What Does a Restoration Company Do?
Restoration Company 101: Here’s the Short Answer
What does a restoration company do is a simple question with an important answer — especially when you’re standing in a flooded living room or watching smoke clear from your kitchen.
Here’s a quick overview:
| Type of Damage | What a Restoration Company Does |
|---|---|
| Water damage | Extracts water, dries structure, prevents mold |
| Fire & smoke | Removes soot, eliminates odor, cleans structure |
| Mold | Contains spread, removes growth, treats surfaces |
| Storm damage | Boards up, tarps roof, repairs structure |
| Biohazard | Decontaminates and safely disposes of hazardous material |
A restoration company specializes in repairing property after sudden damage — and returning it to its pre-loss condition as quickly and safely as possible. Unlike a general contractor, they respond 24/7, work with your insurance company, and use industrial-grade equipment for hazardous, time-sensitive situations.
Key Takeaways
- Restoration is emergency response, not remodeling: A restoration company stabilizes damage, removes hazards, and restores your property to pre-loss condition, often within hours of the event.
- Speed directly reduces damage and cost: Water, smoke, and mold spread fast—mold can begin in 24–48 hours, so rapid mitigation can prevent major structural and health issues.
- The process goes beyond cleanup: Professionals handle inspection, water extraction, drying, decontamination, and reconstruction, ensuring hidden moisture and hazards are fully addressed.
- Insurance coordination is a core service: Restoration teams document damage, use industry pricing tools, and work directly with adjusters, which helps protect your claim and reduce upfront costs.
- DIY often leads to bigger problems: Without proper equipment, hidden moisture, mold growth, and structural damage can worsen, increasing repair costs and risking claim denial.
I’m Ryan Majewski, General Manager of Certified Water & Fire Restoration, and I’ve spent over a decade helping homeowners and commercial property owners navigate exactly this question — what does a restoration company do — at some of the most stressful moments of their lives. From managing water and fire damage projects to overseeing full insurance claim coordination, I’ve worked every stage of the restoration process firsthand.
What Does a Restoration Company Do?
When a pipe bursts in your Dallas home or a kitchen fire breaks out in your Houston restaurant, you aren’t just looking for a “repairman.” You are looking for a team that can stop the bleeding, save your belongings, and make the environment safe to breathe in again.
So, what does a restoration company do exactly? Think of us as the “paramedics of property damage.” While a builder focuses on creating something new, we focus on saving what is already there. What We Do involves a high-stakes combination of science, engineering, and heavy-duty cleaning.
Damage Assessment
The first thing we do when we arrive at your property in Irving or Plano is a comprehensive assessment. We don’t just look at the visible puddle on the floor; we use thermal imaging and moisture meters to see what’s happening behind the drywall. We evaluate structural integrity to ensure the building is safe for our crew and your family to enter.
Structural Drying and Decontamination
If there is water, we extract it. But the real work is in the drying. We use industrial-grade dehumidifiers and high-velocity air movers to pull moisture out of the “bones” of the house. If the water was “black water” (like a sewage backup), we perform deep decontamination to kill bacteria and viruses that can cause serious illness.
Selective Demolition and Debris Removal
Sometimes, materials are too damaged to save. This is where selective demolition comes in. Instead of gutting the whole room, we perform “flood cuts” (removing only the bottom 12-24 inches of drywall) to save as much of the original structure as possible. We then handle all debris removal so you don’t have to worry about a dumpster sitting on your lawn for weeks.
Restoration vs. Renovation: What’s the Difference?
It is a common mistake to confuse these two. Here is a quick breakdown:
| Feature | Restoration | Renovation/Remodeling |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Return property to “pre-loss” condition | Improve, update, or change the look |
| Trigger | Emergency (fire, flood, mold) | Personal choice or aesthetic upgrade |
| Timeline | Immediate/Emergency response | Planned weeks or months in advance |
| Insurance | Usually covered by homeowners policy | Paid out-of-pocket by owner |
Key services: What does a restoration company do for fire damage?
Fire damage is twice as tricky as water damage because you’re dealing with two different problems: the fire itself and the water used to put it out.
When we provide Fire Damage Restoration, our priorities are:
- Soot Removal: Soot is acidic. If it sits on your granite countertops or chrome fixtures for more than a few hours, it can cause permanent etching and corrosion.
- Smoke Deodorization: You can’t just “spray Febreze” on fire damage. We use ozone generators and thermal fogging to break down odor molecules at a molecular level.
- Air Scrubbers: We deploy HEPA air scrubbers to remove toxic particles from the air, making it safe to breathe.
- Corrosion Control: We apply specialized pre-cleaners to metal surfaces to stop the corrosive effects of smoke residue immediately.
Insurance and logistics: What does a restoration company do for homeowners?
One of the biggest burdens after a disaster is the paperwork. This is a huge part of our Residential Services. Most homeowners have never filed a large-scale property claim. We do it every day.
We use Xactimate, which is the same estimating software used by major insurance adjusters. This ensures that our pricing is transparent and aligned with industry standards. We document every fan we place, every moisture reading we take, and every item we move. Then, we coordinate directly with your insurance adjuster to ensure your claim is processed smoothly, often with no upfront costs to you.
We also handle Inventory Management and Pack-out Services. If your home is too damaged to keep your furniture inside, we carefully catalog, wrap, and move your belongings to a secure, climate-controlled facility until the restoration is complete.
Core Services: From Water Mitigation to Mold Remediation
In the Texas heat, moisture is the enemy. Whether it’s a flash flood in Houston or a broken AC line in Dallas, water can ruin a building in days.
Water Mitigation and Moisture Mapping
Water Damage Restoration is about more than just sucking up water. We use moisture mapping to track exactly where the water traveled. Water follows the path of least resistance, often winding up under floorboards or inside wall cavities three rooms away from the original leak.
For businesses, our Commercial Services focus on “business continuity.” We know that every hour you are closed is lost revenue, so we work in phases to keep as much of your operation running as possible.
Preventing health problems through mold remediation
This is where things get serious. If you’ve had water damage, you are on a 24-48 hour clock before mold takes hold. Health problems from mold exposure can range from itchy eyes and skin rashes to severe respiratory infections and asthma triggers.
Our Mold Remediation process includes:
- Containment Barriers: Using heavy-duty plastic sheeting and “negative air pressure” to ensure mold spores don’t drift into clean parts of the house during cleaning.
- HEPA Filtration: Vacuuming and air scrubbing to capture microscopic spores.
- Antimicrobial Treatments: Applying EPA-approved solutions to kill existing mold and prevent it from returning.
Specialized contents restoration and data recovery
Sometimes the most painful part of a disaster isn’t the drywall—it’s the “stuff.” Your wedding photos, your laptop, or your grandmother’s antique dresser.
Our Technology allows us to save items that most people would throw away:
- Ultrasonic Cleaning: Using high-frequency sound waves in a specialized bath to remove soot and contaminants from delicate electronics and jewelry.
- Document Drying: Using “freeze-drying” techniques to save wet paper documents and photos.
- Electronics Restoration: Cleaning and testing circuit boards to recover data from fire or water-damaged hard drives.
The Professional Restoration Process Step-by-Step
Knowing what to expect can lower your blood pressure during a crisis. Here is how we handle a typical call at Certified Water & Fire Restoration:
- Emergency Contact: You call our 24/7 line. In Houston or Dallas, we aim for a 60-minute response time.
- Inspection & Assessment: We walk the property, identify the source of the damage, and create a “Scope of Work.”
- Mitigation: This is the “emergency” phase. We stop the leak, board up broken windows, tarp the roof, and start water extraction.
- Remediation/Cleaning: We dry the structure, remove smoke/soot, and treat for mold.
- Reconstruction: Once the environment is clean and dry, our construction team steps in to replace drywall, flooring, and paint.
- Final Walkthrough: We review the work with you and your insurance company to ensure total satisfaction.
Check out our FAQs for more details on specific timelines.
Industry standards and certifications
You wouldn’t hire a doctor who wasn’t board-certified; you shouldn’t hire a restorer who isn’t IICRC certified. The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) sets the global standards for our industry.
Our technicians are trained in:
- IICRC S500: The “bible” for professional water damage restoration.
- IICRC S520: The standard for professional mold remediation.
- OSHA Compliance: Ensuring the job site is safe for everyone.
Being licensed and bonded is the bare minimum—true professionals follow these rigorous scientific standards.
Why Professional Restoration Beats DIY Repairs
It is tempting to grab a few shop vacs and some fans from the local hardware store and try to handle water damage yourself. However, this often leads to much more expensive problems down the road.
- Hidden Moisture: Your carpet might feel dry, but the wooden subfloor underneath could still be at 30% moisture—the perfect “petri dish” for mold.
- Structural Integrity: Water-logged wood swells and weakens. Without professional drying, your floors can warp and your ceiling can sag or collapse.
- Specialized Equipment: A household fan just moves air around. Our industrial dehumidifiers actually remove gallons of water from the air every hour.
- Insurance Claim Denial: If you try to fix it yourself and do a poor job, your insurance company may deny future claims related to that damage, citing “neglect” or “improper repair.”
Why Us? Because we have the tools to prove the house is dry, which protects your health and your property value.
Frequently Asked Questions about Restoration
How quickly should a restoration company respond to an emergency?
Ideally, within two hours. At Certified Water & Fire Restoration, we guarantee a 60-minute response in our service areas. Every hour water sits, it travels further into the structure. After 24 hours, the risk of mold increases by nearly 50%.
What is the difference between a restoration company and a general contractor?
A general contractor is great for building an addition or remodeling a bathroom. However, they usually don’t have moisture-detecting technology, air scrubbers, or the specialized training to handle biohazards or smoke molecules. Restoration companies are specialized in “emergency mitigation”—the critical first 72 hours of a disaster.
Does insurance cover the cost of professional restoration services?
In most cases, yes—provided the damage was “sudden and accidental” (like a burst pipe or a storm). We work directly with your insurance provider and use the same software they do, which simplifies the process and often eliminates the need for you to pay anything upfront.
Restore Faster and Safer with Certified Water & Fire Restoration
When you ask, “what does a restoration company do,” the answer is simple: we give you your life back. We take a chaotic, scary situation and apply a proven, scientific process to make your home or business safe again.
At Certified Water & Fire Restoration, we are proud to serve the Houston and Dallas communities, including Plano and Irving. We understand that disasters don’t happen on a 9-to-5 schedule, which is why we are available 24/7. With our 60-minute response time, no upfront costs, and a 2-year warranty on our work, you can rest easy knowing your property is in expert hands.
Don’t wait for mold to start growing or for soot to ruin your belongings. Contact our experts for 24/7 emergency restoration services today and let us start the recovery process for you.
