The Indicator from Planet Money · Tuesday, September 29, 2026
The emergency restoration industry, which handles fire, water, mold, and biohazard cleanup, currently lacks a specific NAICS code despite being in operation for decades. This absence leads to difficulties in obtaining accurate commercial insurance rates, as businesses are often misclassified under codes with unrelated risk profiles.
“We do, uh, fire, water, mold, biohazard, uh, cleanup and remediation.”
“There isn't one.”
“It essentially determines, um, what code that you fall into, which can affect your liability insurance, that you need on your company, and it can affect workers' compensation insurance based on the health and safety risks associated to that code.”