Water damage sits where plumbing, restoration, and insurance meet — three regulated worlds at once. This page sets out plainly how the association is built, what we require of members, and the rules everyone in this work operates under. Nothing here is hidden from either division.
Most of the trouble in this industry comes from organizations blurring these lines. We would rather draw them sharply and in public.
NAPMA does not underwrite risk, issue policies, or indemnify anyone. Member Accident Response is a service benefit performed by mitigation members — capped, defined in the membership agreement, and no substitute for your own liability insurance. We deliberately avoid the words coverage, policy, and claim for it, because those words describe something we are not.
The association does not negotiate, adjust, estimate, or advocate insurance claims on behalf of homeowners, and does not permit members to represent that it does. In most states adjusting a claim for another person requires a public adjuster license.
We do not compile, resell, or syndicate contact information. A referral goes from one member to one member, once. Nothing is sold to five firms, and no referral is ever traded to a party outside the association.
NAPMA is an independent trade association. It does not bargain collectively, does not issue trade licenses, and is not affiliated with the United Association, PHCC, IAPMO, IICRC, or any government agency. Certification by NAPMA is a membership credential, not a license to practice.
A plumber is paid for finding work and passing it to a fellow member. That is an ordinary commercial arrangement, and the association's position is that it should be visible to everyone it touches.
Member conduct standards require plumber members to disclose to the homeowner that they belong to NAPMA and that a referral payment may be made between members. Concealed compensation is the thing that turns a referral into a problem — with regulators, and with the customer whose trust is the actual asset.
A referral is an introduction, not an assignment. The homeowner is free to use any firm, and members may not represent that association membership obliges the homeowner to accept the responder or to file an insurance claim at all.
The member referral payment is a published rate tied to an assignment being accepted. It is not a percentage of the job, not a share of an insurance settlement, and not contingent on what an insurer ultimately pays. Compensation that scales with a claim is where referral arrangements go wrong.
Members are independent businesses. Referral payments are business income, a W-9 is collected at enrollment, and members receiving $600 or more in a year are issued a 1099-NEC. Nothing is paid off the books.
Water damage restoration is among the most heavily scrutinized trades in the country, and largely for good reason — the industry's own bad actors earned that scrutiny. Certified members are required to operate clear of all of it.
For years, some restoration firms had homeowners sign over their insurance benefits, then billed insurers directly at inflated rates and litigated the difference. The practice generated enormous claim-fraud litigation, drove carriers out of entire states, and prompted sweeping reform — Florida in particular has sharply restricted assignment of benefits in property insurance. Certified members do not condition emergency response on an AOB, and may not present one to a homeowner as a requirement of the association.
A restoration contractor who negotiates scope and pricing with an adjuster on the homeowner's behalf may be acting as a public adjuster without a license — a genuine and commonly-charged violation in many states. Members may document damage and submit their own invoices; representing the homeowner's claim is a different activity, and one the association forbids without the proper license.
Padded line items, equipment billed but never placed, drying days that did not happen — these are insurance fraud, prosecuted as such, and they are why outcome reporting is mandatory for certified members. Every assignment is reported and reconcilable.
Water extraction, mold remediation, and reconstruction are frequently governed by different licenses. Florida, Texas, Louisiana and others license mold remediation specifically, and several prohibit the same firm from both assessing and remediating mold on one job. Repairs past mitigation typically require a contractor's license. Certification verifies what a member is licensed to do, and members work within it.
Emergency service agreements are signed by people standing in an inch of water at two in the morning. Many states impose specific contract requirements and a right to cancel in-home solicitations. Members use written scopes, disclose that emergency service is not conditional on signing anything beyond the work itself, and honor statutory rescission rights.
The ANSI/IICRC S500 standard is the industry's benchmark for water damage restoration, and departures from it are what negligence claims are built on. Certified members hold IICRC certification or equivalent, carry general liability insurance, and are verified at enrollment and annually thereafter.
A member who sponsors another earns a share of association dues generated by that member's real referrals, and a smaller share one tier below. It stops there, permanently. There is no joining fee on either side, and nothing is ever earned for recruiting alone. Open-ended recruitment income funded by entry fees is the definition of a pyramid scheme; a capped, transaction-linked, free-to-enter structure is an ordinary affiliate arrangement, and we built for the second on purpose.
Assignment priority is rate × quality × standing, with the money term capped so a member who commits more can still lose to a member who responds faster and finishes more jobs. This is not only a fairness principle — a system where the highest payer always wins is a system that eventually sells homeowners to whoever can afford them.
A member who believes a referral was invalid flags it; the association reviews it. The other member's standing is not adjusted automatically on one party's say-so, and repeated problems are handled through member conduct review with the member heard first.
State plumbing license verified at enrollment and annually. W-9 on file before any payment is issued. Agreement to member conduct standards, including homeowner disclosure of association membership and referral compensation.
IICRC certification or equivalent, general liability insurance, all applicable state and local licenses, and 24/7 response capability — verified at enrollment and annually. Response standards and mandatory outcome reporting are conditions of holding certification, not aspirations.
If something here doesn't sit right with you, we would rather hear it before you join than after. Call member support and ask.