Pricing a Water Damage Restoration Job

3/28/2019 (Permalink)

You probably wonder how we determine the cost of a water damage job.  We discussed in a previous blog that there are various factors affecting the cost of cleaning up after water damage such as the category or dirtiness of the water, the size of the area affected, and the different components affected such as walls, floors, ceilings and contents.

Knowing all this, how do we determine a price?

We, SERVPRO of West Erie County, use various tools to make pricing standard and acceptable to insurance industry standards. We use customary rates.

We want our customers to know how these prices are derived so that they can feel that they are getting treated fairly.

There are three factors to pricing fairly. 

1. We use a tool called “Xactimate”. Xactimate is an estimating software of national influence that features a price list with standard and customary prices. According to the Xactimate web page, Xactimate is the industry's most powerful and comprehensive solution for property claims estimation. It is the number one choice for restoration professionals, thanks to its accuracy and flexibility throughout all stages of the repair process.

We draw your rooms in the software according to square footage. We then, attach line items that are task-oriented pertaining to your damage. 

2. We adhere to industry standards that are established by a standards-setting authority. The most prominent of these organizations is called the IICRC, the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. The IICRC has set standards that say how many air movers and dehumidifiers should be placed on a water damage job. This is based on cubic footage, square footage, and linear footage.

3. The third tool is a SERVPRO developed tool called DryBook™. DryBook™ has the IICRC rules coded into the software. The application tells us how many air movers to place in your room and how many dehumidifiers are allowed based on the size of the room according to acceptable standards.

So, with information from the above three areas, we have tools and guidelines that tell us how to accurately handle and price the water damage job specifically for your home.

In closing, we want to let you know that our pricing isn’t based on who you are, where you live or if we are in need of business. It’s based on rules and guidelines. We want to be fair and consistent with our customers.  We want to focus on doing the best job for you, at the fairest price.