There is a dirty little secret in the restoration business: Rental Fees. Contractors make money every day the fans sit in your house. Some shady companies will set up the equipment and then “Ghost” you for 4 days to let the bill run up. Here is why you must stop them.
If They Don’t Show Up, Do This:
Content Index
1. The “Set It and Forget It” Scam
Why do they disappear? Profit.
Sending a technician to your house costs the company money (labor + gas). Leaving fans running costs them nothing (it’s your electricity). So, bad companies try to skip days.
They drop the equipment on Monday and plan to come back on Friday to pick it up. They hope you won’t notice that nobody checked the moisture levels on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
2. The “Tripped Breaker” Nightmare
Restoration equipment draws huge amounts of power (see our Electricity Cost Guide). It is very common for an old circuit breaker to overheat and trip.
If the breaker trips on Tuesday night and the contractor doesn’t come back until Friday, your wet house sits in the dark with no airflow for 3 days. The humidity will spike to 99%. This creates a “Mold Sauna.” By Friday, your walls will be covered in fuzz.
3. IICRC Requirement: Daily Visits
The IICRC S500 Standard is clear: Monitoring must be performed at least daily.
During these visits, the technician must:
- Take moisture readings (to see if it’s drying).
- Rearrange the fans (to target wet spots).
- Check the dehumidifier drain lines (to prevent overflow).
Video: Public Adjuster explains the “Ghosting” tactic used to inflate rental bills.
4. No Visit = No Log = No Pay
Here is the financial trap: The insurance company requires Daily Drying Logs to pay the bill.
If your contractor skips Tuesday and Wednesday, they have no data for those days. When they submit the invoice, the insurance adjuster will say: “You have no proof the equipment was running on Tuesday and Wednesday. Denied.”
Guess who gets stuck with the bill? YOU. The contractor will try to lien your house for the money the insurance company refused to pay.
5. The Script: How to Fire a Ghost
If they miss a day, you must act fast. Send this email/text to create a paper trail.
“It is 2:00 PM and no technician has arrived to monitor the drying. The IICRC S500 requires daily monitoring. If a technician is not here by 5:00 PM to record the drying logs, I will consider you in breach of contract for negligence. I will not pay daily rental fees for days where no monitoring occurred.”
If they don’t show up, take a picture of the dehumidifier screen yourself. It shows the “Total Hours” run time. This proves the machine was running even if they weren’t there, which might save you if you have to fight the insurance company later.
Conclusion
Drying a house is like landing a plane. You don’t just point it at the runway and walk away. You have to steer it. If your contractor is “Ghosting” you, they are crashing the plane. Fire them and find a pro who shows up.