Restoration services
Restoration services
Start from what happened rather than from a service name. Restoration work divides into ten services and two halves: mitigation, which is urgent and stops the damage getting worse, and reconstruction, which puts the building back and is where you have time to compare bids. Almost nobody is told that split at the point it would have helped.
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HyreRestore is not a restoration contractor, not an insurer and not a public adjuster. We dry nothing, remediate nothing and rebuild nothing. These pages exist so you can read a scope, judge the company that wrote it, and follow your own claim. If something is happening right now, go straight to the first 24 hours.
What happened to you?
Nobody wakes up needing “structural drying”. They wake up to a wet ceiling. This is the shortest route from one to the other.
| What is actually happening | Where to start |
|---|---|
| A pipe burst or an appliance flooded the room | Water damage restoration |
| Water came in from outside, off the ground | Flood damage restoration |
| Sewage backed up, or water came from a toilet or drain | Sewage cleanup |
| The storm took part of the roof or broke windows | Board-up and tarping |
| Wind or hail damaged the building | Storm damage restoration |
| There has been a fire, or the house smells of smoke | Fire and smoke damage |
| I can see mould, or a room smells musty | Mould remediation |
| The water is gone but I do not know if it is dry | Structural drying |
| My belongings are damaged and nobody has mentioned them | Contents restoration |
| The drying is finished and the house is still wrecked | Reconstruction |
| A company is at my door with a contract | Avoiding restoration scams |
| It happened in the last hour and I do not know what to do | The first 24 hours |
The one split that governs everything: mitigation and reconstruction
A property loss is two jobs wearing one name, and the difference between them decides how you are charged, how urgently you have to act, and how much leverage you have.
Mitigation is the emergency half. Securing the building, stopping the source, extracting water, removing material that cannot be saved, and drying what remains to a measured goal. It is priced by equipment count, labour and days. It is genuinely urgent: the EPA’s guidance is that mould can begin growing on damp materials within 24 to 48 hours, so the first day changes the size of everything that follows. You have almost no time to shop here, which is precisely why so much gets signed at the kerbside.
Reconstruction is the building half. Drywall, flooring, paint, trim, cabinetry, and the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work that goes with them. It is priced like any other construction job — scope, materials, labour, overhead and profit — and it is permitted and inspected like one. Nothing is deteriorating while it is being planned, which makes it the one phase where taking a week costs nothing.
They are usually two invoices, and often two companies. You are generally not required to use the company that dried your building to rebuild it. Ask for the mitigation scope and the reconstruction scope as two separate documents, whoever writes them. A single lump sum for “restoration” hides two completely different kinds of pricing inside one number, and nobody — including the adjuster — can check it.
Contents are a third thing again. Your belongings are a separate scope from the structure, separately inventoried, and usually a separate part of the claim with its own limit and its own sub-limits. They are also the part most commonly damaged by well-meaning tidying — do not throw anything away until the adjuster has seen it or released you in writing. Contents restoration sets out why.
The six phases, in order
Every loss runs through some subset of these, and they run in this sequence for physical reasons rather than administrative ones. A building still open to the weather cannot be dried; a wall closed over wet material becomes next year’s mould claim.
| Phase | What happens | Read |
|---|---|---|
| 01 — Secure | Close the building. A structure still taking on water cannot be dried, and everything after this assumes the envelope is shut. | Board-up and tarping |
| 02 — Mitigate | Stop the source, extract, and remove what cannot be saved. The hours matter here in a way they do not later. | Water damage restoration |
| 03 — Dry | Equipment runs until measured readings meet a goal taken from undamaged material in the same building. Measured, not scheduled. | Structural drying |
| 04 — Decontaminate | Where contamination or growth is involved, containment and removal happen alongside or instead of drying in place. | Mould remediation |
| 05 — Contents | Belongings are inventoried, cleaned on site or packed out, and settled as a separate part of the claim from the building. | Contents restoration |
| 06 — Rebuild | A construction job, priced like one. The only phase where nothing is getting worse while you compare bids. | Reconstruction |
The ten services
Each page explains what the work actually involves, what a technician should be assessing, what moves the price, how the claim usually treats it, and what to ask before you sign anything.
Water damage restoration
The whole sequence after water escapes inside a building: stopping the source, extraction, removing unsalvageable material and drying to a measured goal. Two classifications govern it — how contaminated the water was, and how much material absorbed it.
When: A supply line, appliance, water heater or roof leak put water inside the building.
Structural drying
The measured phase. Air movers and dehumidifiers sized to the loss, with daily moisture readings against a dry standard taken from unaffected material in the same building. It ends when the numbers say so, not when the week does.
When: The water is gone and you need to know whether the structure is actually dry.
Mould remediation
Containment, removal and cleaning where mould has established. State rules differ sharply: some license assessors and remediators and separate the two roles, others do not regulate the trade at all.
When: You can see growth, smell something musty, or drying started too late.
Fire and smoke damage restoration
Soot, corrosion and odour, which reach far beyond where the flames went, plus the water the fire service used. Almost always involves a contents pack-out and a substantial rebuild.
When: There has been a fire of any size, or the building smells of smoke.
Storm damage restoration
Wind, hail and impact damage to the envelope, and the water that followed it in. The peril split matters: wind-driven rain through a storm opening and rising water are two different claims from one storm.
When: Wind, hail or a falling tree damaged the building.
Flood damage restoration
Rising water from outside. Generally excluded from standard homeowners policies and insured separately, commonly through the National Flood Insurance Program, and treated as category 3 — so most porous material it touched comes out.
When: Water rose off the ground and came in at the bottom of the building.
Sewage cleanup
Category 3 water handled as a contamination problem first and a drying problem second: containment, protective equipment, removal of porous material and specific disposal rules.
When: A sewer line backed up, or water came from beyond a toilet trap.
Contents restoration and pack-out
Everything in the building that is not the building. Inventory first, then on-site cleaning or a pack-out to a facility, with textiles, electronics, documents and photographs each going a different route.
When: Your belongings are damaged, or the rooms have to be emptied for the repairs.
Reconstruction
Putting the building back — drywall, flooring, paint, cabinetry, mechanical and electrical work. Priced like a building job, permitted like one, and the phase where comparing bids is genuinely worth the time.
When: The structure is dry and the house still has to be rebuilt.
Emergency board-up and tarping
Closing the envelope: roof tarping or shrink-wrap, boarding windows and doors, shoring anything unsafe and securing an open property. A days-to-weeks measure, not a repair.
When: The building is open to the weather, to animals or to people.
Routing by damage type
The same physical mess can be three different claims depending on where the water came from, so the cause matters as much as the damage. This is the shortest version of that map.
| Damage type | Pages that apply |
|---|---|
| Water from inside the building | Water damage restoration, then structural drying, then reconstruction. |
| Rising water from outside | Flood damage restoration. A separate peril, usually a separate policy, and category 3 handling. |
| Sewage or drain backup | Sewage cleanup. Contamination first, drying second, and commonly needs a specific policy endorsement. |
| Mould | Mould remediation, plus whichever water page explains how it got wet in the first place. |
| Fire and smoke | Fire and smoke damage restoration, nearly always with contents restoration and board-up. |
| Storm, wind and hail | Board-up and tarping first, then storm damage restoration — and flood if water also rose. |
Before you sign anything
Restoration is bought under pressure more often than any other trade, and the documents handed over on day one are the ones people read least. Three things are worth separating in your head before anyone puts a pen in your hand.
A work authorisation is not an assignment of benefits. The first lets a company do the work and bill for it. The second transfers your rights under the insurance claim to them. Both are legal in most places and the second is sometimes genuinely convenient, but they are not the same document and they are sometimes presented as though they are. Assignment of benefits explains what changes when you sign one.
Emergency work and the full job are separate decisions. You can authorise extraction, board-up and drying today, limited in writing to exactly that, and take several days over who rebuilds. A company unwilling to write a limited authorisation has told you something useful.
You generally choose who works on your property. Insurers run preferred vendor programmes and those companies are frequently good, but what the insurer controls is what it will pay, not who holds the meter. Choosing a restoration company is the ten-point version of this.
Sources
- A brief guide to mold, moisture and your home, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked September 18, 2026.
- IICRC standards, including S500 for water damage restoration and S520 for mould remediation, Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Checked September 18, 2026.
- How to file a homeowners claim, Insurance Information Institute. Checked September 18, 2026.
- National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA — FloodSmart. Checked September 18, 2026.
Keep going
- The first 24 hours — the sequence that protects the claim.
- How restoration works — the whole process, end to end.
- What drives restoration cost — the structure of a bill, so you can check yours.
- How a restoration claim works — and working with an adjuster.
- Avoiding restoration scams — door-knockers and assignment-of-benefits abuse.
- How we vet companies, who publishes this, and the site FAQ.
- The free calculators — cost, drying time, deductible, coverage and claim timing.
Get Help With Your Restoration Project
Information on this page is general and may vary by state, by policy, by peril, by building and by your own circumstances. It is not insurance, legal or medical advice, and it is not a substitute for professional assessment of a damaged property. HyreRestore is an independent restoration information resource and connection platform, not a restoration contractor, insurer or public adjuster, and does not perform, supervise or warrant any restoration work.