Free 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.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterMeet the Escondido Team Behind DryMark Restoration Escondido
We’re the crew that shows up when water’s still moving through your subfloor or mold’s turned a closet wall soft. Every technician on our Escondido team is background-checked, uniformed, and named on the work order before we pull into your driveway. What ties us together isn’t a handbook, it’s The Haven Standard: written price before work starts, photo documentation on every visit, and a signed 365-Day Done Right Promise. Alicia Brennan built this company in 2011 after years as a claims adjuster watching homeowners lose money to the documentation gap. We’ve restored over 12,000 homes since then, and every single one started with a written scope and ended with a photo record.
Our People
Alicia Brennan, Owner
I started Back to Dry Restoration in 2011 after adjusting claims for a major carrier and seeing the same pattern: homeowners who did everything right still got underpaid because the restoration crew didn’t document what they found in language adjusters could use. I built this company to close that gap. I’m still on-site when a job needs extra eyes, I still review every written scope before it goes out, and I still answer the phone myself some nights because water doesn’t wait for business hours. The Haven Standard has twelve clauses now, but Clause 1 hasn’t changed: written price before work starts, every time, no exceptions. When I’m not walking jobs in Escondido or San Marcos, I’m usually updating our drying protocols to match whatever the latest IICRC guidance says about vapor pressure differential in coastal climate zones.
Marcus T., Lead Water Damage Technician
Marcus has been running mitigation crews in North San Diego County for fourteen years, and he still treats every water loss like a new puzzle. He’s IICRC-certified in Water Damage Restoration (WRT) and Applied Structural Drying (ASD), which means he can read a psychrometric chart the way some people read a weather app, and he’ll explain it in plain English if you ask. His specialty is tertiary drying, the final phase where most crews pack up too early and leave moisture trapped behind baseboards. Marcus checks vapor pressure differentials with a thermo-hygrometer and doesn’t sign off until the numbers match the dry standard for each material class. Off the job, he restores vintage motorcycles in a garage in Vista and brings the same patience to both.
Elena R., Senior Mold Remediation Installer
Elena joined us in 2019 after six years doing mold work in Orange County, where she learned that containment is everything, and that containment fails when you rush. She’s certified through IICRC in Mold Remediation (AMRT) and handles our Category 3 water losses where microbial growth is already established. Her detail that matters: she photographs every layer of demo, from the first cut in drywall to the final HEPA vacuum pass, because she’s seen too many jobs where the adjuster questioned whether the affected square footage matched the estimate. Elena lives in Escondido proper, near Daley Ranch, and she’ll tell you the chaparral dust out there teaches you something about particulate control. She runs half-marathons and claims it’s the same discipline as a five-day dry-out: pace yourself, check your numbers, finish clean.
Darnell J., Service Coordinator
Darnell is the voice you get when you call (760) 691-2950 at 2 a.m. and water’s coming through your ceiling. He’s been with us four years, and before that he dispatched for a fire department in Riverside County, so he doesn’t panic and he doesn’t put you on hold to “check availability.” He coordinates our Escondido crew schedules, maintains the photo documentation chain from first arrival to final walkthrough, and makes sure every customer gets the written scope and drying log in their inbox before the crew leaves. His human detail: he’s a competitive barbecue cook, and he approaches a twelve-hour brisket the same way he approaches a complex loss, low and slow, every temperature logged. Darnell knows every adjuster at every major carrier who writes in San Diego County, and he speaks their language when he’s sending documentation.
Paolo V., Restoration Apprentice
Paolo started with us in 2023 after two years in general construction, and he’s learning the restoration side from the ground up, literally, starting with extraction and working toward full mitigation certification. He’s already certified in OSHA 30 and confined space entry, which matters more than people think when we’re crawling Escondido’s older crawlspaces from the 1970s and 1980s builds. Paolo’s the one who sets up the Injectidry hardwood floor drying systems and logs the daily moisture readings that become your insurance documentation. He asks more questions than some veterans, which is exactly what we want. He lives in San Marcos, commutes with podcasts about building science, and he’s the reason we now standardize photo timestamps to the minute, because he pointed out that adjusters sometimes question sequencing.
One Standard, Every Job
The Haven Standard travels with us whether we’re drying a kitchen in Escondido’s Old Downtown, remediating mold in a Hidden Meadows hillside home, or rebuilding after a fire in rural Valley Center. Alicia Brennan wrote the original clauses based on what she saw fail as an adjuster, and every technician who wears our uniform agrees to them in writing. Clause 1: written price before work starts. Clause 4: documented photo record on every visit. Clause 7: 365-Day Done Right Promise, signed and dated. We deploy the same Dri-Eaz, Phoenix, and Injectidry systems across every job, log the same psychrometric data, and produce the same drying reports that turn restoration invoices into payable claims. Independently owned and operated means we answer to our customers and to The Haven Standard, not to a remote board. If you’ve got a competitor’s written estimate, bring it in. We’ll review it for free and show you what the documentation should look like.
Written by Alicia Brennan, Owner at DryMark Restoration Escondido, serving Escondido and North San Diego County since 2011.