Restoration services

Restoration services, by what happened

Ten core services in two halves, 22 specific jobs, the six phases in order, and what to settle before you sign anything on the first day.

Updated September 18, 2026

Get Help With Your Restoration Project What it costs

Written by HyreRestore Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking

The short answer

Restoration work comes down to ten core services: water damage, structural drying, flood, sewage, fire and smoke, storm, board-up, mold, contents and reconstruction. It splits into mitigation, which stops the damage and races EPA’s 24–48 hour drying window, and reconstruction, which rebuilds and leaves time to compare bids.

HyreRestore does no restoration work. These pages help you read a scope and judge who wrote it.

24–48 hrs the window EPA gives for drying wet materials before mold can grow US Environmental Protection Agency, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home

Cat. 1–3 water categories, clean to grossly contaminated, that set what can be dried ANSI/IICRC S500, Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration

30 days the wait before a new NFIP flood policy takes effect, with narrow exceptions FEMA, flood insurance

If something is happening right now

Water near outlets or the panel? Switch off the breaker only if you can reach it without standing in water. Otherwise, call the electric utility.

Smell gas? Leave, then call the gas utility or 911 from outside.

Fire, a sagging ceiling or storm damage? Stay out until the fire department or a building official says it is safe.

Then read the first 24 hours, the order that protects the house and the claim.

What happened to your house?

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 happening	Where to start
A pipe burst or an appliance flooded a room	Water damage restoration
Water came in from outside, off the ground	Flood damage restoration
Sewage backed up from a toilet or drain	Sewage cleanup
The storm opened the roof or broke windows	Board-up and tarping
Wind or hail damaged the building	Storm damage restoration
There was a fire, or the house smells of smoke	Fire and smoke damage
I can see mold, or a room smells musty	Mold 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 done and the house is still wrecked	Reconstruction
A company is at my door with a contract	Avoiding restoration scams

Why is a loss two jobs, or three?

The split decides how you are charged, how fast you have to act, and how much time you have to compare. Ask for each scope as its own document, whoever writes them.

Mitigation: the urgent half

Securing the building, stopping the source, extraction, removal and drying to a goal. Priced by equipment, labor and days, and urgent because EPA’s drying window is 24–48 hours.

Reconstruction: the building half

Drywall, flooring, paint, cabinets and the trades behind them, priced, permitted and inspected like any construction job. Nothing gets worse while you compare bids.

Contents: a third scope

Your belongings are inventoried and settled separately from the structure. Do not throw anything out until the adjuster has seen it or released you in writing.

One lump sum hides all three

A single “restoration” total mixes three kinds of pricing that nobody, including the adjuster, can check. Ask for them separately even if one company does all three.

What order does restoration run in?

Every loss runs through some of these, in this order, for physical reasons: a house open to the weather cannot be dried, and a wall closed over wet material becomes next year’s mold claim.

Secure

Close the building. Everything after this assumes the roof and walls are shut. Board-up and tarping.

Mitigate

Stop the source, extract, and remove what cannot be saved. The hours matter here as they do not later. Water damage restoration.

Dry

Equipment runs until readings meet a goal taken from dry material in the same house. Structural drying.

Decontaminate

Where sewage, floodwater or mold is involved, containment and removal come before or alongside drying. Mold remediation.

Contents

Belongings listed, cleaned on site or packed out, and settled as their own part of the claim. Contents restoration.

Rebuild

A construction job, priced like one, and the phase where comparing bids costs nothing. Reconstruction.

Stopping the damage

The urgent half. What got in, and how, decides the Category, what can be saved and which policy pays. Safety comes first on each of these pages.

Pipe or appliance leak Water damage restoration Stopping the source, extraction, removal and drying to a measured goal, framed by the IICRC Category and Class. Read the guide Water rose from outside Flood damage restoration Category 3 handling, what comes out, and why the claim goes to a separate NFIP or private flood policy. Read the guide A drain backed up Sewage cleanup A contamination job before a drying job: containment, protective gear, removal and the backup add-on. Read the guide Fire or smoke smell Fire and smoke damage restoration Soot and odor past where the flames went, the water used to fight it, contents and the rebuild. Read the guide Wind, hail or a tree Storm damage restoration Damage to the roof and walls, the rain that followed it in, and why wind and rising water are two claims. Read the guide Open to the weather Emergency board-up and tarping Tarping, boarding and securing the building. A measure for days or weeks, not a repair. Read the guide

Drying, mold, belongings and the rebuild

Measured work, then the half where nothing is getting worse and you have time to compare bids.

Is it actually dry? Structural drying Air movers, dehumidifiers and a daily moisture log against a dry standard. The readings end the job, not the calendar. Read the guide Growth seen or smelled Mold remediation Fix the moisture first, then containment, removal and verification. Assessor and remediator are two roles. Read the guide Belongings damaged Contents restoration and pack-out Inventory first, then cleaning on site or a pack-out, and a separate part of the claim from the building. Read the guide Dry, still wrecked Reconstruction Drywall, floors, cabinets and trades, priced and permitted like any building job. Read the guide

Water damage, by where it started

The same drying science, applied to the leak or the room in front of you. Each page covers what that job adds.

It is happening tonight Emergency water damage What the first after-hours visit should do, what to sign that night, and what can wait until morning. Read the guide Standing water Water extraction The first hour, with pumps and extractors, before the drying starts. Read the guide Water in the basement Basement flood cleanup Pumping below grade, and the short list of what flood insurance pays for in a basement. Read the guide A pipe burst Burst pipe cleanup The plumber, the restorer, and the water hidden in the walls. Read the guide The water heater failed Water heater leak cleanup Two shut-offs first, then the drying, and the slow-leak versus sudden-burst claim question. Read the guide Water came through the roof Roof leak water damage The interior half of a roof leak: two trades, one claim. Read the guide Ice on the eaves Ice dam removal Clearing the roof, and drying the ceiling the water reached. Read the guide A stained or sagging ceiling Ceiling water damage repair Dry in place or cut out, then patch, seal and repaint. Read the guide Wet walls Drywall water damage repair Swelling and seams decide whether the board is dried or cut out. Read the guide Wet carpet Wet carpet drying When the pad and carpet can be saved, and when they come up. Read the guide Cupped or wet wood floor Hardwood floor water damage Drying wood floors to the flooring association target before anyone sands or replaces. Read the guide Water under the house Crawl space water removal Pump out, strip wet insulation, dry the framing, then fix the source. Read the guide

Fire, odor, storms, businesses and belongings

Jobs where the residue, the peril or the building type changes the work and the claim.

A cooking fire Kitchen fire cleanup Grease and protein residue reach further than the flame did. Read the guide Smoke, no fire here Smoke damage cleanup Residue cleaning after wildfire smoke, a neighbor’s fire or a small fire. Read the guide A smell that stays Odor removal Source, clean, seal, and only then treat the air. Read the guide After a hurricane Hurricane damage restoration Wind and flood are two perils, claimed apart. Read the guide A business, water Commercial water damage Drying around a business, and who signs under the lease. Read the guide A business, fire Commercial fire damage Phasing the work around a business that needs to reopen. Read the guide A business, storm Commercial storm damage Roofs, tenants and the wind or flood split. Read the guide Wet papers and photos Document restoration Freeze first, then dry papers and photographs. Read the guide Wet or smoky electronics Electronics restoration Do not switch it on. What can be cleaned and what is replaced. Read the guide A home that needs a clean-out Hoarding cleanup A respectful clean-out with the person, and the hazards to plan for. Read the guide

What should you know before signing anything?

Restoration is bought under pressure, and the papers handed over on day one are the ones read least.

A work authorization is not an assignment of benefits

The first lets a company do the work and bill for it. The second hands your rights under the claim to the company. Read assignment of benefits before signing one.

Emergency work and the whole job are separate decisions

You can authorize extraction, board-up and drying today, limited in writing to exactly that, and take days over who rebuilds. A company unwilling to write that limit has told you something.

You choose who works on your house

Insurers run preferred vendor programs, and those companies can be good. The insurer controls what it pays, not who holds the meter. See choosing a restoration company.

Ask which standard the scope follows

IICRC S500 for water, S520 for mold. A company should be able to name the Category and Class it is working to, and show you the moisture log.

Your inquiry

Tell us about the damage

Nothing goes to a restoration company unless you agree.

A person reads it and replies by email, free and with no obligation. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a dispatch line and nobody is sent to the property.

Get Help With Your Restoration Project

One short form: your address and how to reach you. A person at HyreRestore reads it and replies.

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Questions

Does HyreRestore do any of this work?

No. HyreRestore explains restoration work, and matching homeowners with restoration companies is not live yet. We are not a contractor, an insurer or a public adjuster: we dry, remediate and rebuild nothing, and adjust no claims. These pages help you read a scope, judge who wrote it, and follow your own claim.

What is the difference between mitigation and reconstruction?

Mitigation is the emergency half: securing the building, stopping the source, extracting water, removing what cannot be saved and drying to a measured goal. It is priced by equipment, labor and days. Reconstruction puts the building back and is priced like any construction job. They are separate scopes, and only mitigation is a race.

Do I have to use the same company for both?

No. Hiring a company to dry your house does not commit you to its rebuild. Read what you sign on the first day: a mitigation work authorization should cover mitigation, and if it also commits you to reconstruction, notice that before the drying is finished. Using one company throughout can be convenient; make it a choice.

Which service do I need?

Start from what happened, using the table near the top of this page. The first question is where the water came from, or what the peril was. Water from inside, water that rose from outside, and sewage are three different jobs with three different claims, even though all three leave a wet floor.

How quickly do I have to choose a company?

Separate the two decisions. Stopping the source and starting extraction are urgent: EPA says wet materials dried within 24–48 hours are unlikely to grow mold. Choosing who does the whole job is not. You can authorize limited emergency work today, in writing, and take days over the rest.

Who decides when the drying is finished?

The readings do. Drying is complete when moisture in the affected materials reaches a goal taken from dry materials of the same type elsewhere in the house. The mitigation invoice is largely equipment count times days, so the daily moisture log is a financial document too. Ask to be given it.

Does insurance cover all of these services?

It depends on the peril and your policy. Sudden water discharge can be covered; slow seepage can be excluded; FEMA says “Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.” Sewer backup needs its own add-on, and mold can carry a separate limit. What is covered goes peril by peril.

Why is there no price on these pages?

Because one national figure would mislead. The Category of the water, the affected area, how long equipment runs and local rebuild rates move restoration prices too far. The cost guide shows the lines a bill is built from, and our calculators multiply your own numbers.

Written and audited by

HyreRestore Research Desk

Primary-source research and fact checking

We are a research desk, not a restoration company and not an insurance adjuster.

We read the federal agency guidance, the state insurance statute or the industry standard ourselves, and we publish the rule with the document it came from and the date we read it.

Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. The counts below are taken from the pages on this site.

56: source documents linked from these pages
15: government (.gov) domains among them
0: average prices published without a source
0: restoration jobs we perform

How this desk works

Primary sources only. A mold rule comes from the EPA, a flood rule from FEMA and the NFIP, a claim rule from the state insurance statute. We do not cite an article that cites a source.
Every figure carries its retrieval date. Guidance is revised and statutes are amended. A number without the date it was read cannot be checked.
Paywalled standards are named, not quoted. IICRC S500 and S520 define the categories and classes of water and mold work. We describe their public structure and say plainly when the controlling text sits behind a purchase.
Safety before the claim. Electricity near water, sewage, smoke and mold come first on every page where they apply. We explain the work; we do not tell you to do it yourself.
We do not dry, remediate or rebuild anything, we do not adjust claims, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention.

Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.

Sources & retrieval dates

A brief guide to mold, moisture and your home, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved September 18, 2026.

IICRC standards, including S500 for water damage restoration and S520 for mold remediation, Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Retrieved September 18, 2026.

How to file a homeowners claim, Insurance Information Institute. Retrieved September 18, 2026.

National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA FloodSmart. Retrieved September 18, 2026.

Flood insurance, FEMA. Retrieved September 5, 2026.

Information on these pages is general and varies by state, policy, peril, building and your own circumstances. It is not insurance, legal or medical advice. HyreRestore is not a restoration contractor, insurer or public adjuster: we dry nothing, remediate nothing and rebuild nothing, and we do not supervise or warrant anyone's work.