Scopes, standards and what each one removes

Two numbers decide almost every line item on a water loss. The category of the water sets the contamination rules, which decides what can be dried in place and what has to be removed, bagged and disposed of. The class of the loss sets the equipment count and the drying method, because a Class 1 loss in one room and a Class 4 loss in the same footprint are different jobs with different schedules.

A scope that does not state both is not a scope. It is an estimate from a photograph. We write the category, the class, the affected square footage by material, the equipment count and the expected drying days before any equipment is set, and you approve that document before work begins.

Where mold is involved, the work splits across two licenses. An assessor writes the remediation scope and verifies the result. A remediator performs the removal. State law and city rules require the assessor and the remediator to be independent, with a separate post-remediation assessment, which is why a remediation estimate that also promises its own clearance should be read carefully.