Cost guide

Water Damage Restoration Cost: Public Contract Rates

Last reviewed November 2026. Primary sources were accessed November 7, 2026. Dates are Mountain Standard Time (Phoenix).

Browse water damage restoration contractors with a license on record

The rates below are from State of Maine facility contracts. They are not a national average and not a price for a house.

What the data shows

Primary sources first. We did not find a government page that states a residential project total for water damage restoration. The prices below are hourly and daily rates on state facility contracts.

Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147

Public contract · Extension signed Sep 4, 2025; period through May 31, 2026 · Accessed Nov 7, 2026

Water damage labor, invoiced by the hour. Between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.: technician $105 per hour, supervisor $116 per hour. Between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.: technician $158 per hour, supervisor $175 per hour. The same agreement says material costs (protective equipment, plastic, air scrubbers, and similar supplies) are billed as needed and does not print a unit price for them.

Confidence: High

Maine master agreement 18P 250912-045

Public contract · Oct 1, 2025 to Sep 30, 2027 · Accessed Nov 7, 2026

Equipment on a trauma-services schedule that also lists drying gear, priced per day unless the line says otherwise: air mover (fan) $35, dehumidifier $65, water extractor $75. These lines sit beside trauma labor rates. They are not a water-damage project total.

Confidence: High

Residential water-damage project total: government or public-bid price

Government / public bid · n/a · Accessed Nov 7, 2026

Not found

Confidence: Low

Typical range for homeowners

Residential project total

Not found

Why

The public prices we could read are hourly labor on a Maine facility agreement (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147) and daily equipment rates on a separate Maine trauma agreement (Maine master agreement 18P 250912-045). A house total depends on hours, how many machines run, and materials. We did not multiply those rates into a made-up project price.

Daytime labor on the Maine water agreement

Technician $105 per hour. Supervisor $116 per hour (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).

After-hours labor on that agreement

Technician $158 per hour. Supervisor $175 per hour (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).

What it is not

A residential average, and not a price for one state versus another. Both documents are State of Maine contracts for public facilities. A state-by-state homeowner comparison was not found.

Confidence

Low for a homeowner total. High that the contracts state these rates.

A range is only as good as the sources it rests on. Here the sources do not support a headline dollar range for a house, so this page does not print one.

What drives the cost up or down

  • Hours and time of day. On the Maine water agreement, the after-hours technician rate is $158 per hour against $105 during the day (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).
  • How many machines run, and for how many days. The trauma schedule prices an air mover at $35, a dehumidifier at $65, and a water extractor at $75 (Maine master agreement 18P 250912-045). A larger wet area uses more of them. The schedule does not say how many a house needs.
  • Materials are extra on the water agreement and are not given as a single unit price in the rate section we read (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).
  • Category of water. The same Maine agreement prices sewer damage labor separately from clean-water damage labor. Those sewer rates are on the biohazard cleanup cost guide.

FAQ

How much does water damage restoration cost?

A residential project total was not found in a government source or public bid we could read. A Maine facility contract lists daytime water-damage labor at $105 per hour for a technician and $116 for a supervisor, and $158 and $175 after hours (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).

Why isn't there a single homeowner total on this page?

The public documents state hourly and daily rates, not a finished price for a house. Multiplying those rates by an assumed number of hours would invent a total, so we did not.

What do the Maine labor rates cover?

Labor for water damage, billed by the hour, on a state master agreement. Materials are billed as needed and are not given a unit price in that rate section (Maine master agreement 18P 200522-0147).

Are the equipment rates part of the same contract?

No. The air mover ($35), dehumidifier ($65), and water extractor ($75) are lines on a different Maine agreement, a trauma-services schedule for October 2025 through September 2027 (Maine master agreement 18P 250912-045).

Can I use the hourly rate as my budget?

Only as a labor rate, not as a job price. Ask each bidder for hours, equipment days, materials, and what is excluded, then compare those lines. The directory phrase for a company on a roster is license on record.

Does insurance set this price?

Not in the sources above. Those contracts are what a state agency agreed to pay a vendor. A homeowner policy is a separate document. We did not find a government page that states a typical insured residential total.

How we built these numbers

  • Source order: we start with government sources (EPA, HUD, state agencies), then public bid or contract unit prices (state contracts, school districts, cities), then industry survey data. Angi, HomeAdvisor, This Old House, HomeGuide and Fixr are shown only in a separate consumer-reported section and are not used to set the headline ranges.
  • Each figure in the tables is one we read on the cited page or document, with the source type, year, link, confidence and the date we accessed it (Mountain Standard Time, Phoenix). Where we found nothing, the table says Not found.
  • Typical ranges are our own arithmetic, with one sentence on how each was derived. We do not average bids of different scope, and a range is only as good as the sources it rests on, which is why each one carries a confidence rating.
  • Public bid prices are unit prices from institutional buyers, and they may include prevailing-wage rules and larger project sizes. They are examples of what contractors bid, not residential averages.
  • We do not use proprietary estimating databases such as RSMeans, Xactimate or HomeWyse, and we do not quote them.
  • We plan to add quotes collected from contractors in our directory later, and will label them as a separate source type.
  • Confidence key: High means a government source states the figure directly or two independent primary sources agree. Medium means one primary source read in full, or primary sources that agree only loosely. Low means dated before 2022, unclear scope, a program budget estimate or a single source. Consumer-reported rows are capped at Medium.
  • We refresh figures at least twice a year and show the last-reviewed date. Where a contractor listing is mentioned, the directory's phrase is license on record.

Sources

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Related guides

Standing water is a common reason mold follows. See the mold remediation cost guide for public bid unit prices on mold removal.

Sewage is priced on its own line in the same Maine agreement. See the biohazard cleanup cost guide for those hourly rates.