From Ashes to Floods: Maria James Builds a Restoration Empire in the Bay Area. Meet Fire & Water Damage Recovery™

When Maria James walks into a room, people listen. Maybe it’s her decades of experience. Maybe it’s the confidence that comes from cleaning up just about every kind of disaster a building can endure. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s been doing this for 26 years and still genuinely loves it.

Maria James runs Fire & Water Damage Recovery™—a woman-owned restoration powerhouse serving the entire Bay Area, from San Jose to the North Bay. With a bold fashion style and a personality that fills the room, Maria leads a team that tackles the messiest disasters with precision and heart. Whether it’s smoke, fire, sewage, or the slow creep of water damage in a leaky old Victorian, Maria and her crew are the ones you call to clean it up and make it right.

“We rebranded six years ago to expand into fire damage,” she says. “Now we do it all.” That includes:

• Smoke remediation (in the structure, on the contents, everywhere) 

• Insurance-certified water damage cleanup 

• Sewage removal 

• Rapid drying 

• Even Total Loss inventories—detailed documentation that helps homeowners maximize insurance claims after devastating fires. 

“Restoration is all about speed: rapid cleaning and rapid drying,” she adds. “You have to move fast and get it right the first time.”

The urban infrastructure challenges of the Bay Area don’t faze her. In fact, she thrives on them. “San Francisco is overbuilt. You’ve got more units per building than the infrastructure was ever designed for. That means old plumbing, underground units, and systems that can’t handle simple rainwater runoff,” she explains. “We’re used to it. We know how to get there fast to clean it up.”

While Fire & Water Damage Recovery™ brings peace of mind to homeowners, Maria’s ideal relationships are with building owners and with property managers—particularly the kind who understand the long-term consequences of improper remediation and want to do things right. She prides herself on having long-term personal relationships with her customers and strives to have that kind of relationship with every person who works with her. “I talk all day long with professionals I’ve worked with for years. I’ve attended countless networking events, forging and maintaining relationships,” she said.

That kind of face-to-face commitment pays off. Most of the firm’s business now comes from direct referrals and repeat clients. Maria credits her reputation and the IICRC standards (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification) and —she’s a prominent member of the governing body that sets best practices in the industry—for keeping the quality consistent and the expectations high.

Maria’s operation has grown steadily, now employing 25 team members across the region with no plans to slow down. She’s working on expanding to three offices and then franchising—with a long-term vision to transition the company into employee ownership. Whether your project is in San Leandro, where they have deep roots, or across the Bay Area from San Francisco to San Jose, Fire & Water Damage Recovery™ is the team to hire. 

Straight from Maria herself: “When I wake up in the morning, I want to make my clients' home environments and their lives better. If you can do that, you go to bed feeling good.” That’s the type of person you want to work with, isn’t it?

Let’s help her grow!  Contact Fire & Water Damage Recovery™ now!

Connect with Fire & Water Damage Recovery™ Now!

Fire & Water Damage Recovery™ Team hard at work