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 Financial District Team Behind DryMark Restoration Financial District
We’re the crew that shows up when water’s still moving through your building at 2 a.m. or when mold’s creeping behind the Sheetrock in a Pearl Street co-op. Every person on this page is based in lower Manhattan, licensed, background-checked, and trained to the same standard that Alicia Brennan wrote in 2011. What unites us isn’t a handbook. It’s the habit of documenting what we find, naming the price before we start, and leaving a photo record that turns a restoration invoice into a payable claim.
Our People
Alicia Brennan, Owner
I started Back to Dry in 2011 after six years as a claims adjuster, watching homeowners lose tens of thousands because a contractor’s photo folder was empty or their invoice described “water damage, various” without a moisture reading to back it up. I built this company around the documentation gap. Every job we take gets a written price before work begins, Haven Standard, Clause 1. Every visit produces a dated photo record. Every drying log tracks psychrometric data, which is just temperature, relative humidity, and vapor pressure measured against the material we’re trying to save. I’ve restored over 12,000 homes since then, and I still review the photo records from jobs where an adjuster pushed back. The ones that get paid are the ones with numbers attached to pictures. I live in Brooklyn Heights, which means I cross the East River for most Financial District calls, and I still carry a moisture meter in my truck because the fastest way to know if someone’s telling you the truth is to take your own reading.
Marcus T., Lead Water Technician
Marcus has been drying buildings for fourteen years, starting with flooded basements in Red Hook and working up to multi-story commercial losses in the Financial District. He’s IICRC-certified in Water Damage Restoration (WRT) and Applied Structural Drying (ASD), which means he can calculate a drying chamber’s vapor pressure differential, explain it as “we’re pulling moisture out faster than the air can put it back,” and adjust the setup before your subfloor starts cupping. He specializes in tertiary drying, the final phase where most crews pack up too early and leave trapped moisture that turns into mold six months later. Marcus lives in Two Bridges and commutes by Citi Bike, which he claims is faster than a car below Canal Street at any hour. He’s the one who trains new technicians on how to document a moisture map so an adjuster can read it without calling back.
Elena R., Senior Installer
Elena handles the reconstruction side, the phase that starts after the drying equipment comes out and ends when you can’t tell we were there. She’s certified in fire and smoke restoration through the RIA and has a particular specialty in matching pre-war plaster finishes in Financial District buildings where the co-op board won’t approve standard drywall. Her human detail: she keeps a notebook of every building superintendent she’s worked with in lower Manhattan, ranked by coffee preference, because knowing whether someone takes it black or with oat milk has gotten her into locked utility rooms faster than a master key. Elena grew up in Washington Heights and still takes the A train to work, which she says is the most reliable piece of infrastructure in her life. She won’t start a rebuild without a written scope signed by the customer, Haven Standard, Clause 1, and she’s been known to stop a job mid-demo if the photo record from the mitigation phase doesn’t match what she’s finding behind the wall.
James K., Service Coordinator
James is the voice you hear when you call (551) 212-1492 at 3 a.m. and a live person answers, which is every call, every hour, no voicemail tree. He’s been with us since 2019 and coordinates dispatch across our Financial District coverage area, from Battery Park City up through Tribeca and over to the Seaport. He holds an IFA certification in flood response logistics, which sounds administrative but means he knows exactly how many Phoenix 200HT dehumidifiers and Injectidry floor mats we have staged in our lower Manhattan warehouse and how fast they can be on a truck to a Pearl Street high-rise. James lives in Stuyvesant Town and plays in a jazz quartet on Thursdays, which he says trained him to keep four conversations going at once without dropping a beat. He’s the one who calls your adjuster while the crew is still en route, so the documentation chain starts before we cross your threshold.
Darnell W., Apprentice Technician
Darnell joined us in 2024 after three years in facilities maintenance for a FiDi commercial property manager. He’s completing his IICRC Water Damage Restoration Technician certification and currently works every job alongside Marcus or Elena, learning to read a thermal imager, set up a containment barrier, and write a field note that someone else can understand six months later. His specialty so far is subfloor extraction in high-rise buildings where the concrete slab sits above parking garages and water travels horizontally before you see it vertically. Darnell grew up in Bed-Stuy and still takes the Q to our warehouse in Long Island City, which he says is the only part of his day that’s predictable. He checks every photo he takes against the previous set before he moves to the next room, a habit Marcus drilled into him on his first job. He’s not authorized to give a written price yet, but he’s watched enough of them get delivered to know that Haven Standard, Clause 1 is what separates us from the crews who quote by phone and invoice by surprise.
One Standard, Every Job
We’re independently owned and operated under The Haven Standard, which Alicia Brennan wrote after watching too many homeowners lose legitimate claims to sloppy documentation. The standard applies whether you’re calling from a studio on Maiden Lane or a full-floor office on Broad Street. Every technician on this page is named, licensed, insured, and background-checked before they arrive at your door. Every job gets a written price before work starts, a photo record on every visit, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise stamped on the final invoice. We deploy the same Dri-Eaz, Phoenix, XPOWER, B-Air, and Injectidry equipment across every job, and we document to IICRC, RIA, and IFA standards because those are the standards adjusters recognize when they’re deciding whether to pay a claim. If you’ve got a competitor’s written estimate, we’ll review it for free. That’s Haven Standard, Clause 7, and it’s how we keep each other honest.
Written by Alicia Brennan, Owner at DryMark Restoration Financial District, serving the Financial District and lower Manhattan since 2011.