2013 Remodeling 550 Insurance Restoration

Jeff Petrucci remembers how he became an insurance restoration contractor. The owner of Bloomfield Construction, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., stumbled on an insurance estimate five years ago at a prospect’s home and realized that it was “a complete breakdown” of the job he was there to sell. Today at least half Bloomfield Construction’s business is insurance restoration, which involves renovating a house in the aftermath of a fire, flood, or other calamity. Twenty-four-hour service is mandatory. If a tree falls on someone’s roof on a Saturday night, Petrucci says he has to be there.

Companies that specialize in insurance work either “mitigate” (i.e., clean up), restore the house to its original condition, or both. Since the company insuring the house is paying the bill and the goal is to restore the house to its previous condition, the sale is about how quickly and effectively a company can do the work. Operations such as $1 billion–plus Belfor — and even smaller regional players such as Statewide Disaster Restoration — are set up almost along military lines to mobilize and respond to homeowners in emergency situations.

Steady work made insurance restoration tempting to some remodelers during the recession. Petrucci found that he had to reinvent his business to get good at it because of the extra skills required to be successful.

2013 REMODELING 550: INSURANCE RESTORATION