When your home takes damage.

The first 48 hours after a loss

If the loss is still active — water still flowing, smoke still in the air, structural concerns — we come out same day. We carry containment plastic, HEPA-filter vacuums, industrial dehumidifiers, and standard demolition tools so we can start mitigation immediately. The carrier's policy almost always covers reasonable mitigation costs, but only if it's documented properly. We photograph everything before any moves, log moisture readings with timestamps, and write a mitigation work order that the adjuster can sign off on.

For losses that are already contained — a burst pipe that's been shut off, a kitchen fire that's been put out, a tree-into-roof that's been tarped — we still come out within 24 to 48 hours to document and scope. The biggest reason loss restoration projects get delayed in Baltimore is that the homeowner waits too long to engage a contractor while the carrier process drags. We get the scope on paper fast so your adjuster has something concrete to react to.

Why our scope sheets look different from a typical contractor estimate

Most contractor estimates are written for homeowners — round numbers, line items grouped by trade. Insurance scope sheets need to match the format adjusters use in Xactimate (the pricing software all major carriers use). That means line items broken down by tasks, not trades. It means specifying material grades that match what's already in the home (so the carrier covers like-for-like). It means including code-required upgrade items as separate line entries that the adjuster can approve or kick to supplement.

We've written hundreds of these. The format matters because adjusters compare line-by-line against their Xactimate output. If your contractor's estimate uses different categorization, the adjuster has to re-map everything, which slows approval and increases the chance items get rejected. Our format minimizes friction at the adjuster review stage.

Code-required upgrades — the supplement conversation

This is where most insurance restorations get expensive surprises. When a home is opened up for restoration, current Maryland building code applies to the rebuild — not the code from when the house was originally built. That means a 1955 Baltimore rowhome being rebuilt after a kitchen fire needs current GFCI/AFCI protection on every kitchen circuit, current smoke and CO detector wiring, current minimum egress, and current insulation R-values where walls are opened.

Carriers typically only cover like-for-like replacement, not code upgrades. The gap between "what was there" and "what code now requires" comes out of the homeowner's pocket unless your policy has an Ordinance & Law endorsement. We identify every code-required upgrade upfront, separate it into its own line items, and walk you through the supplement request process with your adjuster. About 40% of our supplement requests get approved without homeowner cost. The remaining items we'll quote separately so you can decide whether to do the upgrade now (often cheaper since walls are open) or defer.

Baltimore-specific restoration issues

Baltimore housing stock creates restoration scenarios that don't apply in newer construction. Pre-1978 homes (the vast majority of Baltimore City) trigger EPA lead-safe renovation protocols on any disturbed painted surface — this adds 1-2 days to demo and requires certified personnel. We're EPA Lead-Safe Renovator certified, so this doesn't add subcontractor cost, but the lead-safe protocol does add containment and cleanup time that needs to be in the scope.

Pre-1920 rowhomes often have plaster-on-lath walls. When wet from a water loss, plaster delaminates from the lath in ways that aren't always obvious until the wall is opened. We probe and document this during inspection so the scope reflects actual demo extent, not the visible damage alone. Galvanized supply lines and cast-iron drain stacks complicate plumbing restoration — both are often partially failed by the time of the loss, and replacement should be considered as part of the rebuild scope.

Working with you, not around you

The insurance company is your insurance company, not ours. We work for you, the homeowner. That means if the carrier and we disagree on scope, we advocate for what's actually needed for your home, document it with photos and code citations, and supplement formally. We don't take shortcuts that benefit the carrier at your expense. We also don't inflate scope to extract maximum payout — that's the kind of behavior that gets contractors blacklisted and homeowners caught in fraud investigations.

About a quarter of our restoration work comes from referrals from previous restoration clients. The pattern: homeowner has a loss, MBR does the restoration well, then a year or two later the same homeowner remodels their kitchen with us because they trust the relationship. The restoration work is its own service, but it's also a relationship-builder for longer-term residential work.