Firewater Restoration Services’ Team, Values, and Beginnings

Why Call Firewater?

Our Mission Statement

Firewater Restoration Services, Inc. is an emergency and restoration services company, dedicated to:

24 Hour Emergency Water Removal
Provide prompt, courteous, professional, and compassionate services at a time of loss
Minimize the extent of damage to structure and contents through rapid response, appropriate application of industry standard procedures, and proper supervision
Provide expert restoration according to the needs of the property owner and the scope of the loss
Provide a positive, friendly, fair, and creative work environment to our team of properly trained, diverse, and hard-working employees

We Have the Knowledge and the Ability!

Firewater is a Class A general contractor with over twenty years local experience in condominium construction, custom homebuilding, and restoration work—far more construction experience than any other local restoration firm. Firewater has developed proprietary techniques and practices to minimize the cost of the loss and the extent of the damage to structure and contents, and our crews are trained to not only minimize the physical loss to property, but to properly deal with the emotional trauma suffered by the property owner as well.

Because of our considerable experience with premiere properties, we repeatedly service the most prestigious communities, builders, developers, and clients in Collier and Lee County. In addition, we provide services to a number of local governmental agencies.

Unlike most restoration companies that come from a background of carpet cleaning, Firewater is the only firm in Collier County that has actually constructed homes and condominiums in the area. While a background in carpet cleaning is important, we believe that our experience in construction will help us make a more informed decision on any structural drying considerations being made.

Firewater has in-house employees to perform supervision, estimating, emergency services, painting, drywall work, rough and final cleaning, and more. The majority of our supervisors and project managers have been promoted from within the company, a policy to which the company still adheres. The company has invested hundreds of hours, and tens of thousands of dollars, in continuing education for our employees. Most supervisors are Certified Mold Remediators.

When subcontractors are needed, we draw from firms with whom the owner of Firewater has had relationships that may go back thirty years or more. Not many firms can make this claim.

Firewater Restoration Services can provide industry standard computerized estimates through our relationship with Xactware Information Systems, the leading firm involved in insurance industry software. Reports are tailored to the need of the adjuster, carrier, and owner. Firewater personnel are available to our regular clients for site visits and inspections.

We Get the Job Done!

Lely High School Flood—1.4 Million Gallons of Water!

Firewater was contacted on July 18, 2005 by a facilities supervisor at Lely High School in East Naples, who requested we send an emergency extraction crew over right away. Our lead technician was on site within 15 minutes. Not long after we got a call asking our dispatcher to send everyone in the company to the school right away.

The previous Friday, the school was locked up for the weekend. Sometime later that same Friday night, a fitting on a large water line, which was under pressure, broke on the second floor. The estimate was that 500 gallons of water a minute flowed for two days. That is approximately 1.4 million gallons of water. One of the technicians reported that the main stairwell looked like a Class III rapid.

Nearly one-third of the entire school—including the computer labs, science labs, and the school cafeteria—was completely damaged. Thousands of square feet of floor space, ceiling area, and wall areas were in need of repairs. However, the school needed to open for classes on August 15, only four weeks in the future.

The Collier County School Board placed their trust in our ability to get the building dried out, to remove all damaged materials, and to rebuild as necessary in order for the school to open on time. There were no other options. At all times, the health and safety of the students was of primary concern. The school’s environmental consultant, Walt Black of American Management Resources Corporation, monitored our efforts closely the entire time.

Firewater acted as the general contractor on this effort, all while working closely with the designated school system administrators and employees. We worked 7 days a week, 16 hours a day. We met with the representatives of the school board every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.

We were also responsible for the coordination of the employees and subcontractors of the school board, who handled most of the removal and reinstallation of the plumbing, cabinetry, carpeting, and furnishings.

However, our employees and/or subcontractors performed all of other construction activities, including but not limited to:

The demolition of and reinstallation of water damaged drywall, wet insulation tile, ceilings, and woodwork
Structural drying of all areas
Cleaning and disinfecting all wall cavities and classroom areas
Removal and reinstallation of insulation in wall cavities
Furnishing, installing, and finishing drywall walls and ceilings
Painting all classroom and corridor walls
Demolition and installation of ceramic tile and base in all baths and repairing ceramic tiles throughout

At times, we had approximately 100 employees or subcontractors on site at the same time. Our portion of the work that we contracted directly was worth approximately $1,000,000. The portion that we coordinated with the school board employees and subcontractors was approximately of equal value. Four weeks after our initial call to the site, school successfully opened for the 2005-2006 year.

The point of this story is that while other companies may make claims about their abilities to perform in the event of an emergency, our company can prove our claim is fact. I do not know of any other area firm that has ever had to handle a disaster of this size in such a short amount of time.

Firewater is routinely called out on a multiple story floods in the middle of the night, and we deliver. We have delivered for the past twenty years, and have grown in ability and experience each and every year. In our opinion, we have the finest, most reliable employees in the area.

Insurance Coverage

Insurance certificates can be provided upon request. Your association will be named as the certificate holder, and sent directly to you. Since some of our clients include some of the largest construction firms in the state of Florida, our coverage meets or exceeds all requirements of even the most stringently demanding clients. Firewater is a bonded corporation.

Affiliations

Firewater Restoration Services is an independent firm not affiliated with any formal networks or franchises. However, we have a number of firms, both from Florida as well as from other states, with which we have cooperative arrangements in the event of a hurricane. This topic will be discussed more completely on the Hurricane Response page.

References

We will be pleased to provide references upon request. Please feel free to refer to our many testimonials.