How to Choose a Restoration Company in St. Augustine

What should you check before a company starts work?

Check five things, in this order, before anyone opens a wall. The whole routine fits into one phone call and one browser tab, and any honest company will expect it.

1. Get the legal business name and the license number. Ask any company for its license number and check it on the DBPR site, ours included.
2. Ask for proof of insurance. Request a current certificate, and confirm it names the same business.
3. Ask who will be in the house and who answers the phone at night.
4. Ask how they measure dry. A real answer mentions moisture readings, a dry standard from unaffected materials and daily logs.
5. Get the scope and estimate in writing before heavy work starts.

Emergency extraction may need to begin while some of this is in motion. Stopping the source is your first job, and a good company can answer these questions while it unloads.

What has to be checked tonight, and what can wait?

Split the checks by what each one protects. Water at midnight leaves no room for a full review, and stopping it should not wait for paperwork. Signing anything larger should.

If a lookup will not load during a storm, write the number down and finish the check before you sign the next page.

How do you verify a license in Florida?

Search the exact business name or license number on the DBPR site, then match three details: the name, the license status and the type of work. A number that belongs to a different business does not help you. Neither does an expired one.

Match the license to the job. Florida requires a DBPR license for mold assessment and for remediation of more than 10 square feet, so a water company offering mold work should show you that license too. Formal testing should come from an independent licensed mold assessor, because F.S. 468.8419 keeps the assessor and the remediator apart on the same structure. Our notes on mold inspection cover that split.

Insurance proof is simpler. Call the agent listed on the certificate if anything looks off.

What St. Johns County adds to the check

The county publishes its own guide to hiring contractors, and its Contractor Licensing office will confirm whether a bidder holds a license. These points from the guide are worth using on any company.

• Business paperwork is not proof. A tax receipt, a company registration or a contractor's "licensed and insured" line on a flyer does not show a license.
• A current state wallet card should show the contractor's name and trade.
• Confirm general liability and workers' compensation coverage, or a workers' compensation exemption.
• A licensed contractor gets its own permits. If you pull one for an unlicensed person, you answer for the work.
• Treat cash-only deals and checks made out to an individual as warning signs.

Permits turn on the address and the work. The City of St. Augustine's storm guide lists removing wet materials as no-permit work and drywall repairs as permitted work, so ask the building office for your address before the put-back starts.

Reviews are useful if you read them closely

Read for detail: what failed, what the company explained and how it handled a problem. A rating alone tells you little. The FTC's 2024 rule bans fake reviews and requires a clear disclosure when a company insider posts one, so a reviewer who works with a company should say so.

What belongs in a written estimate?

A written estimate should let you compare two companies line by line. If a total appears with nothing under it, you cannot compare it with anything.

Look for these lines:

• Extraction, listed by area
• Demolition, naming what comes out and why
• Equipment days, with the count of air movers and dehumidifiers
• Disinfection for Category 3 water, when it applies
• Put-back work, listed apart from drying

Claim-related repairs carry a specific rule. Florida Statute 489.147 bars a contractor from giving an insured an agreement authorizing repairs without a good faith, itemized estimate of the repairs undertaken under a property insurance claim. Ask for that estimate before you sign.

Watch the deposit too. Under F.S. 489.126, a contractor who takes more than 10 percent of the contract price up front on residential work must meet deadlines for applying for permits and starting work, with some exceptions. A demand for the full price before anything happens is a reason to slow down.

Why do post-storm door knockers deserve extra scrutiny?

Door knockers deserve scrutiny because a storm is when people are tired, frightened and short on options. Anyone can print a shirt. The table covers lines you may hear and how to respond.

Leave the door closed on anything that cannot wait until you have looked up the name.

Questions we expect you to ask us

We expect every question on this list, and a company that bristles at them has told you something useful. Here is how to get real answers from us or anyone else:

• Ask to see a sample moisture log before the job starts.
• Ask who you will talk to if something changes in the scope.
• Ask what the company will not do. We do not negotiate with insurers, and we do not interpret policies.
• Ask how the put-back gets organized once drying ends.
• Ask for the estimate in writing, and take your time reading it.

Our answers are short. Calls go straight to the owner, Dal Beggs, and he runs the company with his son. We provide photos, moisture logs, equipment records and an itemized estimate, and we can walk you through the steps of filing a claim if you decide that is the right move.

Does it matter where the company is based?

Location matters less than who answers and how the job gets monitored. Drying needs someone returning daily to take readings, so ask how that will work at your address, including on weekends.

This is worth asking in the river neighborhoods of Fruit Cove as much as near the coast. Local ownership gives you someone to find after the storm traffic leaves, while a storm-chasing crew may be gone by the time you have a question.

Size cuts both ways, and only you can weigh it. A small company may give you one person to call, yet have less capacity when a storm hits every street at once. A larger one may bring more equipment, with more people between you and the decision. Ask each one what it can commit to at your address this week.

Choose the company you can check

The decision comes down to proof you can see for yourself: the license on the DBPR site, the insurance through the agent, the moisture readings and the scope on paper. Friendly talk and a fast arrival do not replace any of those, and the same goes for what we say about ourselves.

If you are comparing options for water damage restoration in St. Augustine, put us through the same checks. Call with your questions at any hour in an emergency, or between 7am and 7pm otherwise, and we will answer them before anyone sets foot inside.