Flood damage restoration: cleaning up, drying out, and the claim

Flood restoration is a clean-water drying job with three things added: the building has to be made safe before anyone works in it, floodwater is contaminated, and most of what it soaked is thrown out rather than dried. Each of those changes who does what, in what order, and what the bill looks like.

Flood restoration, step by step, and who does each step

Steps 1 to 3 are not optional and not the restorer’s. Drying equipment runs on mains power, and the guidance below is that power does not go back on in a flooded house until an electrician has tested the wiring. Ask any restorer you call whether that has happened yet, because it decides when the drying can start.

Before you touch anything: power, gas, solar

Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office says the same in its own terms: after flood damage you may need verification tests on the switchboard, wiring, equipment and appliances before reconnection, done by a licensed electrician, and a certificate of test will ensure your local electricity distribution entity can reconnect your service (Queensland Electrical Safety Office, Electrical safety during storms). Water-affected portable appliances are to be disposed of or repaired by a licensed electrician.

For gas, Queensland’s position is that the installation and appliances must be inspected by a licensed gasfitter before they can be used (Queensland Government, Gas safety for flood-affected consumers). The Better Health Channel puts both together: gas or electricity supplies that may be damaged need to be confirmed safe by a qualified electrician or plumber (Better Health Channel (Vic), After a flood – returning home safely).

What to throw out, and what to keep for the claim

Two points from the Insurance Council are worth reading twice. First, you don’t need to wait for an assessor to visit your property before starting clean-up (Insurance Council of Australia, Insurers encourage clean-up following widespread NSW flooding) — wet materials left in a flooded house are a health risk and cause further damage. Second, the photographs and the sample are the evidence the assessor will not otherwise have: cut a piece of the carpet and keep it, and photograph serial numbers.

Wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves and rubber boots, and treat cuts seriously: the NSW Government’s position is that all wounds other than clean, minor cuts are at risk of tetanus (NSW Government, Staying healthy after a flood).

Floodwater is Category 3 from the first minute

That is the difference between a flood job and a burst-pipe job of the same size. Clean water from a supply pipe is dried where it lies. Floodwater changes the scope: porous materials it soaked are removed and disposed of rather than dried — the health departments’ lists above name carpet, mattresses, soft furnishings and ceiling insulation — and then the structure is cleaned, disinfected and dried. Categories and classes explains the framework, and sewage backup covers the same contamination arriving through the drains.

Mould follows the same clock. Queensland’s mould guidance says absorbent items that can’t be cleaned easily should be thrown away if they are wet for more than 2 days (Queensland Government, Mould (disasters and emergencies)). The mould removal guide covers what happens after that.

What flood restoration costs

Three published figures do most of the work: dehumidifiers at $149 per unit per day, air movers at $69, and HEPA filtration at $80, each with a 3-day minimum, on QLD Flood Restoration’s rate card. Around half a house, seven days, one HEPA unit:

What those totals leave out is most of a flood bill: stripping and disposal, the electrician, the gasfitter — Queensland’s page quotes the Master Plumbers Association of Queensland’s estimate of about $200 including GST for a basic gas inspection, before any repair — and the rebuild. No published Australian rate for flood stripping and disposal was found, so none is given here. The cost page does other drying combinations.

Is it legally a flood?

The word matters because a home policy can cover flood separately or not at all, and the insurer has to tell you which in writing, before you enter the contract (Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) s 37C). The definition decides which part of the policy applies. Water that escaped from a creek, river, lake, reservoir, canal or dam is flood; stormwater run-off that never left one of those is not flood under reg 34(1). For a home building or contents policy that meaning applies whatever the policy says (Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) s 37B(1)–(3)), and a policy that covers any flood event is taken to cover flood (Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) s 37D(1)–(3)). The flood definition page works through the edge cases, and storm, flood and water damage sets the three against each other.

Flood restoration by city

The drying is the same work everywhere. What changes by city is who responds to the flood, which building-work insurance applies to the rebuild, and whether the council publishes a property-level flood tool this site has read.

A dash means no council tool was read for this site, not that none exists. Brisbane City Council’s FloodWise Property Report shows the risk and type of flooding at a property; the City of Gold Coast publishes five flood scenarios, from a 20% to a 0.05% annual chance on its flood insurance map.

Help that is not insurance

Where a disaster is declared, Disaster Assist (Australian Government), Disaster Recovery Payment is $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per child. A one-off, non-means-tested payment, activated for particular declared disasters rather than available on demand. It is not insurance and it does not reduce what an insurer owes you.

Common questions