Do you know what to expect in the case of a fire? SERVPRO of Alachua County West does.

4/4/2018 (Permalink)

No one knows fire restoration like the Pros at SERVPRO of Alachua County West.

We all know that fires happen.  We see them every day in the news or on our social media feeds, you may even know someone who has been affected by a house fire, but do you know what to expect when it happens to you?  Most of us learn from a young age to have a fire escape plan for our home, but what happens after you have escaped and your home is a smoldering wet mess? 

• Your local fire services will have a citizen’s advocate or contact the Red Cross to help you find shelter and take care of your basic needs.
• You will need to contact your insurance company about your claim. If it is after hours your claim number will not be available to you immediately.  You may even have to wait a few days for an adjuster to be assigned to your claim.
• Your insurance company may send out a contents inventory specialist to go through you contents and assess what is salvageable and what your destroyed belongings are worth. If they do not do this, it will be up to your adjuster and fire restoration company to do this.
• You may have to obtain permits in some cases for demo and restoration to begin on your home, as well as having inspections to have certain services such as electricity and gas turned back on during the restoration process. You will also have to have a final inspection once your home is done.
• Every fire is different must most substantial house fires take several months to be complete. This means you and your family along with any pets will be in a hotel or with friends and family for over 3 months.  In many cases it is faster to build new construction than to restore existing construction.
• Your mortgage company may hold onto your funds for restoration and allow draws to the restoration company as work progresses with inspections for each phase. This is a lot of extra leg work, and can hold restoration up for days at a time.
• Your insurance company replaces your furnishings, appliances, and contents with like value replacements. This may mean that you are limited as to what you can choose for your build-back as well as the time it takes to order them, it’s not quite like going into a Home Depot and choosing out any new tile.

These are just a few things you probably never expected during a fire disaster to your home.  One of the best decisions you can make as a homeowner is to be informed before disaster happens.  The next best thing that you can do is have the phone number of SERVPRO of Alachua County West on hand just in case disaster happens.  Our family of technicians, and staff will keep you informed and work for you to make it “Like it never even happened.”