Restoration After Small House Fire
On March 25 we had a house fire. On March 26 I called my insurance agent who suggested Arcus. I called and Arcus came out right away and then I filed my claim. Arcus provided the estimate to my Insurance Adjuster. Before they began, Arcus and Clarus came to the house. I was never in the communication loop. All repair negotiation and price was done behind the scenes, I assumed between the estimator or project manager and my adjuster. When shown the price tag I was shocked but I know nothing about repair costs. The price was broken into Scope of work, Clarus Contents Renewal Co., and FMS Cleaning. A Month after the fire, Arcus began the work. On April 23 Clarus came to PackOut the contents of the rooms affected. On April 27 Arcus began the work. Cleaning was very quick. Clarus sent many employees to pack out and they stored our belongings and furniture in a Mobile Mini. The work was done but insulation was not changed which I think was on the Scope of Work, not certain. The Painters were excellent but the flooring company left a lot to be desired. They postponed a couple times, showed up without enough pad, so they left and went to lunch. The project manager brought the needed pad out. Then as they cut it in the driveway, they rolled it up with Boxelder tree seeds in it. I pointed it out but he said it won't matter. It was on the underside. Then as he scraped staples off my floor he told me if I wanted them gone I'd have to vacuum it myself. When they put the carpet in they were rough and sloppy and it seemed to have lots of snags and runs. They told me the faster they rush, the more money they make. They also pointed out that the carpet can run but they thought I'd be ok. The quality was certainly not the quality of the previous carpet I had before the fire. Then, when it came time to pack my contents back in, the first day was a disaster. Only 2 guys came, and they moved most of the furniture in but in the 8 hour days I didn't see much of them. I knew we needed more help and they seemed lost. I called Clarus to mention they didn't send adequate help. I jumped in an began moving my own lightweight furniture pieces. The next day they sent 2 guys and 3 women, which helped a lot, but still I had to jump in and do my own packing in. I noticed my furniture had not been cleaned adequately and later had to clean the fire extinguisher residue off myself. I did my own closet and cabinet pack ins and sent them home at 3pm and finished the rest myself. All in all, I felt communication was absent regarding contractor / insurance negotiation, which left me feeling lost and frustrated. Then I was shocked at the price tag and felt it was crazy high. Lastly I was very unimpressed that I had to clean my own furniture, bring some of my own pieces in, and do half of my own pack in after seeing the price tag was $8101 for that part of the restoration. All in all, on the positive side, Arcus did the adjusting and negotiation and found contractors, and the restoration is now done. On the negative side, not everything in the estimate ( like the insulation piece ) was done. They said it wasn't needed. I was told Arcus puts the needed restoration into an adjuster format for the insurance company. The price tag was way higher than I thought it would be, and the contents pack in was disasterous and overpriced for what I was told to expect. I wish I had been given more transparency and say in the matter and that the contents cleaning, and pack in had lived up to what I was told to expect. Lastly, I wish the carpet had been a better quality. The carpet they gave me was significantly lower quality than the one I had before the fire. Three months after it was installed one of the the loops got caught on my dogs collar and created a run. I contacted them and I'm awaiting their response yet. I'm upset about being given a lower quality carpet when my job was so expensive.
August 31, 2021
Unprompted review