All Forum Posts by: Jason White

@Pat Saperstein

I’m a general contractor in the LA/OC area, in the past I’ve mostly specialized in fire restoration, but I’m in the process of opening up a new branch that specializes in ADUs exclusively. Let me know if you need any help going forward, I have design and drafting contacts that have been doing ADUs for the last couple of years, they do the plans and get the permits approved through the city. And of course I can build anything you want. I’d be happy to bid any project you have. Let me me know.

@Jeb Brilliant

Send me an email and I’ll send you what I use here in CA

J@apex fire flood. Com

@Clinton Omiwade

I can’t help you in that department as I don’t know how the city or state handles the public records.

Do have any idea what the arv would be for the house. That will go a long way in determining if it’s even something to look into more. In my experience, if a house sits vacant for much time at all in this hot flipping market then it’s not worth enough to rebuild it.

@Clinton Omiwade

Of course you can! Where is the property?

@Whitney Aviles

[Removed by Moderators]

As for the first part of your question, you might think that you will save some good money going with an unlicensed guy, but that almost always comes back to bite you. There are a lot of bad things that can happen with an unlicensed guy (I’m not calling him an unlicensed contractor on purpose, he’s not a contractor). Here are a few of the negative highlights:

In the state of California it is braking the law for him to do any work for someone where the labor and materials is over $500.

You are personally liable for the workmen’s Comp and general liability for him and all of his guys, the law looks at you like his employer.

Because he can’t legally contract in the state you will have no recourse for shotty work or if he just walks.

There are obviously hoops that you have to jump through and tests you have to take and work experience you have to document, but it is not that difficult to get a license and do it all on the up and up. It’s a HUGE red flag, in my opinion, when somebody doesn’t have a license if they any good at construction and take pride in their work. There must be a reason....

@Pete Harper

Most likely the smoke made it into the attic at least enough to cause you to have to redo any insulation in the attic, and potentially also needing to seal all of the smoke smell in the wood in the attic. Mattress fires are very smelly and the smoke is very thick so expect to have pretty nasty smell throughout the house. When you have a fire in a bedroom or anywhere in a house, it creates high pressure inside the house and causes the smoke to be pushed through holes, into ducts, electrical sockets, ceiling fans etc. so any hvac ducting will have to be, at the very minimum, inspected and cleaned.

Most of the time the city will red tag the house after a fire, even if it’s mostly just smoke damage, because it’s unsafe to live in, that’s obviously not a tear down. A red tag doesn’t always mean it’s condemned like a house that has fallen down a hill or something. A new build vs remodel has to do with how much of the existing structure is still available to build around. I’ve done over 200 fire damage restorations and have only had 3 completely new builds. I’m not saying that it doesn’t happen but it’s extremely rare these days with the fire departments getting there fast and getting the fire out quickly. Other factors come into play as well like how many more square feet you add to the old structure. 

But to answer your question, it’s a combination of your engineer/architect and the city building department. 

Let me know if you need any help or if I can answer any more questions. 

@Kaneisha Forrest

Sorry for your loss, I’m hoping everyone and the pets are ok. Repairing Fire damage to your home is a HUGE UNDERTAKING. 

I’m in the LA/Orange County area and yes I have a fire restoration company as well so I deal with this stuff everyday.

I now live in La Mirada but I grew up in the hills in Brea, so right near you  

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or if you would like me to take a look and give you my opinion. 

Here in California if we can save parts of the house and not have to call it a new build, but call it a remodel you will save crazy money on the permits and fees and the like. But if this is an insurance covered loss (which it sounds like it is) and you have enough coverage in your policy then most, if not all of that is covered by them, except for the tax reassessment if that were to get triggered, that will be on you. 

Lets connect and we can talk. 

@Lee Kozokas

Despite what you’ve probably heard from advertisements and all the other hype around bamboo flooring it’s very very soft. The stuff scratches and dents extremely easily. I would never put that in a rental or my own house, just my two cents.

@Matt Said

Please find a good local fire restoration contractor that is NOT a preferred vendor, they (preferred contractor) are not on your side in this, their meal ticket is the insurance company so they like to keep them happy not you. $28k for a full kitchen and clean and paint is low. You are the one hiring the contractor whether it’s a preferred contractor or an independent fire restoration contractor that you find. The insurance company has no right or responsibility to repair your property, they just pay for damages.

The local restoration contractor will give you a scope of work and work with the insurance company to get everything that is damaged by the fire including smoke smell and any potential water damage above and below the fire covered. If you have any questions feel free to ask me or @Jeremy VanDelinder we both own fire damage restoration companies and deal with this every day.