Smoke, soot, and mold can damage your home and affect your health in the long term after a house fire. That’s why you should act fast when dealing with fire damage and contact us immediately. But before that, you might have some doubts about the pricing situation. Thankfully, we are here to solve them.
Thanks to being a certified firm by the IICRC, we can guarantee that our work will follow industry standards. As a company with over a decade of experience, we believe that integrity and transparency should also be part of this standard. Due to our commitment to these values, we think educating you will empower you to make good, informed decisions.
Today, we will explicitly discuss the costs of fire damage restoration, from how we at Restore-It arrive at the prices to the factors that influence the final bill. Now, let’s learn everything there is to know about the pricing of our fire restoration services!
Calculating the cost of fire damage restoration
The most commonly used tool to estimate costs in a fire restoration project is a software program called Xactimate. Here is how we at Restore-It (and most of the restoration industry) use it to estimate the costs:
- Sketching the dimensions of the rooms: The technicians will outline the space, which is the basis for cost estimation.
- Enter the tasks for the restoration process: This is based on the findings encountered in the inspection.
- Adjusting the tasks according to the project needs.
Usually, the cost estimates are measured by the square or linear foot, but sometimes, the cost is adjusted by the number of hours needed to complete a job. In a fire damage restoration project, most costs will come from the rebuilding process, regardless of the number of content-cleaning tasks.
Factors that affect the cost of fire damage restoration
Several factors affect the price of the final bill:
The size of the house and the affected areas
Smoke rises during a fire, leaving soot and odor and affecting other areas of the house besides where the fire started. This influences the final price for the fire restoration project.
The affected materials in the house fire
Sometimes, underlying issues like mold and water damage can cause structural damage, increasing the price. Soot accumulation can damage objects like clothing, carpets, and rugs. Because of this, we recommend that after the fire is extinguished, you immediately call us so we can begin with the mitigation.
The source of the fire damage
Each type of fire requires a different kind of treatment. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), there are 5 categories of fires:
- Class A: Fires in ordinary combustible materials, such as wood, cloth, paper, rubber, and many plastics.
- Class B: Fires in flammable and combustible liquids, such as oil, gasoline, tars, oil-based paints, solvents, lacquers, alcohol, and flammable gases.
- Class C: Fires in energized electrical equipment.
- Class D: Fires in combustible metals like magnesium, sodium, and titanium.
- Class K: Fires in cooking appliances using oils or fats (vegetable or animal).
The cause of the fire damage turns out to be different
When we work, we do so under the assumption that a specific type of fire occurred. But if later it becomes clear there was another cause, we may have to start all over, affecting the final cost. This is why we begin with an honest conversation with the homeowner before we start the restoration project.
The time needed to complete the fire restoration project
Anything that extends the hours to finish the job will impact the final price. On top of the previously mentioned factors, traveling time can also significantly affect labor hours. That’s why projects in areas outside El Dorado City (where we are located) take longer and cost a little more.
The cost of fire damage restoration
Now, listen. The reality is that the cost of a fire damage restoration project is hard to determine precisely due to the complexity and variability of each case. However, we created a detailed scenario with itemized costs to give you a general idea of the costs:
One-story house with 5 affected rooms
For this scenario, we are looking at the real-life scenario we quoted: a one-story house 8 feet in height that suffered an electrical fire from a faulty dryer in the utility room. There are 5 affected rooms. For our fire damage restoration process, we use the specialized washing system Esporta for all affected clothing, ultrasonic cleaners for objects with a hard surface, and electronic cleaning equipment for all appliances and devices.
General tasks (taxes not included):
- Fire mitigation emergency service call during business hours: $234.24
- On-site evaluation (per 3 hours): $219.6
- Personal protective equipment (per 6 units): $89.94
- Personal protective mask N-95 (per 14 units): $48.86
- Moving van and equipment (per 2 days): $426.68
- Provide box, packing paper & tape small size (per 21 units): $85.68
- Provide box, packing paper & tape large size (per 1 unit): $7.28
- Bubble wrap 24″ wide for fragile items (per 400 lf): $96
- Cleaning bags to transport clothes for cleaning (per 5 units): $77.8
- HVAC system: $2160
- Cleaning bric-a-brac (per 7 small boxes): $416.15
- Cleaning dish packs (per 4 boxes): $210.68
- Cleaning bric-a-brac (per 1 large box): $89.08
- Cleaning book pack (per 10 boxes): $378.2
- Provide box and tape – small size (per 2 units): $5.62
- Cleaning clothes (per 103 units): $883.97
- Laundry, wash, dry, and fold (per 7.40 lb): $43.44
- Cleaning comforter, blankets and pillows: $391.55
- Cleaning furniture (per 19 units): $645.44
- Cleaning loveseat (per 5.67 lf): $284.52
- Cleaning bench – fabric (per 4.25 lf): $101.96
- Cleaning and deodorizing ottoman – plain fabric (per 4.17 lf): $164.59
- Cleaning rug (per 92.50 sq ft): $388.5
- Content manipulation charge (per 2.5 hours): $132.58
- Cleaning/remediation technician (per 2 hours): $137
The total cost is $7719.36, not including taxes.
Tasks in the living room (taxes not included):
- Tearing out the floating floor and bag for disposal (per 308.65 sq ft): $709.9
- Tearing out subfloor and bag for disposal (per 308.65 sq ft): $688.29
- Detailed HEPA vacuuming (per 308.65 sq ft): $317.91
- Dehumidifier (per 5 days): $508.5
- On-site inventory, packing, boxing, and moving (per 16 hours): $1056.16
- Cleaning paneling (per 567.78 sq ft): $352.02
- Cleaning baseboard (per 70 lf): $32.9
- Cleaning crown molding (per 75.83 lf): $44.74
- Cleaning hard surface objects (ceiling fan, sofa, bookcase, etc.): $1148.55
- Cleaning door (per 1 side): $14.4
Total cost for the tasks in the area: $4873.37, not including taxes.
Tasks in the laundry room (taxes not included):
- Tearing out trim (per 122.67 lf): $78.51
- Tearing out wet paneling, bag for disposal (per 277.33 sq ft): $213.54
- Tearing out the baseboard (per 34.67 lf): $22.19
- Tearing out vinyl, cut, and bag for disposal (per 65.08 sq ft): $117.14
- Removing shelving 12” (per 10.33 lf): $4.44
- Remove and reset freezer: $56.89
- Remove interior door unit: $21.04
- Remove ceiling tile and drywall and bag for disposal (per 65.08 sq ft): $96.32
- Tearing out and bag wet insulation (per 273.08 sq ft): $275.81
- Detailed HEPA vacuuming (per 65.08 sq ft): $67.03
- Detach and reset light fixture: $58.03
- Removing the outlet or switch cover (per 5 units): $3.55
- Containment barrier (per 21 sq ft): $22.89
- Peel and seal zipper: $19.51
- Dehumidifier (per 5 days): $508.5
- Air scrubber (per 5 units): $690
- Applying antimicrobial agent (per 407.5 sq ft): $138.55
- Removing and resetting the washing machine: $55.36
- Removing and resetting the dryer: $42.67
- Cleaning light fixture: $14.2
- Cleaning door (per 2 sides): $19.24
Total cost for the tasks in the area: $2525.41, not including taxes.
Tasks in the kitchen/dining room (taxes not included):
- Light HEPA vacuuming (per 702.14 sq ft): $372.13
- Cleaning of the walls (per 322.90 sq ft): $125.93
- Cleaning the floor (per 167.66 sq ft): $92.21
- Cleaning the cabinetry – lower – faces (per 30 lf): $284.4
- Cleaning the countertop (per 60 sq ft): $60.6
- Cleaning the cabinetry – upper – faces (per 24 lf): $227.52
- Cleaning the light fixture (per 2 units): $28.4
- Cleaning the paneling (per 322.90 sq ft): $158.22
- Cleaning the baseboard (per 24.79 lf): $11.65
- Cleaning the crown molding (per 49.71 lf): $29.33
- Cleaning the window unit: $20.18
- Cleaning the wall hanging (per 4 units): $39.44
- Cleaning the door: $14.4
Total cost for the tasks in the area: $1464.41, not including taxes.
Tasks in the hallway (taxes not included):
- Light HEPA vacuuming (per 118.92 sq ft): $63.03
Total cost for the tasks in the area: $63.03, not including taxes.
Tasks in the formal living room (taxes not included):
- Cleaning large table – sofa – ornate (6.67): $295.81
- Light HEPA vacuuming (per 255.06 sq ft): $135.18
- Cleaning paneling (per 409.11 sq ft): $200.46
- Cleaning baseboard (per 50.17 lf): $23.58
- Cleaning crown molding (per 56 lf): $33.04
- Cleaning wall hanging (per 8 units): $78.88
- Cleaning door: $14.4
Total cost for the tasks in the area: $781.35, not including taxes.
In summary, the total cost for this scenario is $9851.13 for the work related to the dwelling and $7575.80 for content treatment (cleaning of all the affected objects in the house), giving us a total cost of $17426.93, not including taxes.
The rebuilding process
- Removing and putting back all the furniture
- Replacing the flooring
- Painting the entire ceiling
The total cost of this project phase was around $12000, not including taxes.
Now that you have accompanied us through this learning experience, we believe you have a better understanding of how we determine the price and how the tasks are itemized for the final bill. With all this knowledge in hand, all you need to do is contact us to get an initial inspection and begin the journey of fire restoration.