Guide
Who pays for biohazard cleanup in North Carolina
The short answer: the company bills the person who hires it, and that person then looks to an insurer, a state program, a landlord or an estate, depending on what happened. Here is how each of those tends to work, and what to keep so you are able to ask.
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Four places to look
Where the money can come from
- Home or renter's insurance
- Many policies treat a death, an injury or a crime in the home as a covered event, and many do not, or cover only part. Nobody but your insurer can tell you which yours is. Ring the number on the policy, describe what happened, and ask whether biohazard cleanup is covered and what they need from the company. If you have a general question about home insurance in this state, the North Carolina Department of Insurance has a consumer help number, 855-408-1212.
- Victim compensation
- When the cause was a violent crime, North Carolina's Victim Compensation Program, run by the Department of Public Safety, can consider the cleanup. The details are set out below.
- The property owner
- In a rental, the building belongs to the landlord and so, usually, does the job of putting it right. The tenant's own furniture and belongings are a different matter. The landlords page goes further.
- The estate
- When the person who died owned the home, the cost of making it safe is often paid from the estate. Keep the invoice and give it to whoever is handling the estate; a probate attorney or the clerk of court's office can tell you how it is claimed.
After a violent crime
North Carolina's Victim Compensation Program
The program's claims page lists crime scene cleanup among the things it may pay for, and gives door or window locks and the cleaning of blood from car interiors as examples. It does not pay for damaged or stolen property, or for pain and suffering.
- The victim can apply. So can a dependent of a victim who died, or someone authorized to act for either.
- The crime must have been reported to law enforcement, and a copy of the report goes in with the application.
- Insurance and other sources have to be used first; the program pays after them.
- For cleanup, send the itemized bill from a certified biohazard cleanup company. If you want to be repaid for a bill you already settled, add proof of payment.
- In most cases the application has to be made within two years of the crime.
- If a claim is turned down, there are 60 days to appeal.
Applications are made through the program's online portal or on a paper form. The program answers questions at (800) 826-6200.
What makes one job cost more than another
You will not find a price list here, because the same word, cleanup, covers a wiped-down bathroom floor and a room stripped to the joists. These are the things a company weighs:
- How large the affected area is, and whether it is one room or several
- How long it sat before anyone found it
- What the surfaces are: tile and sealed concrete clean; carpet, pad and subfloor often come out
- How much furniture and how many belongings have to be removed
- The amount of regulated waste to be hauled away
- Access: an upstairs apartment, a crawl space, a vehicle
Ask for the scope in writing before work starts, with each of those items visible in it. If a second company gives you a very different figure, the written scopes will show you why.
Money questions
Will the cleanup company bill my insurer directly?
Some will, some ask you to pay and claim it back. Ask before work starts. Either way, the agreement is between you and the company, and what the insurer pays is between you and the insurer.
Does the state program pay the company or me?
Ask the program when you apply. It says proof of payment is needed where an individual is to be reimbursed, so keep every receipt.
There was no crime and there is no insurance. What then?
Say so on the call. Ask the company to price the essential work separately from anything optional, and whether the job can be staged.
High Point and the Triad towns nearby
Nobody in the family should have to clean that room
Give them the address and one sentence about what took place. They will want to know if the officers and the medical examiner are done there, and then they will describe their approach.
When you are ready, call.
Whoever picks up is with a separately owned local firm that does biohazard and trauma cleaning around High Point. Listen to their plan and their price. Whether you hire them is up to you.
Call (743) 256-4780Phone picked up day and night, every day of the week
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