ROUND ROCK, Texas — Last week, the tornadoes ripped through Williamson County while damaging and destroying homes.
As homeowners look to repair and rebuild, it could take weeks, months or even a year, depending on how severe the damage and how soon they start the process.
"We've been slammed," said Maxwell Rucker, who runs Blue Diamond Remodeling. "We've been booked months out. Definitely since the tornado, we've had an influx of calls. ... We were already backlogged data, material availability, labor shortages, those sorts of things. And the tornado definitely is not helping."
Rucker estimates most projects will take weeks or months to finish – ranging from reinstalling windows or roof shingles to remodeling entire rooms or parts of homes. In some cases, he added that the process taking a year is not out of the question.
"It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to really design and get their project started," Rucker said. "Just getting your insurance company out there is going to take time, probably weeks for them just to even assess the damage, let alone come up with cost figures of actual replacement and then finding a suitable contractor."
Rucker added that clients whose homes were damaged by the tornado will get a 10% discount on jobs.
The City of Round Rock is trying to help where it can too, according to the City's Planning and Development Department Director Brad Wiseman. Wiseman said anyone's property damaged by the tornado will go "to the top of the stack" in the permitting process and application fees will be waived.
"We've got 680 homes impacted by the storm. That includes 93 with major damage and 13 that were destroyed," Wiseman said.
His department still had inspectors out on Tuesday, more than a week since the tornado hit, making sure no homes go overlooked in terms of damage.
"Minor damage could be some missing shingles from roof work that needs to be done. Major damage, you've got some heavier construction activity that's going to need to be done to get the house back to where it was before," Wiseman said.
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