Restore vs. Replace

11/3/2014 (Permalink)

Injectidry on hardwood floors

The insurance and restoration industry have performed multiple studies that conclude restore has many advantages over replace.  As a preferred mitigation vendor for most major insurance companies we are charged with a duty to restore whenever possible.

The major advantage to restore vs. replace is cost. In almost any situation, restore saves a tremendous amount of money compared to replacement.  One area where we can generate huge savings in a water loss situation is drying of hardwood floors instead of replacing them.  Even after incurring the cost of air movers, dehumidifiers and even specialize equipment usually there is a 45%-75% cost savings over replacement.  Another common example would be the drying of carpet and/or drywall.  Again using air movers and dehumidifiers and following the science of drying we can often save 75%-90% over replacement cost.  You can imagine how quickly these savings add up.

Another advantage of restore versus replace is time savings and business interruption savings. Drying a structure usually takes an average of three to five days.    After our drying is completed, your customer should be back in their house or business right away. Back, as we like to say, “Like it never even happened”.  If you look at the alternative which is replace, your customer will have to wait weeks or even months to get back into their home or business while construction is going on.   This leads to expensive hotel bills for residential customers or catastrophic business interruption costs for commercial customers. Either way you are talking a great deal of money, time and inconvenience! 

For these reasons we at SERVPRO look to restore whenever we can and whenever it makes sense.  We accomplish this by not only using our extensive training, knowledge and resources but also by responding immediately so that the impact of the water or fire damage is reduced. We also help you mitigate your damages before they even happen with our Emergency Ready Profile (ERP) and our sponsorship of the Red Cross Ready Rating.  These programs prepare you for the loss before it even occurs. If you or your customers do not have an ERP yet, you need one! Set up an appointment right away. It’s free!

Feel free to talk to me or Hannah about the very important subject of repair vs. replace.  Until next time…. Stay Green everybody! -Jerry