Price follows two numbers
Before anything else, a restoration estimator establishes two things: the IICRC water category and the drying class.
Category measures contamination. Category 1 is clean supply water, Category 2 is gray water from an appliance overflow, Category 3 is sewage or outside floodwater. It determines whether porous materials are dried or removed, which is the single largest cost lever there is.
Class measures how much water soaked in. Class 1 is part of one room with minimal absorption. Class 4 is bound water in hardwood, plaster or concrete needing specialty drying. It determines equipment counts and days.
Every line on the estimate is downstream of those two numbers. If a quote does not state them, ask.
The line items and what they should cost
| Line | Typical rate | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Crew labor | $70 – $150 / hr | Hours should be plausible for the area |
| Truck-mounted extraction | $100 – $300 / room | Charged per room, not per hour |
| Air movers | $25 – $75 / day each | Count and days both listed |
| Dehumidifiers | $50 – $150 / day | Type should match the class |
| Antimicrobial | $0.50 – $1.50 / sq ft | Mandatory for Cat 2 and 3, optional for Cat 1 |
| Monitoring visits | $50 – $150 / visit | Often bundled; should produce a log |
| Contents pack-out | $500 – $2,500 | Reducible by moving things yourself |
| After-hours response | + $50 – $200 | One-off, not per day |
Where estimates diverge
Demolition scope. This is where two quotes on the same loss differ most. One contractor plans to dry a wall in place with cavity drying; the other plans to cut out the bottom two feet of drywall. Both can be defensible. Ask each to explain the moisture readings behind the decision.
Equipment days. A drying plan is a prediction, and it should be revised against daily readings rather than run to a fixed number. An estimate that bills ten days of equipment up front on a Class 2 job is charging for a prediction that should not survive contact with the meter.
Whether reconstruction is included. Mitigation-only quotes look dramatically cheaper than full-scope quotes for exactly the same loss. Check before comparing.
What tends to get padded
Equipment counts that do not vary with room size. Monitoring visits billed daily when nobody attended. Antimicrobial applied to areas that took clean Category 1 water and did not need it. Contents pack-out for a room you could have cleared in an hour yourself. And the classic: a job that keeps running equipment after the readings reached dry standard, because the meter is never shown to the customer.
Asking for the daily moisture log solves most of that, and it is also the document your adjuster wants. See structural drying.
Denver context
Denver-metro rates sit roughly 29 percent below the national average because the contractor pool here is deep, which means you have real choice even at 2 a.m. Typical jobs run $1,200 to $7,500 with the average near $2,500 to $3,000.
The common job types — burst pipe at $1,000 to $4,000, appliance failure at $800 to $3,000, sewage backup at $2,000 to $10,000, finished basement flood at $2,500 to $10,000 or more — and all the underlying tables are in the Colorado cost guide.
Related: how to choose a Denver company, 2026 Denver cost ranges, and Denver water damage restoration.
Frequently asked questions
What should an itemized estimate contain?
Extraction, separated by method and area. Equipment counts and days, listed per unit. Antimicrobial application by square foot. Demolition scope by material and area. Monitoring visits. Contents pack-out if applicable. Reconstruction as a separate section. A single lump sum with no breakdown cannot be checked by you or by your adjuster.
How many air movers should be on the job?
Counts are calculated from room volume, affected surface area and drying class, not guessed. A typical residential job runs 5 to 20 units. A count far outside that for the area involved deserves a question — in either direction, because too few is as much a problem as too many.
Two quotes differ by thousands. Which is right?
Usually neither is wrong; they are scoping different work. Compare the demolition scope first, because that is where quotes diverge most — one contractor is drying a wall the other is removing. Then compare equipment days. Then compare whether reconstruction is included at all.
Should I always take the cheaper quote?
No. The cheapest quote is often the one that skipped moisture mapping and is drying only what is visible. That saves money now and produces a mold remediation job in six weeks. Compare scope before price, and ask each contractor to explain why their demolition line differs from the other's.