Water Everywhere: The Chaos, The Heroes, and the Painful Wait to Get Paid

It’s 6 a.m., and you wake up to an unusual sound—like a stream of water. You sit up, swing your legs out of bed, and—SPLASH—you’re standing in water. Your entire floor is flooded. Panic sets in. What happened? You rush to find the source and discover a pipe behind the fridge burst overnight. Water everywhere.

The kids are shouting, "We're going to be late for school!" The dog is barking, your phone is buzzing with work emails, and your house feels like it's sinking. What do you do?

Your mind races:

• Do I get the kids to school first? ????
• Do I call my insurance company? ??
• Do I Google “what to do when my house floods”? ??
• Do I call a plumber, an agent, a friend, Yelp, or maybe just cry? ??

You’re overwhelmed, with no clear answer. After getting the kids out the door, you finally start making calls. But even that’s complicated—there are so many paths.

Path #1: Call your plumber. He shows up, fixes the leak, and refers you to a restoration company. (Who are they? ??)

Path #2: Call your insurance company and opt into their Direct Repair Program. They assign you one of their preferred contractors. (Will they have your best interest in mind or the insurance company’s? ??♀?)

Path #3: Call your insurance company and opt out of their program. You wait for an adjuster to recommend a contractor (but it takes time).

Path #4: Call your insurance agent for advice, and they suggest someone they know (but will they be available?).

Path #5: Go online and Google “best restoration companies.” You get a million results and spend precious time trying to figure out who to trust.

Path #6: Check Yelp. You see mixed reviews and wonder if the five-star ratings are legit. ??

Path #7: Ask a friend or family member if they know someone who’s had a flood before (but it feels like you’re running out of time).

Each path leads you to a different contractor, and all you really want is for someone to come NOW and fix your home. You need it done fast. You need it done right. And you assume your insurance will cover it, so the only thing you’re thinking about is paying the deductible.

Finally, you call us. We’re the restoration contractor, and we show up immediately. Boots on the ground, gear in hand.

The Heroes Arrive We assess the damage, stop the water, and get to work. We extract gallons of water, remove the soaked flooring, cut out waterlogged drywall, and set up fans and dehumidifiers to dry everything out. You watch as we move swiftly and professionally, turning your flood disaster into a controlled recovery.

We give you updates. We handle everything. We tell you when the work will be done. We bring in extra teams if necessary, making sure you can get back into your house as soon as possible.

And you love us for it. We’re your heroes.

But behind the scenes? The reality for us, the restoration company, is far from heroic.

The Long Wait for Payment While we’re saving the day for you, we’re shelling out thousands—if not tens of thousands—of dollars upfront. Labor, equipment, materials—we cover it all without hesitation. Because that’s our job: show up, fix the problem, save your home.

But once the work is done, once we’ve gotten you back into your house sooner than expected, the waiting game begins.

We’ve done the job. We’ve gone above and beyond. We’ve made sure your family is back in your home, stress-free. Yet, when it comes time for us to get paid, we’re not feeling the love.

We submit the invoice right away. We provide every detail to your insurance company, adjuster, the TPA, and even your mortgage company. And then we wait.

And wait.

It’s weeks—sometimes months—before we see anything. And just when we think we’re finally getting paid, we get the check and find out it’s made out to both us and the mortgage company. Now, we need to wait another 15-30 days for their approval and signature.

How is that fair? We saved your house, we brought it back from disaster, and we still have to wait hundreds of days to get paid?

It’s frustrating because while we’re heroes in your eyes, we’re left chasing down payments. We spent tens of thousands of dollars restoring your home, but the system we’re working within delays the very thing we need to keep our business going—payment.

You loved us when we showed up, when we cleaned up your home, and when we brought your life back to normal. So why aren’t we getting paid on time?

It’s time for a change. We’re proud to be the first to respond in a crisis. We’ll always be the ones who show up, no matter the hour, to save your home. But as restoration contractors, we deserve to get paid without waiting 100+ days and without having to jump through hoops to get a check that should already be in our hands.

So next time a restoration company shows up to save the day, know this: we’re not just battling water damage. We’re fighting a payment system that makes it nearly impossible to get paid for the superhero services we provide.

#RestorationHeroes #PayUsNow #ContractorLife #InsuranceClaims #FloodDamage #WaitingGame