Our Process
How a Brentwood job runs, step by step: free quote, written scope, written quote, sign-off - and the cheaper option named when there is one.
Four steps, start to finish
Estimated per square foot and per day, so you can follow the arithmetic.
Call, and do the free first hour
Stop the source, switch off power to the affected circuit, lift what you can off the floor, get air moving. Water removed before anybody arrives is water nobody bills you for, and we will talk you through it whether or not you book.
We establish where the water came from
A burst supply line, a failed drain, rain getting in and groundwater look identical once there is an inch on the floor, and only one of the four is fixed by extraction. That question comes before any price.
An estimated range, then a written quote
The affected area measured, an estimated range given against it, then a written quote with the daily equipment itemized rather than summarized. Moisture readings recorded from day one.
Equipment comes off as the readings fall
Not at the end of a set number of days. The readings decide when the drying is done, and they are handed over so you can see it for yourself.
Every range on one page
Estimated ranges across Contra Costa County. Your own written quote follows.
Four things to establish before a price means anything
Three of them are free, and the first one decides whether this is a job with an end.
Has the water stopped arriving?
The only question that matters first. Water still coming in makes every number below meaningless, because the affected area is still growing while it is being measured. Main shutoff, or the breaker to the well pump on a rural parcel.
Did it come from above or from below?
A burst supply line, an appliance or a roof is a job with an end. Groundwater rising into a crawl space is a condition, and the straight answer for it is drainage rather than days of equipment. This is the distinction the whole site turns on.
How large is the wet area, measured rather than seen?
Extraction is an estimated $0.50 to $1.50 per square foot of AFFECTED area industry-wide, so the measurement drives the price. Under carpet on a slab the wet edge sits well outside the visible one, and a meter is the only thing that finds it.
What was the water?
Clean supply water caught within a day or two is the case where carpet and pad are usually saved. Contaminated water or groundwater, at any age, means the porous material is removed instead, because drying it in place does not make it safe.
The 24-to-48-hour window, and what it is actually about
It is not about how long there was a puddle. It is about how long the material stayed wet.
The often-quoted window is the interval in which clean water is still clean and porous material can usually still be saved. After it, the same carpet and the same pad are a removal rather than a dry-out, which is a different and larger line on the bill. The part people get wrong is what the clock is measuring: it starts when the material got wet, not when somebody noticed. Ground that drains fast can take the standing water away and leave the wood in the floor exactly as wet as it was, and that is the case where a homeowner reasonably concludes the problem solved itself.
Which is why the first hour is worth more than the first day. Stopping the source, pushing water off hard floors toward a drain and getting interior air moving cost nothing, they are all available before anybody arrives, and they act directly on the number that gets measured later. On rural parcels further out, where a crew takes longer to arrive, they are most of the outcome rather than a courtesy suggestion.
- Told on the phone whether this genuinely needs tonight
- The free first-hour steps explained before a visit is booked
- Estimated rates per square foot and per day, not a single total
- Equipment out when the readings say so
Want a number on it?
A free written quote, no obligation.