Pack-out, storage, move-back
Every item is photographed and listed on an itemized inventory with condition noted before it leaves the property. Items are tagged and packed by room so the move-back is orderly rather than a pile in a garage. Transport, secure climate-controlled storage, and placement back by room when the structure is complete.
The inventory is not administrative overhead. It is the record your insurance carrier settles the contents portion of your claim against, and it is how you know what you own when everything is in a warehouse.
When pack-out is the right call
- The affected area is too large to move contents around within the property.
- Demolition or heavy equipment would expose belongings to further damage.
- Contents need cleaning that cannot be performed on site.
- The property is uninhabitable during the work.
- Smoke or contamination requires everything to be treated off site.
Partial pack-outs are common too — moving contents from two affected rooms while the rest of the house stays as it is.
Storage
Climate-controlled and secured, which matters in Texas: an uncooled unit in August will damage wood furniture, electronics, documents and photographs on its own. Inventory records are maintained throughout and you can request access to specific items while they are in storage.
Standard moving
We also handle ordinary moves — households, apartments and offices, local within DFW. Same crews, same care with inventory and protection, without a restoration attached.
What a pack-out actually is
A pack-out is the controlled removal of your belongings from a damaged property to a secure facility, so that two things can happen: the contents can be cleaned and stored safely, and the crews working on the structure can do demolition, drying and reconstruction without working around your furniture or damaging it further.
It is also the point at which most contents claims are won or lost, because a pack-out generates the inventory that your carrier will settle against.
Inventory and chain of custody
Every item leaving the property is recorded before it is packed — described, photographed, condition noted, and assigned to a numbered carton or pallet position. High-value items are documented individually rather than as part of a box.
Non-salvageable items get the same treatment even though they are being disposed of. An item photographed, described and listed is an item your policy can reimburse. An item that went into a dumpster because it was obviously ruined is an item you will be asked to prove existed, months later, from memory. That conversation is entirely avoidable and it is the reason we document things that are plainly destroyed.
At the facility, your contents are stored as an identified lot, not merged into general storage, and the inventory follows them through cleaning and back to the property.
Packing
Wrapping and cartoning appropriate to the item — dish packs for fragile goods, wardrobe cartons for hanging clothing, custom crating for artwork, mirrors and glass, and blanket wrap with corner protection for furniture. Electronics are handled separately and are not powered on, because if there is soot or moisture inside a device, applying current is what converts a cleanable item into a destroyed one.
Furniture that must be disassembled is disassembled by us and reassembled by us, with hardware bagged and tagged to the piece rather than pooled in a bucket.
Storage conditions
Contents from a restoration loss go into climate-controlled space, which in a North Texas summer is not a luxury. Uncontrolled storage in July regularly exceeds 100°F with high humidity, and that combination warps wood, delaminates veneer, mildews textiles and destroys anything with adhesive in it. Smoke-affected items in particular will continue to develop odour and corrosion in hot storage.
Access is controlled and your lot is identifiable. If you need something specific pulled during the job — a document, a seasonal item, a child's belongings — we can retrieve it rather than telling you it is somewhere in the warehouse.
What stays and what goes
Not everything leaves. Items in unaffected areas of the property that will not be disturbed by the work usually stay in place, sometimes consolidated into one room and covered. Packing out a whole house when half of it was untouched adds cost to your claim without adding benefit.
What does leave: everything in the affected area, anything requiring specialist cleaning, anything that would be at risk from the reconstruction work, and anything in a property that will be unoccupied and unsecured for an extended period.
Pack-back
At completion, contents return and are placed — furniture reassembled and positioned, boxes unpacked to the room they came from where you want that, and the inventory reconciled item by item so that anything missing is identified while the job is still open rather than a fortnight later.
Timing is coordinated with the reconstruction. Contents come back after final cleaning, not before, so your belongings are not sitting in a house that still has construction dust in the air.
Contents coverage
Personal property is typically a separate limit from the dwelling, and it usually settles either at actual cash value — replacement cost less depreciation — or at replacement cost if you carry that endorsement. Certain categories, notably jewellery, firearms, furs and collectibles, carry low sub-limits unless individually scheduled. It is worth knowing which you have before the loss rather than after, and we will tell you what we see so you can ask your carrier the right question.
Ordinary moving, not just restoration
The same crews, vehicles and warehouse handle straightforward moves — households, offices and small commercial relocations across the Metroplex. The difference between us and a general moving company is the inventory discipline: everything is recorded and condition-noted as standard, which matters more than people think when something arrives damaged and there is a question about whether it was already like that.
We also handle the awkward jobs that fall between categories. A single heavy item that will not fit through a doorway without disassembly. An estate that has to be split between three beneficiaries in three cities. A downsizing move where roughly half the contents are going to a smaller property, a quarter to donation and the rest to disposal — which is a moving job, a junk removal job and a storage job at the same time, and generally handled by three separate companies who do not coordinate.
Long-term storage
Restoration storage is priced by the volume your contents occupy and by duration, and on a covered claim it is normally reimbursable for the reasonable period of the restoration. Where a rebuild runs long — and insurance rebuilds frequently do — we will tell you what the extension costs before the period rolls over, not after.
Storage is also available independently of a loss, which is useful during a renovation, a sale-and-purchase gap, or a deployment. Same climate control, same inventory system, same ability to retrieve a specific item without unpacking the lot.
Call us when you see any of this
- A restoration or renovation too large to work around
- Contents that need to leave during demolition
- Belongings requiring off-site cleaning
- A property that is temporarily uninhabitable
- A standard household or office move
If you are looking at one of these right now, the useful next step is a phone call rather than more reading. Our line is answered 24 hours a day and the assessment is free.
Storage & Moving across Dallas–Fort Worth
We dispatch from 4828 Topline Drive in Dallas and cover 29 cities across the Metroplex, including Dallas · Fort Worth · Irving · Plano · Frisco · McKinney · Richardson · Garland · Mesquite · Arlington · Grand Prairie · Carrollton · Addison · Farmers Branch and the surrounding communities. See all service areas.