Fire in kitchen; restoration not going well - long

9 years ago

We were moving from one home to another and the DH set a cardboard box on the gas stove. While no one was there, a cat turned the burner on and set the box ablaze. By the grace of all things Serendipitous, DH returned to the house on Christmas Eve to be greeted by alarms going off and a house full of black soot and smoke. He got the burner turned off, the fire out and called insurance. And the fun began....

Not only do I think the settlement was insufficient, it took me forever to get a list of all things Service Master took from my kitchen. And 2 and 1/2 months to get photos so I could see what they left off. They stripped my kitchen down to studs and still have not begun to rebuild. Instead, they're repainting the entire house and have used a paint that was incorrectly mixed and is the wrong color!!

I am so frustrated, I could scream. I keep getting assurances that they "will take care" of me, but I'm not feeling the love. Please share any advice you have based on a similar experience. Should I forget talking to these hired hands and go straight to my agent? How did you manage?

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Comments (4)

PRO
mdln
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I had a total loss house fire due to somewhat similar circumstances. Entire house torn down to studs - much of it because of smoke damage.

The insurance adjustor, restoration people, and my agent were not helpful (an understatement). Insurance companies are in business to make money.

Ended up needing to hire an attorney, wish I had done so much sooner.

Good luck.
PRO
Anglophilia
9 years ago
No fire but a burst pipe in a 2nd floor bath and us out of town. My DD discovered it when she came by to check on the house on Super Bowl Sunday. Boy, did she have a treat trying to find anyone to come out. It did extensive damage, as it went through the hardwood floor to the basement where the pop and stick tiles installed by the previous owner, popped up and ended up blocking the floor drain.

I can't remember the company we used but they broke things, lost things, never did finish repairs and generally were horrible. My insurance company was not horrible, but also not very helpful. The GC we hired turned out to be a total flake - high recommendations from people in my neighborhood, who later told me that they had had "a few problems with her" but since they were all members of the country club they didn't feel "right" talking poorly about her.

In the end, 90% was done correctly and the last 10%...well, they just wore us down and by then (happened in late Jan and we were now in late July!), we just wanted them out of the house.

I feel your pain... Hope the cat is okay.
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akl_vdb
9 years ago
Our kitchen took 2.5 years to finish after a dishwasher flood. Many arguments, crying and kicking peopke out of the house.

Best of luck.
c t
9 years ago
My neighbors had similar problems after their fire. Insurance unhelpful, and the plumber they hired was having family problems. When it became clear he wasn't going to be able to actually do the work they'd hired him for, they contacted the company from whom the plumber had ordered the fixtures, hoping, at least to get those delivered. It turned out he'd never ordered any fixtures, he'd used their deposit to pay for something else. He was a member of their church, and they felt that suing him would just be piling on his problems. And, well, you can't get money from someone who doesn't have any.