There's a guy in my area that runs a very successful carpet cleaning / flood restoration business. Him and his business partner both took the necessary courses to become a licensed insurance agent. He said he took those courses so he knew the games the insurance companies would play.
He told me most of the time the insurance will try to have it done in the $250 per hour range, but since he knows how they work, he always gets in the area of $500 per hour for flood restoration work. This is where not only being fully certified, but educated in the whole process comes into play.
Of course, this is what he told me, I have no personal experience with that stuff. But judging by the looks of his company , I have no reason to doubt him. In fact, he said better than 70% of his yearly revenue is from the flood work just in March and April, the rest is throughout the whole year carpet cleaning. At $500 per hour, it tends to add up pretty quick.