After a water or fire loss in Houston, the structure gets the air movers. The claim often lives or dies on the furniture, clothes, photos, and kitchen.
A national contents standard is in public review through October 26, 2026. That does not change what you should do tonight—photograph everything, do not throw items in the dumpster, ask for a written inventory before pack-out—but it is why a serious crew will insist on those steps.
The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) is developing BSR/IICRC S320, the Standard for Professional Assessment, Cleaning and Restoration of Contents.
According to IICRC, the standard is currently in development and not available for purchase. The official page is iicrc.org/s320.
Public review runs September 11 through October 26, 2026. The draft is not for sale; the comment window is open. Committee leadership named for the effort includes chair Laurence Wymant and vice-chair John Pletcher.
“BSR” means the draft is under the ANSI Board of Standards Review process until final approval. Until then, treat S320 as a developing standard—not a finished rulebook you can quote by clause number. Public review is how the industry stress-tests language before it becomes an American National Standard. Your job as a homeowner is not to comment on draft text. Your job is to protect proof of what you owned and what condition it was in when the loss started.
IICRC defines contents as materials, furniture, fixtures, and equipment located inside a building envelope—sometimes called personal property. That is the stuff list: sofas, wardrobes, electronics, documents, art, kitchenware, office FF&E, and the everyday items that make a house or suite usable after the drywall is dry.
Structure work and contents work are related, but they are not the same job. Air movers dry floors. A contents process decides what can be cleaned, what must be stored, and what is a disposal conversation. When those two tracks get blurred, homeowners lose items that could have been cleaned—or keep items that should have been inventoried and released as a loss.
You do not need the finished S320 text to do the right things tonight. The same discipline any serious inventory process will emphasize:
Houston humidity makes waiting expensive on textiles. Wet carpet, upholstery, and clothing do not “air out” for days without risk. Speed plus documentation beats speed alone. If a crew wants to box first and photograph later, push back: the photos are the cheap insurance.
Pack-out, done right, is inventory + chain of custody + off-site clean or store. Items are labeled, listed, and tracked. You should get a written inventory before goods leave. If a crew cannot explain where items go and how they come back, pause.
That paper trail is what you send upstairs—to a spouse, a landlord, a facilities manager, or an adjuster. Memory is not a system of record. Digital inventory tools help when they produce a shareable list you can keep; a stack of unmarked boxes in a warehouse does not.
Ask where cleaning happens, how long storage lasts, and how you authorize disposal if an item fails cleaning. Those answers should be boring and written down.
On many homeowners policies, Coverage C is personal property. Structure coverage rebuilds walls; contents coverage addresses the movable property inside. After a loss, adjusters ask what was there. A room-by-room list with photos beats a late recollection of “we had a lot of stuff.”
You do not need to litigate policy language in the first hour. You need a file: photos, a dated inventory, and notes on what was wet, soot-stained, or sewage-exposed. When humidity and sewage shorten the life of soft goods, the list still matters—especially for the items you never get back.
If you have receipts, appraisals, or phone photos from before the loss, pull them early. Pre-loss photos of jewelry, instruments, and art close gaps that post-loss shots cannot.
Tenant FF&E and office contents need the same inventory discipline before a Friday move-out. Cubicles, monitors, filing cabinets, break-room equipment, and specialty tools are contents. A commercial water loss in Midtown or a smoke event near the Galleria still turns on what was inventoried before it left the floor.
If you manage a suite, require a written contents list before pack-out starts—same as a homeowner should. Landlord and tenant both need that file when build-back and business-interruption conversations start. “We moved the office stuff” without a list is how disputes start on Monday.
S320’s public review does not rewrite your policy tonight. It does underline why professional contents work looks “slow” on day one: photos, labels, and lists are the job.
Ask your crew:
24/7 Restoration Specialists follows IICRC practice on water, fire, and mold work. When contents are part of the loss, we treat the inventory as seriously as the drying plan.
IICRC, BSR/IICRC S320 Standard for Professional Assessment, Cleaning and Restoration of Contents. Public review September 11 through October 26, 2026. Official page: https://iicrc.org/s320/. Scope: assess, inventory, pack-out, clean, and restore contents (personal property inside the building). Chair Laurence Wymant; vice-chair John Pletcher. Draft not for sale; comment window open. Retrieved from IICRC’s S320 status page (standard in development; contents defined as materials, furniture, fixtures, and equipment inside a building envelope).
