Why One Company for Cleanup and Rebuild Matters
After water, fire, or mold damage there are really two jobs. The first is mitigation: stopping the damage, extracting water, removing unsalvageable material, and drying the structure. The second is reconstruction: replacing what came out and making the home whole again. Many companies only do the first one.
Splitting those jobs across two companies creates real problems for homeowners. The mitigation company documents what they removed, but the rebuilding contractor was not there to see it, so the scope gets re-argued. Your insurance adjuster now has two estimates from two companies that do not agree. Nobody owns the timeline, so the project stalls between phases — and homes routinely sit with exposed studs for weeks waiting on a contractor to become available.
When STOP Restoration handles both phases, the crew that removed your damaged drywall is the same crew that documents it for your carrier and the same crew that puts the new drywall up. There is one scope, one estimate, one claim, and one company accountable for the finish date.
What We Rebuild
Drywall Repair & Replacement
Drywall is the most common casualty of water and fire damage, and it is what most homeowners are looking at when they call us. Wet drywall wicks moisture upward well past the visible water line, which is why we cut to a clean, dry line rather than patching to the stain. We handle everything from a two-foot flood cut along a baseboard to full-height replacement across multiple rooms, including hanging, taping, mudding, and sanding to a finish that is ready for paint. Ceiling drywall — typically the hardest to match and the most likely to sag after a leak — is a routine part of our work.
Interior Painting
New drywall needs primer and paint, and a patch that is not painted properly announces itself forever. We prime all new surfaces, match existing wall colors where you want a seamless repair, and repaint full walls or full rooms when a spot repair would be obvious. Where smoke or soot damage is involved, we use a stain-blocking sealer first — ordinary paint applied straight over smoke residue will allow staining and odor to bleed back through within weeks.
Flooring Installation
Water damage claims almost always involve flooring. We remove and replace carpet and padding, luxury vinyl plank, laminate, tile, and hardwood. Hardwood deserves a specific note: depending on how long it was wet and how much it has cupped, hardwood can sometimes be dried in place and refinished rather than replaced, which is a significantly better outcome for the homeowner and a lower claim for the carrier. We assess that honestly rather than defaulting to replacement, and we handle subfloor repair when the damage runs deeper than the surface.
Trim, Baseboards & Cabinetry
Baseboards and door casings are usually the first casualty of a flood cut and the easiest detail to get wrong on the rebuild. We replace and reinstall trim, door casings, crown molding, and thresholds, matching existing profiles where we can. We also handle cabinet removal and reinstallation — particularly kitchen and bathroom vanities, where water frequently gets underneath and rots the cabinet base while leaving the doors looking perfectly fine.
Full Room & Whole-Home Rebuilds
For significant losses — a serious fire, a burst supply line that ran overnight, a long-term leak that compromised structure — we handle complete reconstruction. That includes framing repair, insulation, drywall, paint, flooring, trim, and fixture reinstallation, coordinated with any licensed electrical and plumbing work the rebuild requires.
How the Rebuild Process Works
1. Scope and Estimate
Once the structure is dry and cleared, we walk the property and document exactly what needs to be replaced, with photos and measurements. You get a written scope and estimate, and so does your insurance adjuster — in the format carriers expect, which prevents most of the back-and-forth that delays claims.
2. Adjuster Agreement
We work directly with your carrier to agree on scope before work begins. This is the step homeowners most often get stuck on when they hire a separate contractor, because the contractor was not present for the mitigation and cannot speak to what was removed or why. We were there, and we documented it.
3. Reconstruction
Our crews rebuild in the correct order — structure, then drywall, then paint, then flooring, then trim and fixtures — so that finishes are not damaged by later phases. You get a schedule with a completion target and a single point of contact for questions.
4. Final Walkthrough
We walk the finished work with you before we call it complete. Anything that is not right gets corrected before we close the project out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you handle just the repairs, or only if you did the cleanup?
Both. Most of our reconstruction work follows our own mitigation, and that is the smoothest path because we already documented the loss. But we also take on repairs where another company did the drying, or where a homeowner simply has damage that needs rebuilding. If another company dried the structure, we will verify it is actually dry before we close anything up — building over trapped moisture causes mold and it is not a risk worth taking.
Can you match my existing paint, flooring, or trim?
In most cases, yes. Paint can be color-matched from a sample. Trim profiles are usually available or can be milled to match. Flooring depends on the product — current lines are straightforward, but discontinued flooring can be genuinely difficult to source, and we will tell you upfront if an exact match is not realistic. When it is not, we will lay out the options, which usually means replacing a full continuous area so the transition looks intentional rather than patched.
How long does reconstruction take?
It depends on scope and on how quickly your carrier approves the estimate. A single room with drywall, paint, and flooring is typically a few days to a week of active work. A whole-floor rebuild after a major loss runs several weeks. The most common delay in restoration reconstruction is not the construction itself — it is waiting on adjuster approval, which is exactly why we prepare the documentation carefully the first time.
Are you licensed and insured for construction work in both states?
Yes. We are licensed and insured for reconstruction work in both North Carolina and South Carolina, and we have been operating in this area since 2009. We are IICRC certified on the restoration side and carry full liability and workers compensation coverage. We are happy to provide certificates of insurance for your records or your carrier.
Will my insurance pay for the rebuild?
If the damage came from a covered peril, reconstruction to return your home to its pre-loss condition is generally part of the claim. What insurance typically will not cover is upgrading beyond pre-loss condition — if you decide to use the opportunity to install a nicer floor than you had, the difference usually comes out of pocket. We will make that distinction clear in the estimate so there are no surprises at the end.