Paul Davis Restoration

Paul Davis Restoration was recommended by our insurance company when we sustained damage to our porch from a fallen tree in March. The man who came out to inspect it assured us that the estimate would be uploaded to our insurance by that Wednesday. Wednesday came and went...no estimate. I called the Asheville office, where an employee told me that the report had to go through a "third party to be approved" before it could be submitted to State Farm. 'Mike' hadn't explained any of this to us. This woman assured me that it should be submitted no later than "next Wednesday." Yet another week passes...no estimate. I called the office again, where I was told that I needed to contact 'Mike' for any information. I did just that, and he claimed that he was not in the office, and that he would have to check on it when he got there. Another 24 hours passes without a phone call. When I called him again, he casually mentioned that this mysterious "third party" had sent his report back to him for a couple of corrections, and that it should uploaded to our insurance by (you guessed it) no later than that next Wednesday. ('Mike's customer service skills certainly left something to be desired.) Once more, nothing. The next time that I called, I asked to speak with someone in charge. I was given the name of the owner, 'Sharon.' The first couple of interactions with her were positive, and she seemed very helpful. Yet, once again, this "third party" was blamed for the significant delays in sending our estimate to State Farm. After a couple of communications back and forth, my husband and I were extremely frustrated by ANY lack of progress. I finally texted Sharon and asked her to send our estimate directly to us. She informed that 48 hours after the estimate was finalized, that they were 'allowed' to give it to us, and she would email it to me in the morning. Next day? Nothing. Once again, I had to text her and ask that it be sent to me. Sharon claimed that she thought she had sent it, but would send it again. And, since I'm writing this review, you can guess what happened...NOTHING. We NEVER received a copy of our estimate. I called State Farm, where one of the agents handling our claim said that they had finally received it, but that he doubted they would pay out the total amount for the work, because it looked as if the estimate given was excessive. Needless to say, it is over a MONTH later, we still have a severely damaged, unstable porch, and are looking for another contractor/restoration company. I have since heard from reliable sources that my husband and I are not the only ones who have had bad experiences with this particular office. Delay, excuses, confusion, and lack of meaningful customer service were the only things that we took away from our encounter with Paul Davis Restoration of Greater Asheville.

Excellent!

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went well

The tile work was very well done. Overall, the job took longer than expected, but we were pleased with the final results.

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An unusual storm ripped a section of guttering from my house. It landed on an awning below, and both had to be replaced. Paul Davis Restoration co-ordinated all the activity for the complete repair and replacement. I did not have to make any other calls, and the job was finished to my satisfaction in a timely manner.

I was witness to, involved directly in and responsible for compiling evidence surrounding a situation in which Paul Davis Restoration of Greater Asheville [henceforth referred to in this document as PDR] was hired to remediate mold and water damage from the home of a dear friend and neighbor; an elderly and very ill gentleman who could neither supervise nor defend himself from PDR. At the time my friend's home was being systematically destroyed by PDR, I did not fully understand the situation myself but I certainly understand it now.
 
Condition of the home: Due to record low temperatures, a pipe located near the wall of the unheated garage cracked. Water seeped down the wall, spreading out across the garage floor, skimming slowly along the walls until it hit the two doors leading from the garage into the downstairs of the house. The water seeped under the two doors then meandered across the downstairs floor and exited by seeping under the two doors on the opposite side of the house and going on its way down the hill. Part of the leak was also spurting upward and hitting the ceiling which was also the floor of an upstairs bathroom located directly over the leak in the garage. As the water spurted upward it was hitting a hard surface and fell back down into the laundry room, which was also in the garage, while some of the 'splash back' water trickled down the pipe and dripped onto six panels of a dropped ceiling in one of the downstairs bedrooms. Mold spores exist everywhere in our environment; inside and out. When spores come in contact with water and/or very high humidity they ignite into living colonies of mold and by the time the leak was discovered there was mold growing on the back wall of the garage/laundry room area. We assume the pipe was leaking for weeks, using the date of the coldest temperature during that period as our guide, and the fact my friend was out of town for several weeks visiting family due to his continued ill health.
  
The house had been closed up for weeks and the humidity levels were very high. The first responsibility of any competent remediation expert in this situation, and in order to stop mold growth and preserve property, is to DRY OUT THE BUILDING as quickly as possible by using industrial dehumidifiers. PDR used NO SUCH EQUIPMENT. All PDR did was to open the doors and windows. Was this negligence, incompetence or deliberate? You decide. Leaving the house in a highly humid condition would encourage mold to grow. More mold would mean more "work" for PDR and more expense for the homeowner. 
PDR was predatory from the moment they stepped onto the property. We were told there was "toxic black mold" growing in the garage. This was a deliberate and inflammatory lie. PDR had NO IDEA what kind of mold was in the garage and, in fact, the notion of a "killer mold" is a hoax flogged by unscrupulous 'restoration' companies and sensationalistic press; check with the CDC and the EPA.  The ONLY reason PDR lied about the mold was to terrorize the homeowner; a sick old man, and his daughter who was trying to help him. By claiming "toxic black mold" restoration companies have found they can take liberties in damage done to a property due to the homeowner's fear of this mold. Some people who were told they had "toxic black mold" in their homes foolishly hired the local fire departments to burn their houses down; such was the hysteria over this hoax.
Some of the carpet in the downstairs was wet and removed as well as tile and linoleum. Carpeting acts like a sponge therefore molding at the carpet's edge was wet and needed to be removed. Drywall beside the molding had wicked up water near the floor and some of the drywall needed to be removed as well. After weeks of humidity, while PDR was 'working' inside the house, small areas of mold began to develop in a few spots on inside walls.
 
However, instead of removing the affected areas, PDR tore down EVERY wall throughout the entire downstairs; ceiling to floor; nothing was left but the uprights. Six panels of the dropped ceiling downstairs were stained where water had been dripping upon them. Instead of removing the stained panels, PDR began outside the downstairs living room and tore out the ENTIRE ceiling all the way back to the end of the house. PDR REMOVED and disposed of THE ENTIRE KITCHEN; cabinets, counters, sinks and plumbing then repeated that performance in the bathroom. It was insane; because of a slow leak and mold in the garage and damp floors inside the lower part of the house, PDR GUTTED the ENTIRE downstairs.
  
Incredibly, PDR then went upstairs where one bathroom floor was affected by the leak. There was NO DAMAGE; simply a wet spot on one floor. PDR lifted the tile in the bathroom revealing the wet spot on the subfloor which needed only to be allowed to dry; which is what PDR did. The subfloor was not disturbed or removed. What WAS removed was the toilet (?), all the perfectly fine non-leaking plumbing, cupboards, counter top and sinks. There was NO damage to this room until PDR destroyed it. There was no damage of ANY KIND in the UPSTAIRS of this home; the leak was in the garage, and yet they proceeded to rip dry cupboards from dry kitchen walls, removed all the flooring throughout, pulled up every inch of carpeting as well as parquet flooring in the foyer, then, for good measure, PDR went through the entire upstairs and took down every door then mindlessly tore off every dry, undamaged and expensive hardwood door frame from every door and closet and threw them away. The only thing left standing were the walls and the flooring in the sunken living room.
 
My friend had become alarmed by phone calls from his daughter regarding the disposal of his personal property. I drove him to the house late in the afternoon. There was a semi-sized dumpster on the left and there were eight to ten huge black bags lined up across the driveway stuffed with something.  A PDR team member came from the garage to meet us and my friend immediately pointed at the bags and asked what was in them. The PDR rep. said the bags were full of his clothing and personal belongings. My friend was horrified and ordered the bags to be saved; none of those bags was to be disposed of until he had the opportunity to go through each of them. He was emphatic upon this point and the woman agreed to follow his instructions. The next morning he made the extraordinary effort, in his condition, to be on his property by nine a.m. to go through those bags and save as many of his personal belongings as possible.
 
However, by the following morning when this old gentleman returned to his home the dumpster was gone and so were all the bags. In great distress he called PDR and demanded to know where his things were. He was told matter-of-factly the 'dumpster people' had come at seven a.m. and 'must have taken the bags'. Moreover, we have pictures of his clothes hanging perfectly dry and undamaged in his closets. Even if they had been wet they could have easily been restored. This man was left with nothing but the clothes on his back and was never compensated for this $15-18,000.00 loss; minimum, by either the insurance company, whose policy did not cover clothing, nor PDR, the responsible party that disposed of them. No offer of restitution was ever made. In all my dealings with them, I found PDR to be superficially polite and "friendly" but extremely callous underneath.
 
My friend was now quite literally frightened of PDR. On the evening of the day PDR disposed of his entir

They are super, they are wonderful. Our insurance covered the cost other than the $500 deductible and they were recommended to us by our insurance company. They came out the same day. We will absolutely use them again if needed.

I would recommend them to others. He is working on two rental properties for me right now. He is very punctual and professional.

Overall outstanding job.

Paul Davis Restoration Company was referred to us by our home insurance company. The service cost the insurance company $5000 and we only had to pay the deductible which was $500. It was winter time but the roofers came in and got the work done quickly. They cleaned up really well. They were a good crew. They did a really good job. Their prices were a little above average. I felt that they might have given us a better deal directly had they not been dealing with our insurance company. They also did a little extra for us. They cut up the tree that had fallen. They also removed the entire branch off the tree. I would use them again in the future.