Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Wildfire Restoration Contractor
A direct interview guide for property owners comparing wildfire mitigation, smoke cleanup, contents restoration, roofing, drying, and rebuild contractors.
Direct Answer
Ask written questions about access, safety, insurance, scope, payment, documentation, contents, subcontractors, permits, warranty, and claim coordination before signing anything or authorizing the contractor to discuss your claim.
This guidance supports restoration decisions. For evacuation, shelter, road, air-quality, water-safety, insurance-coverage, or legal questions, use the official sources and licensed professionals linked on this page.
First-call questions
The first conversation should establish whether the contractor is appropriate for the damage type and whether they respect official access and documentation requirements.
- What exact wildfire damage do you inspect or restore: fire, smoke, ash, odor, water, contents, roofing, or rebuild?
- Will you wait for official property access before entering or starting work?
- Who will be my project contact and who supervises the field work?
Scope and claim questions
Before the contractor talks to your insurer or prepares an estimate, confirm what documents they produce and where their role stops.
- Will your estimate separate mitigation, cleaning, contents, water, roof, exterior, and reconstruction?
- What photos, readings, logs, inventories, and cleaning tests will you provide?
- Are you providing restoration documentation only, or are you claiming to negotiate coverage as a licensed public adjuster?
Payment and schedule questions
Payment terms should be specific enough that the owner, insurer, mortgage company, and contractor can all understand what is being paid and why.
- What deposit is required, what milestone does it cover, and how is it paid?
- What happens if the insurer, mortgage company, permit office, or materials schedule delays the job?
- How are change orders priced, approved, and documented?
Questions to ask before signing
Keep the checklist with your photos, claim notes, and contractor scopes.
- What is your legal business name and physical address?
- Who owns the company and who supervises this job?
- Can you provide liability insurance proof?
- Can you provide workers compensation proof or exemption explanation?
- What licenses, registrations, or trade credentials apply to this work?
- What permits or inspections will be needed?
- What wildfire damage types are included in your scope?
- What damage types are excluded?
- Will you photograph every affected area before cleanup?
- Will you provide moisture readings or drying logs if water is involved?
- Will you inventory contents before disposal or cleaning?
- Will you separate smoke, soot, ash, odor, water, and fire damage in the estimate?
- Will you identify subcontractors before they work on the property?
- What is the deposit and what milestone does it cover?
- Are payments traceable and payable to the company?
- Will you ever ask for cash-only payment?
- Will you ever ask me to sign over an insurance check?
- Do you promise or advertise deductible waivers?
- Do you guarantee insurance approval?
- Are you acting as a contractor, public adjuster, or both?
- What warranty applies?
- How are change orders approved?
- How will I receive daily or weekly updates?
- What must happen before work starts?
- Can I take the contract home and review it before signing?
Related Recovery Pages
Continue with the related service, area, and consumer-resource pages that match the damage type.
Choose a Wildfire Restoration Contractor
How to evaluate the answers you receive.
Open pageEstimate and Scope Checklist
Use this to compare written proposals.
Open pageAvoid Contractor Scams
Pressure and fraud warning signs.
Open pageDORA Home and Repair Consumer Protection
Colorado consumer guidance for home repair.
Open pageFrequently Asked Questions
Should I ask these questions in writing?
Yes. Written answers make it easier to compare contractors, review the contract, and keep the claim file organized.
What if a contractor refuses to answer?
That is a warning sign. A contractor who wants your signature and claim money should be able to explain identity, insurance, scope, payment, and documentation clearly.
Should the contractor talk to my insurer?
Only if you authorize it and the role is clear. A contractor can share scope and documentation, but should not promise coverage or act as a public adjuster unless licensed for that role.
Need a restoration scope after wildfire damage?
Top Gun can help document and scope fire, smoke, ash, contents, and water damage once official access is allowed.