How to Choose a Restoration Contractor in Indianapolis

When You Need a Restoration Contractor

It’s an unfortunate fact of life that even if you’re diligent about maintenance, you may still end up in urgent need of a restoration contractor to undertake fire damage restoration, water damage restoration, mold remediation, or to address other mishaps like storm damage or a fallen tree at your Indianapolis home or business. You’ll want to get a restoration contractor on the job as soon as possible to make your house livable or your business operational fast and to prevent the damage from getting worse and more expensive to fix, as it often will if not addressed quickly.

At that moment, under time pressure and considerable stress, you may have the impulse to simply choose the first restoration contractor that, for whatever reason, comes to mind, but that’s not a good idea. You want a skilled, professional, honest contractor that will take care of your Indianapolis home or business competently and at a fair price. Otherwise, in the worst case scenario, you could end up paying too much for work that is done incorrectly and leaves you to discover problems down the line, at which point you find you have no recourse but to pay for further repairs yourself.

Here, then, is a guide to choosing a restoration contractor in Indianapolis. Follow these tips and you should be all right.

How to Choose a Restoration Contractor in Indianapolis

• Start your search in the Indianapolis area. Some restoration contractors move around. They’re particularly like to show up at your door after a natural disaster. If they’re here today and gone tomorrow, that makes it harder to evaluate their honesty and competence and will most definitely make it more difficult to get them to come back and fix botched work should problems develop later.
• Ask friends, family, and your insurance company for recommendations. They may well have useful information to help you choose a restoration company.
• Make sure the restoration contractor’s licensing and credentials are all they should be, and be sure they’re relevant to the home restoration or business restoration task at hand. Some although by no means all of the best restoration contractors specialize to a greater or lesser degree. It’s possible, for example, to come across a restoration contractor well credentialed to undertake fire damage restoration but not water damage restoration or mold remediation. If water damage and/or a mold infestation is your problem, the fire damage specialist is not the restoration contractor you want.
• With regard to the above, it’s helpful to be aware that, broadly speaking, restoration contractors fall into several categories. Emergency service providers are the ones who show up fast to manage a crisis. Tradesmen like roofers, electricians, and plumbers handle a particular aspect of home or business repair. Home improvement contractors remodel and retrofit existing structures to improve structural integrity, and general contractors, whose job is often to deal with the large-scale construction of buildings from the ground up, may be needed if there’s been a great deal of damage.
• Check the Better Business Bureau website or other relevant, credible websites to get information about a particular restoration contractor. Avoid restoration contractors that have had complaints filed against them.
• Check the restoration contractor’s references. You want a contractor with a solid reputation, and an honest professional contractor will have no difficulty supplying references. If references aren’t forthcoming, that’s a big red flag.
• After you have the references, phone some of the people who supplied them and ask about the restoration contractor’s competence, reliability, scheduling, etc. You may obtain information more detailed or even at variance with what was in the written references.
• If practical, take a look at completed work and/or work in progress. Some of the people who supplied references may let you come out and look at what the restoration contractor did, or you may be able to visit a jobsite where the restoration contractor is currently working. Obviously, you’re not a restoration expert, and you won’t bring an expert’s eye to these visits. But you may still notice defects in completed work and be able to form an impression as to whether ongoing work is proceeding in a safe, competent, professional way.
• Obtain more than one quote. It takes a little extra time and it’s conceivable you might even have to pay for a quote, but you need to lock down exactly what services the restoration company is providing and what the price will be, especially if your insurance company isn’t paying the whole amount.
• When obtaining quotes, be wary of a rock-bottom price that seems too good to be true. It may well be. A reputable restoration company will charge you a fair price, but that price has to be high enough to account for the training and certifications their employees receive, the purchase and maintenance of state-of-the-art equipment, proper materials, etc.
• Make sure you understand the restoration contractor’s payment schedule. Different companies use different schedules, and most are legitimate, but you don’t want a payment to come due when you aren’t expecting it or have it be more than you’re expecting.
• One payment schedule that is not kosher is if the restoration contractor asks for a large cash payment up front. 10% is generally reasonable to pay for materials. 50% most definitely is not. The request for a large cash payment at the start of the home restoration or business restoration process is another red flag.
• Make sure there’s a contract before work begins, and that you fully understand the terms of the agreement. As with the other items on this list, a proper restoration contractor will take care of this step as a matter of course, and if that’s not the case, you should take your business elsewhere.

Choosing the Right Indianapolis Restoration Contractor for Your Needs: Final Thoughts

By utilizing these pointers, you should end up with a reputable restoration contractor and a satisfactory restoration experience. We at Five Star Complete Restoration are confident that if you apply the standards to us, we’ll pass with flying colors.