We had a chimney fire that had extensive smoke damage and we have relocated to a temporary home. Our insurance sent a remediation company to assess the damage and they seemed very thorough and talked a good talk. We didn’t realize we could have picked another company. This company is locate 2 hours away so getting a crew was difficult but the insurance said the company had the green light to do what was needed. All our possessions were all removed to clean etc. The company assured us not to worry the insurance was covering everything. We received an estimate for repairs to home which was low. We were told we could pick our contractor to submit an estimate. We chose someone local and his estimate was much higher but covered what is needed to be done. We are now just waiting for a response and insurance says they are waiting for lists from remediation company and then they will get back to us…we don’t think this has anything to do with remediation and we are still not sure if items cleaned by them will be smoke free or will need to be replaced. Contractor is repairing roof which is 3 years old and we are hoping the shingle will match or it will look odd. Please advise if we should wait to hear from insurance or get on them to move forward. I have told them we would like to get this resolved soon already.. Thank you !
Sylvia Nuss asked 12 months ago 
Karl Susman Expert answered 12 months ago Hi Sylvia,
Remediation companies do tend to be a bit on the aggressive side, from my experience when it comes to getting their foot in the door. Having said that, I can’t say that I have heard wonderful things about one company and all awful things from another. I hate to refer to any business or service as equal; don’t beat yourself up with thinking you may have gotten a company to perform better than this one did, likely wouldn’t have made any difference if you selected the company or the insurer did.
As for the estimates, you most definitely do not want to approve any work to be done until you have your claim’s adjuster on board with it. One of the most common errors I see during claims if when insured’s will start to do repairs before it is inspected, approved and the green light given to do the work. I know it is easy to say, try to be patient and put some pressure on the claim’s folks to get you an OK based on the estimate from the contractor you feel you would prefer.