Fire & smoke cleanup
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ReconstructionFree visual inspection and a written scope of work before any mitigation begins - photos, moisture readings, and drying logs go in your claim file
The scope we write is the scope we bill. Anything new gets shown to you, in writing, before we touch it.
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AfterHow Much Does Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Cost in Fort Worth?
Fire and smoke damage restoration in Fort Worth typically costs between $3,200 and $38,000, with most homeowners paying around $9,800 for moderate damage covering 800 to 1,200 square feet of affected space. Light smoke cleanup from a kitchen fire often lands between $1,800 and $4,500, while extensive whole-home restoration after a structure fire can exceed $50,000 depending on framing damage, soot penetration through HVAC systems, and the amount of structural demolition required. The single biggest cost driver in Fort Worth is whether the fire department used water to suppress the flames, because waterlogged drywall and flooring in Tarrant County’s summer humidity rarely dries on its own and usually requires professional psychrometric drying before restoration can even begin.
If you’re standing in a house that smells like smoke right now, the most useful thing to know is this: we give you a written price before any work starts, not an estimate that drifts upward after demolition reveals more damage. That’s the kind of transparency that matters when you’re already dealing with an insurance adjuster, a displaced family, and a house that doesn’t feel like home.
Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Cost Breakdown (2026)
Here’s what Fort Worth homeowners actually paid in 2025 and early 2026, based on the jobs we’ve walked through across Arlington Heights, Ridglea Hills, Wedgwood, and the Near Southside. Every line item reflects local labor rates, which run about 12 to 18 percent below Dallas pricing because of Fort Worth’s lower overhead costs for equipment staging and disposal.
| Restoration Service | Typical Cost Range (Fort Worth, TX) | What’s Included |
|---|---|---|
| Light smoke and soot cleanup | $1,800 – $4,500 | Soot sponging, HEPA vacuuming, air scrubbing, odor neutralizing in 1-2 rooms |
| Moderate smoke damage (whole floor) | $4,500 – $12,000 | Ceiling/wall cleaning, HVAC duct cleaning, ozone or thermal fogging treatment |
| Heavy soot and char removal | $8,000 – $25,000 | Structural cleaning, drywall replacement where needed, sealing, full repainting |
| Water damage from firefighting | $3,500 – $15,000 | Water extraction, psychrometric drying, antimicrobial treatment, dehumidification |
| Kitchen fire restoration (typical) | $6,000 – $22,000 | Cabinet cleaning or replacement, countertop assessment, ceiling repair, odor treatment |
| Whole-home restoration after structure fire | $28,000 – $80,000+ | Full demolition, framing assessment, electrical inspection, complete rebuild of affected areas |
| Odor removal only (thermal fogging + ozone) | $900 – $3,200 | Targeted treatment without rebuild or replacement work |
| HVAC duct cleaning after fire | $400 – $1,200 | Soot removal from ductwork, filter replacement, post-clean air quality check |
What moves your number toward the high end? Three things, mostly. First, whether water from the fire department soaked into subflooring – plywood and OSB under carpet or tile are notorious for holding moisture in Fort Worth, where our hot summer air keeps ambient humidity high and slows natural evaporation. Second, whether smoke reached your HVAC blower and duct runs, because treating a full forced-air system is a lot more involved than cleaning walls. Third, whether ceilings and walls in undamaged rooms picked up soot, which spreads farther than most people expect, especially in older pier-and-beam houses in Fairmount and Ryan Place where wall cavities aren’t airtight.
What Affects Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Pricing in Fort Worth
Every fire loss is different, but the pricing factors below show up on nearly every Fort Worth job we price. We’re listing them so you can have an informed conversation with whichever company you bring in, including us.
- Square footage and fire spread. A contained kitchen fire in a 1,400-square-foot ranch in Wedgwood costs far less than one that rolled through an open floor plan in a 3,200-square-foot two-story in Mira Vista. Soot settles everywhere smoke travels, not just where flames touched.
- Water logged building materials. Fire departments in Fort Worth typically apply 200 to 500 gallons of water per minute during suppression. That water ends up in drywall, insulation, subflooring, and cabinetry. Anything that absorbed water often needs removal and replacement, which is separate from smoke cleanup costs.
- Soot type. High-heat fires that burned clean materials produce different soot than smoldering synthetic fires from furniture or appliances. Protein fires from meat or grease leave a nearly invisible residue that bonds aggressively to cabinets and walls. Each soot type requires different cleaning chemistry and labor intensity.
- HVAC contamination. If your system was running when the fire happened, soot is now inside your ductwork, your air handler, and your coil. In Fort Worth’s climate, where AC systems run eight months of the year, this can redistribute odor throughout the house for months if not addressed properly.
- Access and structural complexity. Older homes in Fort Worth’s historic districts – Fairmount, Mistletoe Heights, Oakhurst – often have lath-and-plaster walls instead of drywall. Crumbling plaster responds differently to water and soot, and access to attics or crawlspaces can be tight in vintage construction, adding hours to a job.
- Permit and code compliance. Fort Worth building permits are required for structural repairs exceeding cosmetic work, and fees range from roughly $150 to over $1,000 depending on the scope. A licensed contractor who pulls permits properly will show that cost as a line item, not bury it.
How We Price a Fire Damage Job in Fort Worth
The process starts with a walkthrough we schedule fast, because smoke smell gets worse every day it sits. A member of our team visits your property, documents visible damage with photos, takes moisture readings from walls and floors with the same Dri-Eaz and Phoenix meters used on commercial loss sites, and checks your HVAC for soot. Then you get a written price. Not a verbal ballpark. Not a range that changes after demolition. A line-item quote you can hold in your hand, send to your insurance adjuster, and compare against other bids.
If demolition uncovers something hidden, like burned framing behind a wall that looked fine during the initial walkthrough, you’ll know about it before we do anything else. The price on the screen is the number you pay, and that’s a standard we have never softened on since our first day in 2006.
How to Save on Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
There are honest ways to keep a Fort Worth fire restoration bill lower without cutting corners, and then there are ways that come back to bite you later. We’ll tell you both.
- Start cleanup quickly but do not start demolition without a plan. Days one through three are when surface soot is easiest to remove. After that, soot bonds harder to paint and can stain permanently, meaning more repainting and more labor hours on the back end.
- Work with your insurance from day one. Fort Worth homeowners policies generally cover fire damage, and many include coverage for temporary housing if the home is uninhabitable. Get your claim number rolling early. A restoration company that documents everything in writing – which we do – makes the adjuster’s job easier, and that often translates to fewer disputed line items.
- Ask what can be cleaned versus what truly needs replacement. Cabinetry is a good example. Solid-wood cabinets can often be cleaned, sealed, and refinished. Particleboard cabinets absorb water and usually cannot be saved. A contractor who explains the difference between a $3,000 cabinet cleaning and a $14,000 cabinet replacement is doing you a favor.
- Do not skip the thermal fogging or ozone treatment. Some companies quote lower prices by leaving out odor elimination at the molecular level, and within two months the smoke smell comes back. You will then pay twice to have it done right. Odor treatment is not a luxury line item; it is core restoration work.
- Get a written estimate from a company that stands behind it. Our written price includes a 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the repair fails, we fix it free, and you get a free second visit. That prevents the expensive cycle of hiring one company to clean, another to re-clean, and another to finally fix the smoke smell after three attempts.
Call (682) 432-0584 for a free estimate. There is no charge for the walkthrough, and you’ll have a number in writing before you commit to anything.
Our 6-Step Fire & Smoke Restoration Process
Here is exactly how a typical restoration goes when we handle it, so you know what to expect from first call to final walkthrough.
- Emergency response and assessment. Call us at (682) 432-0584. A live person answers, day or night. We schedule a technician to arrive with a live arrival time you can track, not a four-hour window. The technician assesses fire, smoke, and water damage, and we document everything before work begins.
- Written price and plan. You get a detailed, written estimate before we touch a single tool. No surprises, no vague “time and materials” hand-waving. If you approve it, we put the scope in a digital document you can review on your phone.
- Water extraction and drying. If firefighting water is present, we deploy professional-grade equipment from Dri-Eaz, Phoenix, XPOWER, and B-Air for extraction, air movement, and psychrometric drying (tracking the air’s actual moisture content so we know the house is truly dry, not just surface-dry).
- Soot and smoke removal. We clean every surface using HEPA filtration, soot sponges, and the chemistry appropriate for the soot type present. This includes walls, ceilings, trim, cabinetry, fixtures, and hard flooring. Heating and cooling ducts get checked and cleaned if needed.
- Odor elimination and sealing. Thermal fogging, ozone treatment, or a combination of both is applied to neutralize odor at the molecular level, not just mask it. Then we seal surfaces where appropriate so trapped odor particles cannot re-release into your living space. Antimicrobial treatment is applied wherever water sat, in line with IICRC, RIA, and IFA standards.
- Repair, rebuild, and before-and-after documentation. Drywall, trim, paint, flooring, and cabinetry get repaired or replaced as scoped. You receive before-and-after photos by text, so you have proof the job was done properly, and a digital invoice you can pay from a link. Every single job includes a written 365-Day Done Right Promise.
Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed. You will know exactly who is coming through your door before they arrive, and they’ll be following the same IICRC and RIA protocols used on large commercial loss sites.
Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Fort Worth: Local Realities We See on the Job
Fort Worth is a city of architectural variety, and that variety shows up in every fire restoration estimate we write. A 1920s bungalow in Fairmount with double-hung windows, narrow doorways, and plaster walls presents completely different challenges than a 2005 brick home in Saginaw or a split-level in Haltom City. Local building age matters because it determines how far soot travels through wall cavities, whether insulation is installed properly, and how easily framing can be accessed for inspection.
Climate plays a role too. A grease fire in February during a north Texas cold snap is easier to ventilate for initial smoke removal than the same fire in August, when Fort Worth’s 95-degree days and high humidity push soot and odor deeper into porous surfaces. We account for that in our drying times and odor treatment approach.
If you’re looking for details on the repairs themselves rather than just pricing, our Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration in Fort Worth page covers the heavy lifting: what’s restorable, what gets replaced, and how we handle insurance documentation. You can also return to the home page for a full look at all our restoration services.
FAQs – Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Cost in Fort Worth
Does homeowners insurance cover fire and smoke damage restoration in Fort Worth?
Yes, standard Texas homeowners policies cover fire, smoke, and water damage from firefighting, minus your deductible. Policies differ on replacement cost versus actual cash value, and detached structures may be covered at a separate limit. We provide the written documentation and before-and-after photo evidence your adjuster needs to process a fire claim without unnecessary back-and-forth.
How much does smoke damage cleanup cost for a small kitchen fire?
Most Fort Worth kitchen fires that were contained to the range, vent hood, and adjacent cabinets cost between $6,000 and $22,000 for complete restoration including cabinetry cleaning, wall and ceiling treatment, and professional odor elimination. If nothing was water-damaged and the fire was small, light cleanup can start around $1,800. Call (682) 432-0584 for a free estimate and we’ll get an exact figure in writing.
Can you remove smoke smell without replacing drywall?
In many cases, yes. Thermal fogging and ozone treatment neutralize odor molecules in drywall, and sealing the surface afterward locks down residue that otherwise re-activates during humid Fort Worth summers. But if drywall is water-damaged or charred, it has to come out. There’s no sealer that fixes wet gypsum board.
How long does fire damage restoration take in Fort Worth?
Light smoke cleanup takes 3 to 5 days. Moderate fire restoration, including repainting and cabinet work, typically runs 2 to 3 weeks. Full rebuilds after a structure fire run 6 to 12 weeks depending on permitting, framing, electrical, and finish work, and Fort Worth’s permitting office can add a few days to any structural repair.
Is it cheaper to repair or replace items after a fire?
That depends entirely on the material and the damage. Solid-wood cabinets, hardwood flooring, and tile clean up well and are usually restored rather than replaced. Engineered wood, particleboard, laminate, and most upholstered furniture need replacement after water or heavy soot exposure. We price both options in writing, and we tell you when replacement is actually the cheaper long-term choice.
Can you come today?
Yes. Calls are answered by a live person, 24/7, including holidays. If you need a same-day assessment in Fort Worth, call (682) 432-0584 and we’ll get a technician to you with a live arrival time you can track. You’ll have a written price before any work begins, and you’ll never be left wondering who is showing up or what it’s going to cost.
Get a Free Fort Worth Fire Damage Estimate
Fire restoration is expensive enough without paying for vague pricing or half-done work. We give you a written price before any work starts, a written 365-Day Done Right Promise on every repair, and before-and-after photos delivered by text so you can confirm the job was done properly. Since 2006, Wendell Restoration Fort Worth has served homeowners across Tarrant County under IICRC, RIA, and IFA standards, and every call is answered by a real person, 24/7. Call (682) 432-0584 today for a free estimate from the team at Wendell Restoration Fort Worth.
Pricing reflects the Fort Worth market as of 2026. Wendell Restoration Fort Worth offers free estimates – call (682) 432-0584.
Written by Blake Sorensen, Owner at Wendell Restoration Fort Worth, serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County since 2006.
What Our Customers Say
"Insurance paperwork was easy since everything was in one portal."
- Manny R."Water damage repair to the baseboards and drywall was clean."
- Ted H."Dishwasher leak went under the floor. They found the wet area with a camera and dried it without tearing it all out."
- Aaron D.