01
Protection first
Safety and property protection guide every decision.
Containment is not optional. We secure the house, isolate the loss, and keep unaffected rooms out of the mess before we chase speed.
About the shop
A Chicago restoration shop, not a national call center.
A real technician from this shop answers. Not a bot. Not an outsourced call center. We dry it, file it, and stay for the rebuild — locally owned, homeowner-loyal, documentation-first.
North Side
1770 W Berteau
Certified firm
24/7
A person answers
What we stand for
The rules that do not get negotiated.
These are not marketing lines. They are how the crew is supposed to behave on a wet floor at 2 a.m. — and how the file is supposed to look when the adjuster asks.
02
Empathy, without the script
Disaster is a bad day. We treat the house like it is yours — because it is.
No call-center cadence. A technician from this shop tells you who is rolling, what they will do first, and when you will hear from them again.
03
Clear communication
Daily updates, honest timelines, no surprise scope.
You know why each step exists. Moisture readings, photos, and a drying plan you can follow — not a black box until the invoice.
04
Do it right
IICRC-aligned drying, verified dry, documentation that stands up.
We close when the house is dry and the file is complete — not when a program quota says to wrap. Same crew from extract through rebuild.
The shop, not the network
Four things we will not trade away.
01
Locally owned
North Side shop at 1770 W Berteau. Not a franchise, not a three-state network that treats your file as a ticket.
02
Not insurer-program-driven
We work with carriers professionally. The homeowner is still the client. No pressure to minimize scope to keep a panel seat.
03
Homeowner-loyal
When the claim and the house disagree, we document the house. You hired us. That is whose side we are on.
04
Documentation-first
Photos, moisture logs, and a paper trail that supports the insurance process instead of leaving you to argue it later.
Born in Chicago
Built for Chicagoans.
We are a locally owned company built to serve Chicago homeowners — not chasing volume across three states, not stretched into a network that treats your file as a ticket.
Based on the North Side, we have seen what this weather and this infrastructure do: basement floods from overwhelmed sewers, frozen pipes in January, mold behind walls that looked fine last month.
We document everything. Clear records. No surprises. The house is restored properly — not closed out to hit a quota.
When disaster hits, Big Shoulders carries the weight — so you do not have to.
Homeowner is the client
Why it feels different
The Big Shoulders difference.
24/7 local response
When you call at 2 a.m., a real technician from this shop answers. They know Chicago basements, frozen pipes, and how long it takes to get to Lakeview from Berteau.
One team, start to finish
Extract, dry, document, rebuild. Same shop. No handoff to a stranger who never saw the loss the night it happened.
The file has a spine
Every reading recorded, every room photographed. The claim can follow the work instead of guessing at it.
How we work
Built for the hour after it fails.
24/7 response
Always available when the pipe lets go.
Documentation-first
Every step photographed and logged.
IICRC certified
Industry-standard training on the truck.
Mitigation → rebuild
Complete restoration under one file.
The shop
1770 W Berteau.
1770 W Berteau Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
Equipment, trucks, and the people who answer the phone live here — not a remote queue in another time zone.
Request a callback
Get a crew moving.
A real technician from this shop answers. Not a bot. Not an outsourced call center.