Home Renovation

[CalDisneyMomof2]

We've recently had a leak in our kitchen that led to severe mold and repair of our entire kitchen and half of our living room. The cost to repair the mold was covered entirely by our insurance. The restoration company has submitted renovation predictions and we're just waiting on approval from insurance.

We will be needing new floors for the entire downstairs (minus the bedrooms) and an entirely new kitchen (minus appliances).

We are not DIY people so we'll be contracting out the work-possibly by the restoration company or possibly the merchant from which we make the purchases by. We've never had to go through insurance for anything so I'm not even sure who would be best. Does anyone have any advice on how to get the work done the best but at a fair price? Do you buy the material and have the merchant install? The restoration people? An entirely different contractor?

Obviously each situation is unique but I'm just curious about everyone else's experiences. We don't want to be cheap but also don't want to get burned.

 

[neatokimmo]

I have been through this twice. Your insurance pays a certain amount to repair each thing based on the quality of the damaged stuff. It really depends on what you want to do. You can ask for a price sheet and pick out your own items. You can be your own contractor if you want. Or they can do every single thing for you

Lowes did most of my kitchen, not part of the claim. I love it, you should check with them for options. I highLy recommend flip up cabinets, deep drawer packs, and a hidden trash can.

 

[pipervali]

Lucky that your insurance covered the damage. I had a similar situation and I had to pay entirely out of pocket because it was water damage, and since I don't have flood insurance, it wasn't covered under homeowners. They also threatened to drop my policy if the repairs weren't made in a timely manner. Needless to say I dropped State Farm after that.

Definitely vet your contractor though. Even if that means looking at Yelp and YP reviews, among other resources. Cheaper isn't always better of course, but a happy medium is doable, especially since insurance has a tendency to lowball a bit, so if you're looking to customize to your wants, it might mean putting a little in to the pie.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Thanks to you both. I wasn't sure about using Lowes or Home Depot- how's the quality of their products for the kitchen? We used Home Depot for our carpet installation a couple of years ago and the carpet has held up decently and was fairly inexpensive.