How Much Does Water Damage Restoration Cost in the Mid-Ohio Valley?

1/23/2020 (Permalink)

Water Damage Restoration Cost

Water Damage can devastate our homes and commercial buildings far beyond the initial event. Unlike fire damage, water is extremely time sensitive. As time goes by it will further damage the walls, subfloor and structure along with building foundations and furniture if water isn’t removed quickly and properly. 

Ongoing water damage can vary from expanding within your subfloor and walls, furniture and by creating a thriving environment for mold to grow. For these reasons water damage must be taken care of as soon as possible.

Luckily almost every water damage claim is covered by your homeowners insurance without any out of pocket expenses.

But what does this cost?

How Much Does Water Damage Restoration Cost?

The short answer is “it depends” but on average it is around $4,800 but this can increase or even decrease dramatically depending on multiple factors. 

The goal of this blog post is to be fully transparent with you, explaining all the factors that contribute to the pricing, so that you can be better prepared when talking to SERVPRO. In addition, we offer a few tips of how to minimize your costs. So be sure to read carefully.

What are the factors?

Factor 1: Time (Time of Booking)

Our base time for call outs is during business hours (Monday - Friday, 8-5pm). There is an industry standard surcharge for emergency calls made after hours, late at night, on weekends and holidays. Typically, this surcharge can be about a $50 per hour surcharge. 

Factor 2: Time (Man-hours)

Labor is a vital component in the process and one of the major factors that determine the price of a water damage restoration job. Man hours are summed up in this example; if a job requires 40 hours to complete, one man will do it in 40 hours, 2 men will do it in 20 hours, 4 in 10 hours and so on. There is no extra cost for extra people, the pricing only factors the total hours worked. 

What Builds Into These Man Hours?

• Distance: How far is your location from us? The further away, the more travel time required to and from the job, as well as follow up and check up from the SERVPRO team.
• Demolition: In some instances, there is a level of demolition required for thorough water and moisture removal. This can be as small as removing glued carpet or perhaps removal of dry wall that is completely soaked with water and beyond repair. Each job has specific requirements for the team to get under, around or behind items to safely remove all water and moisture.
• Side note about dealing with carpet: Carpet removal can be a time consuming job. If it can be rolled up, great! Some time is saved. However often the team need to cut the carpet into squares to safely remove it from surrounding fixtures.
• Removal of items in area: Unimpeded access to the area is vital. If there is furniture or other objects obstructing access, they must be safely removed. The time required for this part of the process can vary depending on the amount and the size of the items.
• Large or small items?
• Does our team have to carry it up stairs, through the house or is there a basement door?
• Do any items need to be disposed of?
• Do we have to safely store them? Do you have a storage space or do we have to rent out somewhere in the meantime?

All these questions are considered when pricing.

• Money saving tip: If safe to do so, you can save money by removing all the smaller items from the area before the team arrive. Warning: be careful of any electrical currents and the water category of the water in the area.

Factor 3: Time (the environment)

When referring to the environment we are talking about where the water damage has taken place (basement, kitchen, outdoors etc). One of the most important parts of water damage restoration that is often forgotten is the drying after the team has been at your home or building. 

Our dehumidifiers are working overtime to completely rid your area of moisture. This is to prevent the build up of mold in the area and make it as safe as possible for you, your family or your employees. 

• Humid Airflow: In an ideal world, the area is completely air tight, with no external air coming out. Unfortunately this isn’t often the case. If there is a door with a breeze coming in and it’s humid outside, this can slow down the process up to a couple of days (worst case scenario).
• Money Saving Tip: keep the area free from moisture and humidity as much as possible. If it’s hot and dry outside, a free flowing breeze can actually help speed up the process. We would recommend asking the team first if this is a good idea.
• HVAC System: Your HVAC system may or may not be hurting the drying time. Proper air flow and humidity displacement can help remove moisture from your home and assist with drying faster.

Factor 4: Square Footage of Area

While this is an apparently obvious one we must include it. The more damage there is, the more the price will increase. You can keep your costs down slightly though if obstructions are kept to a minimum or removed entirely.

Factor 5: The Equipment

Our equipment is top of the line and recently updated, meaning they are more effective and efficient than ever before. Our research and development team have worked tirelessly to minimize their electric output while simultaneously improving their power. This means that their electricity consumption has significantly dropped. For example our fans use less electricity than your household vacuum!

The equipment required may range from any or all of these:

• Exhaust fans: to extract air from the area.
• Dehumidifiers: used to remove humidity in the air. Cleaning it as well as removing the moisture in the air that feeds mold.
• Air Scrubbers & Water Extractors: used to clean contaminated air and large amounts of water.

As you can see there is a long list of variables that are considered when we are asked “how much does it cost for water damage restoration?” We hope that this has helped shed some light on to the processes involved so that you can minimize your costs where possible.

Some extra money saving tips include:

As mentioned earlier, the more time saved, the better it is. So be sure to follow these simple guidelines / tips when getting prepared.

• Communicate as much information as possible over the phone: Have as much detail as you can when calling SERVPRO. Concise, detailed information means faster response time. While poor or confusing information means a delayed response time, which may cost more, remembering water damage is time sensitive.

1. Photos or videos of the damaged area: photos and videos allow the team to better understand the job ahead. Make sure that they are well lit if possible. Too many shadows may make it harder for our team to understand the area.

Final piece of help: We recommend reading our article How to Minimize Your Costs After Water Damage for some more information that will help you with the process.

If you know someone wondering, “how much does water damage restoration cost?” please feel free to share this article with them. We hope that it helps you better understand everything that goes into the pricing. 

From the team at SERVPRO of Wood, Ritchie & Pleasants Counties