Picking your own contractor on a claim

The right to choose, and the part it does not change

The right itself is settled. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), in the general claims guidance on its wildfire page, says "you are not obligated to use a company recommended by your insurer". You can use the service provider of your choice. A Kingston restoration firm, 24/7 Remedial Services, states the same for Ontario property owners; it says it works for the homeowner rather than the insurer.

Insurer-recommended firms come with something in return. IBC notes that many insurers guarantee the work of the service providers they recommend.

A contractor you choose comes without that guarantee. The estimate should arrive as line items the adjuster can check, and records of the loss have to start on day one. That is extra paperwork, not a bar to hiring your own firm.

What the adjuster wants instead of a lump sum

Most adjusters in Perth, Carleton Place and Picton will not simply accept a lump-sum quote, the Kingston firm writes. They require line-item estimates using industry-standard pricing: each task listed on its own, with its own quantity and price. That firm offers its own breakdown in the format of Xactimate, an estimating program, on request.

The two kinds of contractor mark up the work differently. Restoration contractors add overhead and profit, the cost of running the business plus the margin, on top of the line items. Restoration & Remediation Magazine, a US trade publication, describes a 20 per cent markup known as the 10 and 10. That is 10 per cent for overhead plus 10 for profit. The same article argues the 10 per cent overhead allowance is outdated. ELJ Contracting's Toronto price guide puts the cost of hiring a general contractor at 10 to 20 per cent of the total project cost.

Ask every bidder for line items. It is the format the insurer needs anyway. It also shows whether one company priced containment and disposal and another did not. Totals alone can hide two different jobs. The restoration company against general contractor comparison sets out the published Toronto figures behind both markup structures.

How do you choose among water damage restoration companies in Toronto on a claim?

This site sorts its 294 companies by the RestorationIndex Score on every category and area page. The formula, out of 100, is set out on the methodology page, and no company can pay to move up. Reviews carry 40 points and what a company states on its own website carries 35. Its record carries 25: a website that still answers, posted hours and photographs.

Stars alone would not separate them. Of the 277 rated companies, 151 sit at exactly 5.0 and 197 at 4.8 or higher. Yet 139 hold fewer than 20 reviews each, and only 20 hold 100 or more. Another 17 carry no rating at all. So the reviews pillar adjusts each rating for how many reviews stand behind it.

The score has limits that matter on a claim. The statements pillar records what a company wrote about licensing, insurance, WSIB (workplace injury insurance) coverage and standards bodies. Nobody here checked any of it against a registry. Ontario issues no licence for mould remediation in any case, as the guide to Ontario's licensing gap sets out. The index also holds no record of claims handled or jobs finished. A high score is a reason to ask a company for its documents, not a substitute for them.

On a claim, start from the category that matches the loss, such as water damage restoration for a flood. Let the score order the shortlist, and ask the first three for line-item estimates. Before any of them sees the house, check that each is a working restoration company rather than a lead reseller.

Mitigation and rebuild are two separate purchases

Restoration companies handle mitigation, the emergency work that stops damage spreading: extraction, structural drying, controlled demolition and antimicrobial treatment. The moisture logs and photographs an insurer expects come out of that work.

DESA Contracting, a Toronto firm, quotes water extraction at $500 to $3,000 a project. Restoration Mate prices an industrial drying equipment package at $1,000 to $3,500 a week. Ultimate Mold Crew puts basement flood cleanup at $2,500 to $10,000 and above.

The rebuild is a separate purchase. The Kingston firm, for one, states that it does no reconstruction, so its clients hire the rebuild separately. DESA Contracting quotes a complete rebuild at $1,000 to $20,000 and above. Restoration Mate puts a complete home reconstruction after a severe fire at $200 to $500 a square foot. CSG Renovation, a Toronto renovator, prices a basic full-home remodel at $100 to $200 a square foot. Before signing with any rebuild contractor, the same IBC guidance advises asking your adjuster how much of the estimate the insurer will pay.

The paperwork that decides how much gets paid

A claim is settled on its file. The Kingston firm's documentation checklist includes photographs of the source and every affected room before cleanup. It also lists daily moisture readings showing the dry-down (how far materials have dried), and an inventory of the contents that could not be saved.

Restoration Mate prices content cleaning and restoration at $2,000 to $20,000 and above. Photograph everything and keep receipts; the Kingston firm says that documentation strengthens the claim.

Emergency mitigation should not wait. A policy requires the owner to limit further damage promptly, 24/7 Remedial Services points out, so emergency work should start at once. Ultimate Mold Crew gives the same order: take photos, call your insurer and begin reasonable steps to prevent further damage. Every receipt from that phase belongs in the file.

Ontario's HST rate is 13 per cent, according to the Canada Revenue Agency, so a $10,000 rebuild that carries the tax invoices at $11,300. Check whether each quote includes the tax before comparing it with anything else.

What the policy decides before any of this matters

Coverage sets the outer limit on every choice above. IBC says a home policy typically covers sudden or accidental water damage from indoor plumbing and from appliances such as washing machines. Sewer backup and overland flooding are typically not covered by a standard policy; most insurers offer sewer backup as an option, and many offer overland flood coverage. Without the right option, the choice of contractor becomes a choice about spending your own money. Fire is simpler: IBC says all standard homeowner's and tenant's policies cover damage caused by fire.

The details sit in their own guides: whether an Ontario policy covers a flooded basement, and which of the two water options matches a given flood.

How this page was made: the RestorationIndex Desk compiled it from public Google Maps records and the named sources above. RestorationIndex orders listed companies by a published formula, sells no placement, and passes each quote request to one of the highest-scoring companies listed in the requester's area.