SERVPRO OF NW BERGEN COUNTY

A frozen pipe led to serious water damage from third floor to basement of our house.  Servpro, recommended by our insurance company, sent a representative within an hour.  With a contract.  Although this was an emergency for us, the experience is not like calling the fire department and dealing immediately with the problems.  Complications are evident at once as the contract is explicit in naming the home owner as the hirer and Servpro required a credit card including security code.  Yet no warrantee is provided to us and in fact arrangements relate to their reports to the insurance company.and they are paid directly according to rates  agreed with the insurer,
On the positive side, personnel were pleasant and always on time.  First work was done 3/16. Equipment was removed 3/27.  Work crews appeared efficient and appropriately equipped for their jobs.  They removed walls, ceilings, carpeting, and household goods that could not be salvaged. The company brought in ample units of drying equipment.  
The problems related to judgment.  Ours is a large house built more than 100 years ago with plaster walls and chestnut woodwork and paneling, impossible to duplicate.   The Servpro rep was focused on demo.   He insisted, for instance, that the second floor had to be ripped out, wanting to delay removal of the soggy carpet covering it and take all out at one time.  He wanted to tear out chestnut woodwork.  We were fortunate to get better advice from contractors familiar with restoration .of areas where clean water has run through, so we  perisisted in getting Servpro to limit the demo. We have delayed this review to be able to report that over time there has been no problem as the wood dried.  There were problems, however, with areas that Servpro chose not to address.  A vanity area central to the damage began developing mold and had to be removed, and a ceiling area over a staircase  remained unstable.  Both areas were taken out and restored by other contractors.   Both were small but time consuming areas, perhaps disincentives when insurance payment was based on square feet remediated.
On balance, this company could be fine for a new house if replacement materials are readily available..   For more complicated work it would be important to compare advice from other contractors.

Servpro did an awesome job. It was spic-and-span. They came immediately. We didn't have to wait. They were very professional. They cleaned the whole thing. You could eat off the floor down there. That's how perfectly clean it was. The smoke smell was gone as soon as they came. I think they're pretty reasonable because a lot of people use them around here. They were great. They did a great job. You wouldn't even know that they were here except for the basement was so clean.

They were here on time did a great job, hit the estimate on spot, it was paid for through my insurance. Estimate was 3000, but my deductible was 500. There was drywall damage, that they had to haul out, and then set up dry vac's, dehumidifiers, blowers...etc. These were set up for 5 days.

Because of the huge demand in the area because of the storm (8" of rain in a day) it took a while to get them -- but that was true for all companies in this business in the area. I called immediately and kept calling in order to keep my name on the radar screen (I am not sure what the response would have been without that, but they did not seem to mind my checking in). Some of the phone answerers were nicer and more helpful than others. When they did finally come, first came an estimator who was on time and very competent. Then on Monday (about a week after the storm) the actual people came. They were on time and most professional. They dispatched the work quickly and effectively. We were quite pleased with their service and their level of knowledge.