Ballpark Costs, Time and Cleanup Estimates
Again, this is taking my professional hat off and speaking off the record as a friend/neighbor about cleanup estimates. Every situation is a little different and this should be taken with a grain of salt: For professional service for the Initial rinse/disinfectant/Large item contents removal/demolition/clean-up/final rinse is running approximately $7/sqft (FEMA average). The structural drying portion of the job (with commercial dehumidifiers, fans, dry logs and moisture monitoring) is running approximately $2-4/sqft (FEMA average). Equipment packages rent for approximately $300-$400/day per set (1 dehumidifier and 6 fans) and most homes require 2-4 sets of equipment. To purchase commercial equipment the dehumidifiers run about $1700-$3000 and the fans cost about $250-$450. The square footages mentioned above are for the actual damaged areas (first floor of the home). The demo usually takes 2-3 days and the drying usually takes 2-3 days. The claims portion usually takes 30-90 days. The remodel/rebuilding portion will take 90-180+ days. The overall process will be about 9-12 months and increasingly longer as the workload increases. Labor shortages existed prior to the storm and will only increase as well as potential problems with materials/supplies being in short supply for certain peak periods of time. As for collecting monies upfront. There is an actual a Texas statue that prevents companies who have not had a business address in the country or adjacent county to where a disaster has been declared, for the previous year, from collecting any money up front, prior to work starting. That being said, it is still somewhat customary for companies (local) to collect a portion of the payment up front. We have been asking for 1/3 of the remediation costs, up front, to help offset our direct labor expenses. Most companies don’t have the resources to wait 30-90 days to be paid, especially with the volumes of work that are currently being done. The labor crews/labor force are expecting to be paid weekly as an industry standard. Now that you understand cleanup estimates you can move on to rebuild.
