This restoration FAQ covers the questions we answer most across Boston and the South Shore: how fast we move, how insurance actually works, what things cost, and what happens between the first call and the finished rebuild. The answers apply to every service we run, water, fire and smoke, mold, storm, biohazard, and full reconstruction. Naturally, a page cannot cover everything, so if your situation is unfolding right now, skip the reading and call (781) 390-9855.
A note on how these answers are written. Restoration marketing is full of vague reassurance, and homeowners in panic mode deserve better than that. So each answer below leads with the direct yes or no, then explains the reasoning, because the reasoning is usually what you will repeat to your insurance adjuster later. Where a question deserves more than four sentences, we point to the deeper page instead of pretending a paragraph is enough.
Group One
Emergency and Response Questions
Is your emergency line really answered live at 2 AM?
Yes. The phone is answered by a person around the clock, and emergencies go straight to dispatch with crews typically on site within 60 minutes across Boston and the near South Shore. Nights, weekends, and storm surges are when pipes burst and sumps fail, so that is exactly when we staff up.
What should I do before your crew arrives?
Only what keeps you safe. Shut the main water valve if the source is plumbing, kill power to affected circuits at the breaker if you can reach it dry, and stay out of any water near outlets, appliances, or sewage. Leave the fans, wet vacs, and demolition to the crew, because running air movement over contaminated water spreads it through the house.
Can you board up and tarp storm damage the same day?
Yes. Emergency board up and roof tarping are dispatch services, not appointments, and after a nor’easter we run them across the South Shore around the clock. Securing the opening quickly protects the interior from the next band of weather and shows your carrier you prevented further damage, which most Massachusetts policies require.
Do you handle sewage and biohazard emergencies too?
We do. Sewage backups run under full Category 3 protocol with containment and disinfection, and trauma or biohazard scenes follow the IICRC S540 standard with licensed disposal and complete discretion. Both are answered on the same 24/7 line as every other emergency.
Response time is the one answer we can standardize, because everything downstream depends on it. Water migrates, smoke residue turns acidic, and mold gets its 24 to 48 hour head start while a homeowner is still collecting quotes. For the full picture of what happens in that first hour, from dispatch to extraction, our 24/7 emergency restoration page lays it out hour by hour. Additionally, coverage matters: crews run from Boston neighborhoods like Dorchester, Roxbury, and Hyde Park through the entire South Shore, and the service area index lists every town with its own local page. Seasonality shapes the call board too. January cold snaps fill it with burst pipes, late-winter nor’easters bring board ups and coastal flooding, and humid August weekends bring the basement mold discoveries, so the answers above hold in every season for a reason.
Group Two
Insurance and Cost Questions
Do you handle the insurance claim, or do I?
We handle it, and it is the core of how the company works. We document the loss with photos and moisture readings, build the scope in Xactimate, the same estimating platform your carrier uses, and submit it directly. Owner Ansy Chevalier meets the adjuster at your property, so the person defending the scope is the person who wrote it.
Do I have to pay anything upfront?
On covered work, no. We bill your insurance carrier directly, and your deductible is typically the only money that leaves your pocket. Every payment term goes in writing before any work starts, so there is nothing to decode later.
Should I file the claim before calling a restoration company?
Get the damage inspected and documented first, then file with evidence. An adjuster scopes the condition they find, so hidden saturation or smoke migration that was never metered simply never enters the claim. A documented scope before the adjuster visit is often the difference between a covered rebuild and an underpaid one.
Are inspections and estimates really free?
Yes, for every service and every property type, with no obligation to proceed. You get a clear written assessment of the damage, what it will take to fix, and how the claim should be approached. Even if you only want a second opinion on another contractor’s scope, the inspection costs nothing.
What if my claim was already denied or lowballed?
Denials and low settlements are frequently negotiable when new documentation appears. We re-inspect the loss, meter what the first scope missed, and submit a supplement with the evidence attached. Carriers argue with opinions, but they rarely argue with moisture logs and photographs.
Insurance is where restoration jobs are won or lost, which is why it gets its own corner of this site. Our insurance claims assistance hub covers the entire process for Massachusetts homeowners: how claims work, what adjusters look for, deductibles, Xactimate estimates, and what to do about a denial. The cost questions land here too, because in most covered losses the practical answer to “what will this cost me” is your deductible, commonly a flat $500 to $2,500 on Massachusetts homeowner policies. Meanwhile, the short version of our position fits in one sentence: we work for you, not for the carrier, and the paperwork should prove it.
The last group below deals with the company itself, and we encourage the skepticism behind those questions. After a disaster, homeowners get approached by storm chasers, door knockers, and out-of-state crews that appear after every major nor’easter and vanish before the punch list is done. The defense is simple: verify licensing and insurance, ask for the IICRC certification number, and get every term in writing before work begins. Any legitimate restoration contractor in Massachusetts will welcome all three requests.
Group Three
Services, Property Types, and Process Questions
Are you licensed and insured in Massachusetts?
Yes. Studio 24 Restoration Group is fully licensed and insured in Massachusetts, and our restoration work runs to IICRC standards under certification #70268689, including S500 for water and S520 for mold. Ask any contractor for the same proof before they touch your house, including us. We put it in writing without being asked.
What types of properties do you work on?
The core of our work is Boston-area residential stock: single-family homes, duplexes, and triple-deckers, including the 1890s to 1920s three-family buildings where one burst pipe can involve three units and three insurance conversations. We also restore light-commercial properties such as offices, retail, restaurants, churches, schools, and medical suites.
My previous contractor bailed mid-job. Can you take over?
Yes, and it is a call we get more often than you would think. We inspect what was actually done, document the current condition, and build a completion scope your carrier can act on, because unfinished mitigation usually means the drying was never verified either. Then we finish the job under one contract, with communication that does not disappear.
Do you rebuild after the cleanup, or just dry it out?
Both, under one roof. Mitigation-only companies dry the structure and leave you to find a second contractor for drywall, flooring, and paint. Our own crews carry the job from extraction through full reconstruction, so the scope, the schedule, and the responsibility never change hands.
How long does a full restoration project take?
Mitigation is fast and rebuilds are measured in weeks: emergency stabilization happens the same day, structural drying typically runs three to five days, and reconstruction depends on the scope and the claim approval. The honest answer arrives after the free inspection, when we can put dates against your specific loss instead of averages.
One theme runs through every answer on this page: the order of operations matters. Inspect before you file, stabilize before you demolish, verify the drying before you rebuild. That sequence is not a slogan, it is our four-step process, and it exists because Boston houses and Massachusetts carriers both punish improvisation. A balloon-framed triple-decker hides water three floors below the leak, a fieldstone foundation meters wet weeks after the storm has passed, and a claim filed without evidence stays underpaid. Consequently, the questions we cannot answer in a FAQ format, the ones about your house, your policy, and your timeline, all get answered the same way: with a free inspection and a written scope. Whatever brought you to this page, that is the next step.
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