Most projects finish in 1–3 days. Emergency-mitigation phase only. Dispatch arrival is under 2 hours in the Denver metro most of the year. Stabilization and mitigation typically complete within 1 to 3 days. The full restoration phase that follows runs days to months depending on the underlying loss — see the water, fire, storm, mold, or sewage page for the relevant range.
What counts as a real emergency vs. something that can wait until business hours?
Active water — a burst pipe, an overflowing fixture, a roof leak during a storm — is an emergency because every hour of standing water adds materials to the demo list and pushes a Cat 1 toward Cat 2 or Cat 3. Active fire, smoke odor, sewage backup, structural compromise (collapsed framing, sagging ceiling, broken window with weather coming in), and any live electrical in standing water are emergencies. Slow ceiling stains with no active drip, hairline foundation cracks, and old smoke smell can usually wait until business hours for a scoped inspection.
What is your response time in the Denver metro?
Under 2 hours dispatch-to-arrival for most Denver-metro addresses most of the year. Mountain corridor addresses, weekend storms with simultaneous calls, and major regional events (a hailstorm hitting all of east Denver at once, for example) extend that. We confirm an arrival window at the time of dispatch rather than promising a fixed time, and we will tell you up front if your address is outside our normal response radius so you can call a closer crew if minutes matter.
What should I do before the crew arrives?
If it is safe: shut off the source (water valve, breaker, gas), move people and pets away from the affected area, photograph everything before it is moved or cleaned, and pull together your insurance policy number and the carrier's claim phone number. If it is not safe — fire still burning, structural collapse, suspected gas, electrical in water — leave the property, call 911, and wait for first responders to clear the building. Do not run HVAC, plumbing, or electrical systems in the affected area until each is inspected.
Will you board up the property if I cannot be there?
Yes. We dispatch board-up crews to secure broken windows, breached walls, and roof openings on losses where the homeowner is not on site or has been displaced by first responders. We document the board-up with photos for the claim file, leave a contact for the carrier, and coordinate with the local fire marshal or police if the property has been red-tagged. Keys and access codes can be transferred remotely if needed.
Should I call my insurance company before or after I call you?
Either order is fine — both calls usually happen within the first hour anyway. Calling us first gets the dispatch clock running for mitigation; calling the carrier first opens the claim and assigns a claim number we will need on every invoice. If the loss is small and you are unsure whether to file (the deductible may exceed the repair), call us first for a free assessment so you can decide on the claim with real numbers in hand.
What does emergency response cost if my insurance does not cover it?
Emergency dispatch is a separate scope from the full restoration that follows, billed by labor hours on site, equipment day-rates (air movers, dehumidifiers, negative-air machines), and any consumables (containment plastic, board-up materials, temporary utilities). We give a written estimate for the mitigation phase before equipment leaves the truck, and we tell you up front if a self-pay job will cost more than walking away and calling your carrier — which it often does because most homeowner policies cover sudden-and-accidental water and fire losses.
What if I am not sure which kind of damage I have?
Call anyway. Many emergencies start as one thing and turn out to be another (the ceiling stain you thought was a roof leak is actually a slow plumbing leak two floors up; the fire that looked small left smoke damage on the entire upper floor; the basement moisture turned into mold inside a wall cavity months ago). The crew will diagnose on site and bring the right specialists into the job, and we coordinate water, fire, smoke, mold, sewage, and structural under one contract so the homeowner has one phone number for the entire loss.
How do you decide what to do first when there are several problems at once?
Standing rule: life-safety, then property-safety, then mitigation, then restoration. A flooded basement with live electrical waits until the breaker is pulled. A fire-damaged structure with a broken window gets boarded up and weather-secured before contents pack-out begins. A sewage backup in the basement is contained before water extraction starts in the kitchen above. The crew lead walks the property with you, sequences the work, and shares a written first-72-hours plan before equipment goes in — your sign-off on that plan is what authorizes the work to begin.