If water came into your house from outside, your homeowners policy probably does not cover it. Here is what that means, what the work actually involves, and what drives the price.
Water on the floor is water on the floor. But where it came from decides who pays for it, and most South Florida homeowners find that out at the worst possible moment.
Flood water and water damage are two different things on your insurance policy. A burst pipe or a failed water heater is sudden internal water, and a standard homeowners policy usually covers it. Water that rises from outside, from storm surge, heavy rain, or a canal that came up, is a flood, and standard homeowners policies generally exclude it. Flood is covered separately through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood policy. The cleanup work looks similar from the driveway, but the claim goes to a completely different place.
Flood water is treated as contaminated from the moment it enters, no matter how clear it looks. The industry standard that restoration companies work to, IICRC S500, sorts water into three categories. Category 1 is clean water from a supply line. Category 2 has some contamination, like a washing machine overflow. Category 3 is grossly contaminated, and ground surface water and storm surge land there by definition, because they pick up whatever is in the street, the soil, and the septic and sewer systems on the way to your house.
That classification is not a technicality. It changes the work:
If a company treats storm surge like a clean water loss and just runs fans, you will be calling someone else in three weeks about mold.
Nobody can quote a flood job honestly without seeing it, and the size of the puddle is not the main variable. Four things move the number more than anything else:
Be wary of a firm price quoted over the phone before anyone has taken a reading. That number is either padded to cover the unknown or it is going to grow later.
In Florida, the company that tests your home for mold generally cannot be the company that remediates it. Under Florida Statute 468.8419, a licensed mold assessor may not perform remediation on a structure they assessed within the last twelve months, and a remediator may not perform an assessment on a structure they remediated in that window. The point is to remove the incentive to find more mold than is actually there.
It is worth knowing because it gives you a clean question to ask any company that shows up: which one are you. Pure Shield is a licensed mold remediator, license number MRSR5407. We do not do our own clearance testing, so when a job needs independent verification you get it from a third party with no stake in how big the job is.
The company that answers the phone at 2am is not automatically the right one. Ask for the Florida license number and confirm it. Ask whether you will get moisture readings and photo documentation formatted for an adjuster, because a claim without documentation is a claim you argue about later. Ask who is actually on site, since with the large franchises the estimator you meet is often not the crew that shows up. And ask them to tell you what does not need doing, because a company that will not say no to any part of a job is selling, not assessing.
If you are dealing with an active leak or interior water rather than outside flooding, the coverage question flips and the work changes with it. Our flood and water damage restoration page walks through how we handle both. If mold has already taken hold, that is mold remediation work, which Florida licenses separately. Homeowners in Boca Raton can see recent jobs we have documented.
Shut off the source if you can reach it safely, and stay out of standing water where electricity may be live. Photograph everything before anything moves, because that is what your adjuster wants. Then call someone.
When you do call your insurer, have four things ready. It makes the difference between a claim that moves and a claim that stalls.
Pure Shield Restoration is owner-operated and answers 24/7. Call (954) 778-0925 for a free inspection. We serve Boca Raton and across Palm Beach and Broward, the owners are on the job, and we will tell you straight what needs doing and what does not.
Flood restoration is the full process of getting a property back to normal after water comes in from outside, such as storm surge, heavy rain, or rising ground water. It covers extraction of standing water, removal of materials that cannot be safely dried, structural drying, cleaning and disinfecting, and mold prevention. It is broader than a simple water cleanup because outside flood water is treated as contaminated from the moment it enters.
Restoration is putting the property back the way it was. Remediation is removing a specific hazard, usually mold, so it is safe again. On a flooded house you often need both. The water damage side is restoration work, and if mold has taken hold you also need remediation, which in Florida is licensed separately.
Usually not. Standard homeowners policies in Florida generally cover sudden internal water, like a burst pipe or a failed water heater, but exclude flood, meaning water that rises from outside. Flood is covered by a separate policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer. Check your declarations page, and ask your adjuster to confirm in writing which category your loss falls under.
It depends on how much water came in, how long it sat, and how much material has to be removed rather than dried. A small contained area with fast response costs far less than a whole floor that sat wet for three days. Anyone who quotes a firm price before seeing the moisture readings is guessing. We inspect first, explain what is driving the number, and put it in writing.
Not safely, in most cases. Outside flood water is classified as Category 3 under the industry standard, which means it is treated as contaminated regardless of how clean it looks. That calls for protective equipment, controlled removal of porous materials, and proper disposal. Pulling up a wet carpet yourself and running a household fan usually leaves moisture in the structure and mold behind the baseboards.
Ask three things. Are they licensed and insured in Florida, and will they show you the license number. Will they give you moisture readings and documentation you can hand to an adjuster. And will they tell you plainly what does not need doing. Be careful with anyone who both tests for mold and remediates it on the same job, because Florida law separates those roles.
Tell us what's going on and we'll get right back to you. Free inspection, and for active emergencies we answer 24/7.
(954) 778-0925Owner-operated · Boca Raton, Palm Beach & Broward · FL Lic #MRSR5407
