Hiring a Water Damage Company in Mississippi: What to Ask and Get in Writing

Who is actually doing the work?

Ask who will send the crew, who will be on site and whose name is on the invoice. The answer tells you who is responsible for the work and for the paperwork that goes with it.

Ask for the name of the business that will be on site and the name of the person in charge, and ask whether anyone else will handle the job between your call and the crew arriving.

Ask the company to tell you, in writing, which registrations the work requires and who holds them. The person on site should be able to show you the paperwork on request.

What should a written scope include?

A written scope lists the work in order, the materials to be removed, the equipment and its expected run, the readings that show the end point and what is not included. It should be signed or confirmed before work starts.

Each step should be described in plain words. Extraction, covering, removal and drying should each have a line, and each removal should name the material and the reason for it. A scope that lists a total without the steps is hard to check.

The exclusions matter as much as the inclusions. Roof repair, plumbing repair, electrical work, painting, finish carpentry and mold work beyond drying are often separate, and the scope should say so plainly.

Ask for the scope to state how the company will measure completion and what it will leave for the homeowner to arrange. A scope that ends at the drying, and says so, prevents a gap between the water work and the repair trades that leaves the house exposed.

How is the price explained?

The price should be explained in terms of the scope, the time and the materials, and it should be approved before the work starts. A price that cannot be explained against the scope is one to question.

Ask how the price will change if the scope changes, and how a change will be approved. A company that agrees the price in writing and explains each part is giving you a basis to compare it with the work done.

Be wary of a price given with no scope, or a price that depends on work nobody has described. Ask for a written statement of what is included before you agree to anything.

Confirm in writing who will be the contact for the invoice, the readings and any change. Knowing one named person for each of those matters shortens the time it takes to resolve a question and keeps the record in one place.

Ask whether the price includes the readings, the equipment set-up and the disposal of removed material, or whether those are billed separately. Each of those items should appear as its own line, so that the total can be checked against the scope and the work on site.

What registrations should you ask about?

Ask which registrations, licences or certifications apply to the work, and which office issues each one. This site does not name a Mississippi licence for water damage or mold work, because none was sourced for this batch, so the question must go to the company.

Trades that do related work, such as plumbing, roofing and electrical, have their own registrations, and a water crew may need a plumber or an electrician for part of the job. Ask who will do that work and what they hold.

Check every registration the company gives you with the office that issues it, and write down the date you checked. A company with nothing to hide will expect the check and answer it plainly.

What should you check on the first visit?

Check that the person on site introduces themselves, explains the scope before starting, takes readings and photographs the damage, and writes down what was agreed. Note the time of arrival and anything said about the job.

Ask to see the moisture meter readings and the equipment list. A crew that explains its readings is giving you a clear view of progress, and it should be willing to show them.

Confirm the scope and price in writing before the crew starts. If anything is different on site, ask for the change in writing before the work changes.

What should you keep after the job?

Keep the scope, the invoices, the readings, the photographs and the list of what was removed. Keep them in one place, with dates, and give copies to whoever is handling any repair or claim.

The invoice should match the scope. If it does not, ask for the reason in writing before you pay. Keep receipts for any items the company removed or replaced.

If you have a complaint about the work or the paperwork, the Mississippi Insurance Department takes complaints about insurers, and it is the regulator named on this site for insurance questions. For other complaints, ask the company first and keep a written record of what you asked.

Keep the list of registrations you checked, with the name of the office and the date, in the same folder. If a question arises later about who did the work or what it was allowed to cover, that list shows what you asked and when, which is more useful than a memory of a phone call.

How do you compare two companies fairly?

Compare the written scopes, the readings each company proposes, the registrations it names and the exclusions. Compare the answers to the same questions. A price on its own tells you little, because each company may describe the same work in a different way.

Ask both companies the same list of questions on the same day, and write down the answers. Compare who will do the work, how the drying will be measured and what will be removed. A company that answers clearly and in writing is easier to compare than one that answers on the phone only.

Check the registrations of each company with the office that issues them, and note the date of the check. Weigh the answers against the scope, not against the company name or the look of its vehicles or website.

What are the warning signs on the first call?

Warning signs include pressure to sign on the spot, a refusal to put the scope in writing, no explanation of the registrations that apply and a price with no scope behind it. Any one of these is a reason to slow down and ask again in writing.

A company that asks you to decide before you have seen the scope, or that says the offer ends today, is trying to rush you. Water work can wait the short time needed to read a scope and check a registration, so a delay of that kind is reasonable.

A company that will not say who will do the work, or cannot name the registrations for it, leaves you without the facts you need to make a decision. Ask for those facts in writing before you agree to anything.

What should you do after you hire a company?

After you hire a company, confirm the start time, keep the scope and the price in one file, and ask for the readings at each visit. Make a note of who attended, what was agreed and when, so the record is clear if a question comes up later.

Keep a single folder with the scope, the registration checks you made, the readings and the invoices. Add the dated photographs and a short note after each visit. A file kept this way makes it easy to see whether the work matches what was agreed.

Stay in contact with the company until the job is closed. Ask for a written completion record that lists the final readings, the areas dried and any work left for other trades. That record is the basis for paying the final invoice and for any later claim.

At the end of the job, ask for a final record that matches the scope: the areas dried, the readings at the end, the materials removed and the equipment taken out. Ask for the record to be signed or confirmed in writing. A final record that matches the scope gives you a clear basis for the last payment and for any later question about the work.

Ask for the answer in writing and set a date for it. A company that does not answer a reasonable question about its work, its paperwork or its scope before the job starts is unlikely to answer it better afterwards, so note that in the file.