understandable. It’s up to the restoration service provider to help you get through process efficiently and with as little hassle and aggravation as possible. This is one of the things we excel at over at 2nd Chance Water Restoration.
A disaster can leave in you different situations. Here a few examples:
- Displacement: Some disasters will force you to flee, and you’ll need to assess and mitigate the damage from a distance. Fire is a leading cause of displacement.
- Vulnerable: There are times where a disaster might require you to stay on site to secure your property. Losing doors, windows, or part of your roof may require you to stay at home while the repair work is done.
Steps to take during and immediately following a disaster
Many disasters look much worse than they may really be, so the road to normalcy may be easier than you think. The biggest thing you need to do is focus on safety.
- Get safe- Water, Fire, and any damage sucks, but it can be undone. Don’t risk anyone’s safety over stuff. If your home is suffering fire damage, everyone must evacuate the property immediately. If it’s a natural disaster like a hurricane for example, get out of the way. Over the years, we have seen many people that didn’t make when they thought they could. Safety should always be the top concern. Don’t risk it. If the conditions aren’t severe enough to warrant leaving, make sure to take precautions like unplugging things and turning off (unplug) any electrical wire or items that may suffer water damage. Have a plan. If you don’t have an emergency plan in place, make one now!
- Call a restoration services provider to get help: Call the best water and fire restoration companies possible. It is important to have the best crew possible do the work for many reasons.
- Call your insurance provider: Call your insurance provider and let them know about the damage you are suffering. Let them know you did call a restoration company to come out and mitigate the damage. Ask for a claim number and answer any questions that your insurance provider might ask. This will start the water and fire damage restoration insurance claim process.
Take account of everything you lost
It is important for you to properly document everything you can. If you can take video of the damage, even as it happens, you strengthen your claim. Take photos and videos of all the damage. Make sure to make a list and document everything you have lost due to the damage.
All the major insurance companies and restoration service providers use xactimate pricing so you tend to get the same estimate from everyone; depending on the scope of the work. It is really straightforward nowadays. Having documentation of all your belongings will help the process.
- Make a list or spreadsheet:Create an Excel spreadsheet or use a notepad to list every item that you lost or suffered damage. Gather receipts and estimate a total value of the loss.
- Make a walkthrough video and take plenty of photos: a video really does help answer a lot of question. If you can get a video of the damage happening, it becomes really hard to dispute anything. You should have a semi-current walkthrough video of your property at all times. Take video of each room, it content, and conditions periodically. Smartphones make life a lot easier.
- Upload the video and photos: Make sure to upload any walkthrough videos and photos to the cloud or somewhere online so you have them as proof no matter happens your property.
If you follow these steps, you will have a lot less hassle with your insurance providers and more peace of mind during the entire process.
How to deal with your insurance company
Anytime you have to file a claim, there is a certain level of stress and aggravation, which is natural. You want to make sure you have the smoothest insurance claim process possible, so try to approach your insurance company calmly no matter what.
Follow these steps to help ensure a smoother insurance claim experience:
- Document everything-Providing your insurance company with videos and photos will help things greatly. Make sure to also keep documenting everything you can during the entire project. Ask the restoration company to properly document everything that they do. Having the right documentation often means the difference between having everything taken care of and having issues.
- Respond promptly- Insurance companies tends to be a lot happier and easier to deal with when you communicate openly and promptly. Nothing makes insurance companies start asking questions like slow responses. As a homeowner, they expect you to want things back to normal ASAP.
- Stay professional: It is not always easy, but it always important to stay professional and maintain a nice tone. Emotions can run high, so remember that use proper grammar, spelling and syntax in your emails, texts, and other communications.
The Restoration Process
Here is brief rundown of the steps of the water, fire, or storm damage restoration process:
Step 1- Emergency Mitigation Estimates
The first thing you should do during any water, fire, or storm damage event is call a restoration service provider (assuming you already called the fire department in case of fire).
A restoration service provider can help you mitigate the damage and patch-up anything that may lead to further damage. In some cases, you might need a plumber or waterproofing company to come out as well.
Emergency restoration crews will be at your property within a matter of hours to help stop and cleaning up the damage. They’ll be able to help you secure your property from further damages and begin to restoration process. If your home has water damage, they will help you remove the water, dry things out, and put everything back together.
Pay insurance deductible
Your insurance coverage will have a deductible that you are responsible for and must pay upfront before the insurance kicks in. The restoration companies usually collect the deductible to start the process and cover their initial expense. If your insurance company fails to pay for whatever reason, the homeowner is responsible for the bill. Therefore, it is important to follow all the steps in the blog.
Stage 2- get approval for the scope of work
Your insurance company can use the facts and videos you share with them to approve the scope of work. Getting an approval for the scope of work being done is common practice and a sign of clear communication between all parties. Make sure to keep track of all the documentation so you are protected.
Begin the restoration service work
Once your restoration company and insurance company are on the same page, you can have the restoration company begin the work. This is usually a very quick process. The initial work being done is to mitigate damage, which is the top priority for the insurance company as they want the claim to be as small as possible.
Once the work is done, the restoration crew will provide the details to the billing department and the billing department will send the bill to your insurance company. You should be included in all communication threads.
In one to five days the work should be done. If you have the restoration company doing the rebuild the work can take a little longer.
We offer both the emergency services and the reconstruction services.
2nd Chance Water Restoration is an IICRC certified firm and we get as many of our techs certified as possible.
Contact 2nd Chance Water Restoration Today for Emergency Restoration Services
Ready to get started? So are we! Call us at (866) 575-5814 for a free estimate 24-7!