Planning repairs after water or fire damage

If anything is unsafe, call 911 or your utility first. If water is coming in, shut it off if you can and call a licensed plumber or your insurance company. Revival is not an emergency service.

The first days

• Photograph everything before anything is moved or thrown away, and keep receipts for what you spend.
• Call your insurance company. The claim is between you and your insurer; Revival never works a claim or speaks for you to an insurer.
• Get wet materials dried out quickly. Damp drywall, insulation and carpet are where mold starts.

Mold, and New York's rules about it

If mold shows up after the water, New York's rules matter. The state's Department of Labor says that if you hire someone to assess and clean up an area of mold larger than 10 square feet, you must use a licensed mold professional, and the state's mold law says one licensee may not do both the assessment and the remediation on the same property. Our guide to mold testing and mold removal walks through it.

Rebuilding: permits and inspections

Repairs that open walls, replace framing, or touch wiring and plumbing usually need a building permit and inspections, just like a renovation. The Town of Babylon, for example, lists interior alterations that add or remove walls among its permit work. If the house is in a flood zone, ask the building department whether rebuilding brings any flood rules into play: the FEMA Flood Map Service Center shows the zone for your address.

Choosing who rebuilds

Check the county home improvement license and the insurance certificate of anyone who rebuilds, and get the contract in writing. When our network is open for this kind of work, Revival introduces licensed contractors who do water and fire damage repair, and you choose.

Before you sign with anyone

• Check the contractor's county home improvement license yourself: Suffolk or Nassau, plus any town license on the East End.
• Ask for a certificate of insurance sent to you by the insurance agent, not a photo of one.
• Get the contract in writing and signed. New York's home improvement contract law, General Business Law section 771, requires the contractor's license number, a description of the work and materials, the price, the approximate start and completion dates, and a schedule if there are progress payments.
• Know your two protections under that law: you can cancel until midnight of the third business day after you sign, and payments made before the work is finished must be deposited as the state's Lien Law requires, unless the contractor gives you a bond or similar guarantee instead.
• Match each payment to finished work. A payment schedule that runs ahead of the work leaves you carrying the risk.