Review in this order
- Check the rooms and measurements.Every affected room should be listed with dimensions. Compare them to a quick tape measure of your own.
- Read the removal lines.Carpet, pad, drywall height, insulation, baseboard and any flooring. Quantities should match the areas you saw wet.
- Look for containment and protection.Plastic sheeting, zipper doors, floor protection on the path out, and any negative air. On a sewage job these should be present.
- Find cleaning and antimicrobial.Lines for cleaning framing and concrete, and applying an antimicrobial, sized to the affected area.
- Check equipment and monitoring days.Air movers, dehumidifiers and air scrubbers multiplied by days. Ask what readings justify the number of days.
- Find disposal.Bagging, hauling and disposal of contaminated debris.
- Read the notes.Assumptions, exclusions and anything listed as to be determined.
Common gaps
- Carpet listed for cleaning instead of removal after sewage contact
- No line for the tack strip under carpet
- No containment on a job with drywall demolition
- Antimicrobial applied but no cleaning step before it
- Equipment days with no moisture log to support them
- Contents handling left out entirely
- Rebuild mixed into the mitigation estimate without being labeled
Questions to send back
- Can you show the moisture readings that set the drywall cut height?
- Why are there this many equipment days, and when will you reassess?
- Which lines are mitigation and which are rebuild?
- Is anything here a subcontractor's work, and is that marked?
- What is excluded that I should plan for separately?
Insurer review
If a claim is open, the insurer's adjuster will review the estimate too, often in the same estimating software. Differences between the contractor's version and the adjuster's are common and usually come down to quantities, days of equipment and whether particular items are needed. Ask both sides to explain differences line by line rather than at the total.
You are entitled to understand what you are signing and paying for. Asking for a revised estimate that separates mitigation from rebuild, or that removes an item you do not agree with, is normal.
Keep each version of the estimate with its date. Over a sewage job the scope often changes as walls are opened and more is learned, and supplements are common. A short note on why each change was made, written while it is fresh, makes the final invoice much easier to reconcile against what actually happened in the basement.
General information for Thornton, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.