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Water Damage, Mold, and Insurance: What Your Restoration Company Should Be Doing For You

2026-03-18 19:52 Blog Water Damage Restoration Mold Remediation

Water Damage, Mold, and Insurance: What Your Restoration Company Should Be Doing For You

Unscripted Home Improvement Interview: What a $200,000 Mold Disaster Taught Us About the Leaks Homeowners Ignore

Unscripted Home Improvement Interview with Anastasiia Schwab

Guest: Anastasiia Schwab | Company: Total Home Rescue | Host: Jeremy Rivera

Listen: H&H Cookeville Unscripted Home Improvement Podcast

★ EPISODE HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

"If you wait, it could lead to horrible disasters. Even a tiny small leak can lead to a huge problem."

— Anastasiia Schwab, Total Home Rescue

"The most important thing you can have in your business is a system. You should not rely on yourself only — rely on your documents, your instructions, and your numbers."

— Anastasiia Schwab, Total Home Rescue

"People who call you from SEO are more prepared. They already trust you. The conversion rate from SEO customers will be higher — from my experience."

— Anastasiia Schwab, Total Home Rescue

Introduction: Meet Anastasiia Schwab of Total Home Rescue

Jeremy Rivera: I'm Jeremy Rivera, your unscripted podcast host. I'm here with Ana of Total Home Rescue. Can you give yourself an introduction and focus on the things that you have done in your life that make you a trustworthy expert?

Anastasiia: Hi, Jeremy. Thank you for having me here on your podcast today. My name is Ana, as you said, and I'm the owner of Total Home Rescue. What we do is — we are a water damage restoration, mold remediation, and a build-back company located in Washington, DC, and we serve across Virginia, Maryland, and DC.

We help homeowners when they have a disaster at their homes. For example, either an apartment or house gets flooded, or there is mold somewhere. We're always happy to help to remove everything and to build your house back to what it looked like before the damage.

The Most Extreme Case: A $200,000 Mold Disaster

Jeremy Rivera: What's one of the most extreme cases that you've run across? I'm working right now with H&H Construction — they do remodels. So I know what it looks like when you have that dream situation of, "we're doing more, we're making things better," but what's the worst encounter that you've had with home damage that you've been engaged to work on?

Anastasiia: Once we had a house — it was a three-story house, probably around 4,000 square feet — and it was all mold everywhere. Personal belongings, walls, floors, ceilings — everywhere. And we came out there after one of their plumbers — they just refused to work with them because of the mold.

So in total, all that project cost them about $200,000. It was almost — there was — I don't know how that person actually lived there, because after you spend maybe 30 minutes at that house, you really get sick. I think from my opinion, it was the worst project ever. And yeah, that was really crazy. That was really crazy.

And what is more important — we also help homeowners to talk to the insurance, because you know insurance, they don't really like paying out to people. So we do help them with that too. And it was a really terrible thing, because before we started, the insurance did not want to cover anything.

Jeremy Rivera: That's crazy.

Anastasiia: But luckily, we did solve this issue and the insurance agreed to pay. Yeah, but that was the most terrible thing I've ever seen in my life.

Warning Signs: How to Know If You Have a Mold Problem

Jeremy Rivera: What are — you know, for somebody who has a much less extreme case — what are some of the indicators around the house? I mean, obviously if you're getting sick after 30 minutes and even a plumber will refuse to work in there, that's pretty extreme. What are some of the signs that you kind of listen for when people are talking to you, that there might be, you know, a mold issue?

Anastasiia: Definitely the first part and the most important thing — if they have ever, ever, ever — even 10 years ago, even five years ago — if they had even a small leak somewhere, because sometimes even a tiny small leak can lead to a huge problem.

And the second one is definitely smell. Sometimes you can smell some musty odors somewhere — for example, at the corner of one room or under the sink. I do really recommend to every homeowner to look deeper into this issue, or even hire someone to check for them. Because if you wait, it could lead to horrible disasters.

Learn more about the signs of mold: Total Home Rescue Mold Remediation

What Mold Remediation Actually Looks Like

Jeremy Rivera: With a mold remediation, are you looking at wholesale pulling out walls? Is it just kind of — you have to go in with, not necessarily a blow torch, but kind of that mentality of, "we have to cut out entire sections of your house and replace them"?

Anastasiia: To be honest, not really. Sometimes you can just wipe — you can spray and wipe out this mold and cover it with special anti-microbial chemistry products. And most homeowners actually want to just spray and move on, because — I don't know why — but many people think mold is not something serious. "You can use bleach, right? To get rid of it."

It's not true.

So most of the homeowners we're dealing with, they just want to wipe something out and that's it. But sometimes we have to demolish everything to the ground.

Other Types of Home Damage: Water, Burst Pipes & More

Jeremy Rivera: What are some of the other types of home damage that you have worked through?

Anastasiia: We also work with water damage. For example, a burst pipe somewhere in the apartment or a house, or a huge commercial — for example, a parking structure gets flooded. That's what we also help with. We can remove all the water and dry everything out again, to avoid mold as well.

Jeremy Rivera: Yeah, I had a situation with a pinhole leak with copper piping — ended up replacing all of that copper piping with PEX. Is piping replacement something in your repertoire, or do you farm that out to a plumbing company?

Anastasiia: No, we work with plumbers and this is their job. We just handle what is happening after they fix everything.

Commercial vs. Residential: How Much Different Is It?

Jeremy Rivera: You said that you also work with commercial buildings and commercial situations. What's kind of the difference for you guys between those two models of working — B2B versus business to consumer?

Anastasiia: You know, there is not so much difference. The only thing is, with commercial, you definitely have more paperwork to do. But with regards to pricing or conversations — not so much difference, I would say. Basically, it's not really different for us, because the issues are the same and the protocols of dealing with it are the same. We have IICRC codes that regulate what we should do in every single situation. And it's the same for commercial and for private homes.

Legal Challenges, Paperwork & Protecting Yourself as a Contractor

Jeremy Rivera: If you were talking about — are there any legal challenges that you faced, or difficulties for those commercial spaces — you know, with working with landlords where you've got tenants trying to get things covered, or working with insurance and it's through a building and gets more complicated that way?

Anastasiia: You know, with us — no. Because, from the very start — okay, let me say it this way. This is not my first business that I do, and I'm a "legal freak." What I mean is — I wouldn't do anything until you sign, and you have to sign something that covers my interests and your interests. So before any — everybody signs.

What I need — I don't do anything. So I don't have these issues. But I do know that many, many, many contractors in our field and in other fields, they do struggle with that — because of lack of paperwork. For example —

And, as you can see here from my accent, I'm not from this country, right? And in the U.S., it's not that common that contractors sign a certificate of satisfaction after they finish the job. And if you don't sign it with the homeowner, landlord, whoever — there is a possibility they go to court and say, "I don't like what they did." Right? And they could say, "I didn't like the quality of the job," or something like that.

But if you sign this paper — there is basically no way they can win that court. Right? Because they basically signed: "I'm satisfied with what you did."

Answering your question — we don't have any legal issues, because we are all wrapped up in paperwork. I never — even if I talk to the homeowner on the phone, or with a landlord, or with insurance — even if I talk on the phone and we agree on something, I still send an email and ask for the confirmation that they received my email and they are okay with what is stated in this email. Just to avoid any kind of arguments in the future. Because when you talk on the phone — that's your word against his word, right? But when it's in writing, and both parties confirmed what is mentioned there —

Jeremy Rivera: Yes.

Anastasiia: There are not so many chances there would be a problem. But — we do have issues with insurance with regards to them wanting to cut your estimate. They want to cut your invoice all the time. And they do try to delay paying out to you —

Jeremy Rivera: You're still there. Yeah.

Anastasiia: — or to the homeowner. But I also do know how to deal with it. And I can do it just because the paperwork is in the right place, you know.

Ana's Backstory: How She Accidentally Fell Into Restoration

Jeremy Rivera: That makes sense. You gave a little bit of a hint about your backstory. Can you give us a little bit bigger picture about Ana — where you came from, and how you fell into the business of fixing people's broken homes?

Anastasiia: You know, a little bit about me — I never think the business through before I start. It's always like — you know, I hang out with my friends and they say, "You cannot do it." And I go, "Do you want to bet that I can?" So usually that's how it goes with me. If I ever —

When I tried to think everything through, to create a business plan — it never works out for me. But when I do a business by accident, it works very well.

Jeremy Rivera: Ha!

Anastasiia: Now I'm telling you — for example, I do this water damage business right now. I did a dentistry clinic before. I had a clothing brand before. So there were a bunch of other things I did before — and all of them were created by accident. Yeah, so answering your question again, it was an accident that I'm here.

I just heard — I don't remember exactly — I just heard from someone that if there is water damage, it could be covered by insurance. And I was thinking: okay, we are in the United States. Plumbing work here is — you know — people need plumbers all the time. Pipes get burst all the time. So people have water damage all the time, and mold all the time. And since everyone has to have insurance, it means you do not have to talk to the homeowner and tell them, "Hey, you need to pay me this much or that much." No — you just go and talk with the insurance. You leave the homeowner aside from it.

You just make this homeowner feel confident and safe, because they already know: OK, even if it's $200,000 or a million dollars — they don't have to pay anything, because we will take care of the insurance side of it. So it was by accident, as I said. I just heard from someone and started — and I started with basically zero dollars. Yeah.

Team Size, Project Volume & Growth Plans

Jeremy Rivera: How many — how big is your team? How many projects are you in right now? How many projects have you completed so far? And what's kind of on the horizon — are you looking to keep growing within your particular area, spin up additional teams, or are you going to keep this as it is and look for another accident to fall into?

Anastasiia: At this moment, my team is 10 people. And if it's not enough, I can always hire a contractor — I do have a bunch of people I can call and they will help me out if my team is not enough.

At this moment, I have seven ongoing projects. And usually I have 15 projects per month, but I'm looking to increase this amount to 45 projects per month. And I do have a plan for it.

I just need to wait some time, because my company was registered not so long ago. And at this moment I cannot go into government contracts, or I cannot be a preferred vendor for many insurance companies, because my company was not registered long enough ago — they do have requirements.

And definitely I'm looking to expand. I do not want to expand to other states. I want to stay here and to grow here, because I do know the market and I live here. And if anything happens, I can be physically on-site to check what's going on.

See all areas served: Total Home Rescue Locations

The Marketing Noise Every Small Business Owner Faces

Jeremy Rivera: That makes sense. My other question is — as a business owner — visibility, being found. My friend at SEOteric, says, "ChatGPT is your least trained but most popular customer support representative." There's all these new ways that businesses are being found. I just helped a small company register — you know, in the past month — their business. And within an hour the first cold-pitch marketing email hit their inbox, and then they received a series of spam calls saying, "We're Google and you need to pay us $50." I know another AC repair business that saw the same shenanigans.

And I'm wondering, from a small business owner perspective — how you're taking in that marketing challenge.

Anastasiia: Oh my God, yes.

Jeremy Rivera: What has been some of the ways that you've gotten the word out about your business that's been successful? And what is your general marketing strategy for the next year?

Marketing Strategy: Digital, Referrals & Cold Outreach

Anastasiia: I have a few directions in marketing that I'm going — I don't want to disclose everything, but one part is definitely digital marketing. And I do include targeting. I do include lead generation platforms like Thumbtack, or stuff like that. Google Local Services Ads — and SEO — definitely. The second one is —

Jeremy Rivera: Sure.

Anastasiia: Referrals. And we have a paid referral program for plumbers, HVAC people, or anyone else who wants to send me a referral. I'm willing to pay from 10 to 35 percent of what I get to a person who brought me a referral.

Jeremy Rivera: Yeah, that's smart.

Anastasiia: This third — yeah, actually plumbers don't like that. They say it's too difficult for them. Because many other restoration companies just give them $1,000 for every lead — even if this lead doesn't sign with them, they still pay to the plumber. I'm not in that position yet, but I will be hopefully soon.

And my third direction of marketing is — I wouldn't say it's marketing, but it's cold outreach to property managers, whatever businesses who might need us. So I just do cold outreach.

And the first direction of our development is talking to insurance companies more and more, and to finally become a preferred vendor or use TPA networks. TPA network is when an insurance company — okay, it's basically the same as preferred vendor. I'm not going to take our time to describe what this is.

So yeah, this is our goal for this year. And I'm thinking it's going to be fine, because I started to do our website SEO probably two months ago. And I can tell you that I receive at least two leads per week — only from SEO — and I invested zero dollars in that.

The Real ROI of SEO for Local Service Businesses

Jeremy Rivera: That's fantastic. I think there's like — I've been doing search engine optimization for over 20 years and, you know, worked with a number of different niches and industries. And when it comes to local services, there's such a high return on investment of just handling some of the fundamentals. Just literally just say what it is you do here. Take the time to fill out your Google My Business profile in depth —

Anastasiia: Yes.

Anastasiia: Mm-hmm.

Jeremy Rivera: — and synchronize it with your social media profiles, and couple that with a good LSA ad program. There's so much meat on that bone. I mean, you can keep going, but it's crazy to me how many audits of small businesses I've done where that's not — they don't even have a website.

Anastasiia: Yeah. And you're done.

Anastasiia: And also what I heard — it was not from a construction person, it was from a public adjuster. A public adjuster is a person who helps homeowners if they have a huge claim — for example, their roof is damaged, right? And the claim is over $100,000, $200,000. So those people help homeowners to, again, talk to the insurance and get their money.

Jeremy Rivera: Yeah.

Anastasiia: So what I heard from public adjusters is that many of them — they just do networking. They don't care about their websites, about their Google Business page. They're just: "okay, I'm fine with the referrals, I partner up with roofing companies, and I'm okay." But recently the law was changed — and those people who did not invest in their SEO lost probably 45 to 50 percent of their revenue.

Jeremy Rivera: Wow.

Anastasiia: Because — yeah — because they cannot do that amount of referrals anymore. So they lost a huge percentage of their revenue because they were not investing.

Jeremy Rivera: That's a good point. My friend Chris Tweeten does Calgary SEO services. And he looks at the whole process as a business investment on the marketing side. SEO is an interesting beast because it's unlike a direct paid channel where you pay in and it'll stop right away. It is an ongoing thing and it can boost and tie in and provide value in so many different ways. Like, if you're on the phone with your salesperson convincing somebody about — you know — how you do mold remediation, you can save 15 minutes by just creating a resource page and say, "This is our process — I'm emailing you a resource page on how it works." If you're struggling on —

Anastasiia: Exactly.

Jeremy Rivera: — clarifying how the insurance process works, if they need specific documents — you can add that to your website, support your existing customer, and then also flip that on its script because people are going to be asking that question: "How do I deal with insurance with my home damage?" Well, if you have that resource, you have the chance to organically show up on it. So thinking of it as a hybrid investment in your business is, in my opinion, just a smart way to go.

Anastasiia: Absolutely. And moreover — if business owners really spent some time to count how much their conversion rate is, and what their return on marketing investment is — I assure you the numbers will be higher for search engine optimization. I'm sure about that.

Conversion rates are higher. For example, you convert 20 percent of people who call you from paid advertising. And you convert 30 percent of people who call you from SEO. Because people who did read through your website — they come more prepared. And they are, I would say, customers — because they already know something about you. And they already see — they already trust you. They already know that you have some authority on that, right? So the conversion rate will be higher on SEO customers — from my experience.

See how a website becomes a resource that works for you 24/7: Total Home Rescue Homeowner Guides

The Soapbox: What Ana Wishes Everyone Knew

Jeremy Rivera: As I kind of round out this interview, I'm curious what you're passionate about, what it is that you wish people knew more about. So I'm going to give you a digital soapbox for a moment that you can stand on and tell the people listening whatever you'd like for them to know. What is it that you wish people knew in general?

Anastasiia: With business owners — I wish everyone, everyone, knew that a system is the most important thing that you can have in your business. You should not rely on yourself only. You should rely on your documents, on instructions that you have for your employees, and on numbers.

If at least 50 percent of small businesses had this — I'm telling you, they will be 20 percent more successful money-wise.

And with regards to homeowners — just, guys, please check your house for mold at least once a year, and check if you have any leaks under your kitchen right now. Find what you need to look for: Total Home Rescue Help Center.

Closing: Where to Find Total Home Rescue

Jeremy Rivera: Love it. Thank you. Thanks so much for your time. Give a shout out again to your company name, where people can find you online. Are you mostly on Instagram, on LinkedIn? And I'll make sure that that info also gets added to the show notes.

Anastasiia: So we are Total Home Rescue. Our website is totalhomerescue.pro and we are on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube — you can find us pretty much anywhere. And the nickname is @totalhomerescue. Feel free to follow us and ask any questions you might have, even if you're not in our area.

Jeremy Rivera: Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time, Ana.

Anastasiia: Thank you. It was nice talking to you, Jeremy.

✦ KEY TAKEAWAYS

Even the tiniest old leak is a future mold risk. Anastasiia stressed that even a minor, long-ago leak can silently evolve into a six-figure remediation problem. Annual home inspections and checking under sinks are non-negotiable minimum standards.
Bleach is not a mold solution. Surface treatment masks the problem without addressing the mold structure inside porous materials. Professional anti-microbial treatment — or demolition where necessary — is the only real fix.
Insurance navigation is a core service, not a bonus. Total Home Rescue advocates directly with insurance companies on behalf of homeowners, turning denied or underpaid claims into fully covered ones. This is their most significant differentiator.
Paperwork is legal armor for every contractor. From certificates of satisfaction to email confirmations of every verbal agreement, Ana's documentation discipline has protected her from every potential dispute. Every contractor in the trades should adopt this framework.
SEO converts at a higher rate than paid advertising. Customers who arrive via organic search have read your content, trust your authority, and come pre-sold. Ana's two-leads-per-week at zero cost after just two months confirms the compounding value of organic investment.
Referral networks alone are fragile business infrastructure. Public adjusters who relied entirely on referrals lost 45–50% of their revenue when regulations changed. Organic search is the hedge that diversifies your lead sources and survives disruption.
Systems are the difference between a business and a job. Documented processes, written instructions, and measurable numbers create a business that can scale. Ana estimates 50% of small businesses would be 20% more profitable simply by operating from documented systems.
Hyperlocal focus beats geographic expansion. With a goal of scaling from 15 to 45 projects per month, Ana has deliberately chosen depth over breadth — staying in her market, knowing her territory, and being able to be on-site when anything goes wrong.

Connect with Anastasiia & Total Home Rescue

Website: totalhomerescue.pro

Instagram: @totalhomerescue

Threads: @totalhomerescue

LinkedIn: Anastasiia Schwab

Phone: (571) 438-4435 — 24/7 Emergency Service

Full episode: H&H Cookeville Unscripted Home Improvement Podcast

Host: Jeremy Rivera — SEO Arcade