Is This Restoration Quote Fair? A Salt Lake City Checklist

Is this restoration quote fair?

Most restoration estimates are written in insurance-industry line items, which makes them hard to read and easy to pad. You don't need to know the software. You need to know which lines move the total, and which questions make a company show its work.

Updated October 29, 2026 · Sources listed at the end

Read these lines first

Equipment days. Air movers and dehumidifiers are billed per unit per day. Ask how many, for how many days, and who decides when drying is done. The honest answer is the moisture readings, not the calendar.
Demolition. How many linear feet of flood cut, at what height, and why. A two-foot cut on every wall of a room where water only reached one corner is worth a question.
Antimicrobial and cleaning. Reasonable for gray and black water. For a clean supply-line leak caught fast, ask why.
Contents. Pack-out, cleaning and storage can be a large share of a fire job. Ask for an itemized inventory with photos.
Emergency charges. Fixr lists same-day or emergency surcharges of $200 to $500 on fire jobs. Fine if you called at midnight; odd if they came on a Tuesday afternoon.

Compare against published ranges

Fixr puts typical water damage restoration at $1,200 to $5,000 and typical fire restoration at $3,000 to $40,000. Clean water extraction runs $3.75 to $4.25 per square foot and sewage $7 to $7.50. A quote far outside those ranges can still be right. It should come with a reason you can see: a finished basement, sewage, a long-running leak, a full rebuild. Full cost guide.

The paperwork

Before work starts you will usually be asked to sign something. Read it. A plain work authorization lets them start. Some forms go further and assign your insurance benefits to the company, direct your insurer to pay them, or make you responsible for anything the insurer doesn't pay. You can ask for time to read it, and you can ask your insurer about it first.

The license

Drying and cleanup are not a separately licensed trade that we found in Utah's construction licensing law. Repair and rebuild work is. Under Utah Code 58-55-305, repair work with a contracted value of $7,000 or more needs a licensed contractor, and plumbing and electrical work needs a licensed tradesperson at any size. Ask for the license number and look it up at the DOPL lookup before you sign a rebuild contract.

A written scope and price before work starts. What gets removed, what gets dried or cleaned, and for how long.
Moisture readings and photos. Taken at the start and the end, so any adjuster can see the job was finished.
No pressure to sign on the spot. You can read anything before you sign it, including any form that mentions your insurance.
A licensed contractor for the rebuild. Utah requires one for repair work of $7,000 or more, and for plumbing and electrical work of any size.

Questions Salt Lake homeowners ask

Can I get a second quote after the company already started drying?

Yes. You are not obligated to have the same company do the rebuild. Ask for the drying logs and photos so the next company can see what was done.

Should I let the insurance company's preferred vendor do the work?

You can, and it can be simpler. You can usually also choose your own company. Ask your insurer in writing how it handles a company that is not on its list.

Is a time-and-materials quote a bad sign?

Not by itself, especially for emergency drying where the scope isn't known yet. For the rebuild, ask for a written fixed scope so you can compare.