Provider profile
PDX Restoration Services
Provider snapshot
What this listing says
Portland metro homeowners dealing with water damage that led to mold, where you want one company to handle extraction, drying, remediation, and the insurance paperwork through Xactimate.
Best for
- Portland metro homeowners (Milwaukie, Clackamas, Happy Valley, SE/SW Portland) who need water damage and mold handled by the same crew
- Insurance-claim situations where you want the restoration company to handle Xactimate documentation and communicate directly with your adjuster
- Crawlspace and attic mold in older Portland homes where water intrusion and mold often go together
- Commercial property managers in the Portland-Vancouver corridor dealing with sprinkler failures, roof leaks, or sewage backups
- Homeowners who want a small local company where the owner (Reuben) shows up personally rather than sending a rotating crew
About this company
PDX Restoration Services is a family-owned restoration company based in Milwaukie, Oregon, that handles water damage and mold remediation across the Portland metro area. Mold work is one piece of a broader restoration operation — they primarily respond to water emergencies (burst pipes, floods, sewage backups) and then handle the mold remediation that often follows. They also do biohazard cleanup, hoarding cleanups, and post-damage rebuilds.
What stands out is the single-company pipeline from water emergency to mold remediation to rebuild. They use infrared cameras and moisture meters for detection, set up containment with negative air pressure and HEPA filtration, apply antimicrobial treatments, and handle structural drying with commercial dehumidifiers. They send samples to outside labs for mold testing. They also bill insurance directly through Xactimate and handle the documentation — moisture readings, photos, scopes — so the homeowner doesn't deal with the adjuster alone.
The company is run by Reuben Federer and appears to be a small operation with Reuben and Akim doing much of the hands-on work. They are members of the Home Builders Association of Greater Portland and hold Oregon CCB license 236778 and a Washington contractor license. The team describes themselves as Portland-area natives who have worked through the region's ice storms, floods, and wildfire smoke events.
128 Google reviews at a perfect 5.0 stars is unusual for any restoration company. That said, a significant number of reviews come from single-review accounts with similar phrasing patterns, which is worth noting. The detailed reviews from established reviewers — like the one describing Reuben's team arriving in under 2 hours for a basement flood, or a senior homeowner describing patient guidance through an insurance claim — carry more weight and paint a consistent picture of fast, personal service.
Services
Service area
Headquartered in Milwaukie, Oregon (97222). They list 14 specific service areas: Milwaukie, Oregon City, Clackamas, Happy Valley, Damascus, Portland (SE, SW, N), Gresham, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, West Linn, Lake Oswego, and across the Columbia River into Vancouver and Camas, Washington. The core coverage area is Clackamas County and southeast Portland, with the outer edges (Camas, Beaverton) stretching the range for a small team.
Review consensus
Reuben (also spelled Ruben/Ruban in reviews) is the most frequently named person, praised for fast response times, patience with homeowners unfamiliar with the insurance process, and showing up personally on jobs. One reviewer described him arriving in under 2 hours for a basement flood and coordinating the entire contents-moving process. A senior homeowner credited him with patient guidance through her first disaster claim on a Saturday night. Akim is the second most-named staff member, praised for speed and quality of work on water damage and mold jobs. Multiple reviewers mention fair pricing and no-runaround communication. Several mention the start-to-finish handling including insurance documentation as a key reason they chose this company.
2 found across 128 total reviews at 5.0★. 2 found across 128 total reviews at 5.0 stars. The 1-star review from Mason Conway (July 2025, single-review account) claims the owner repeatedly said "wrong number" and calls the work unprofessional. The owner's response states this person was never a customer — they were someone contacting the business through multiple Facebook accounts trying to sell equipment. The owner says they reported it to Google as fraudulent. Without additional context, the conflicting claims are hard to resolve, but the reviewer has no other reviews and provides no project details. The 3-star review from Victoria Binder (November 2025, Local Guide with 26 reviews) describes a more credible experience: prompt initial estimate, confirmed scheduling, then a last-minute cancellation the day before the job. The owner responded personally, acknowledged the cancellation, and explained that emergency water calls sometimes force schedule changes for their small team.
A notable number of 5-star reviews come from single-review Google accounts with very similar language ("best company out there," "amazing job," "good prices"). Several were posted on the same dates (October 20-28, 2025 saw roughly 15-20 reviews). This clustering pattern is unusual and could indicate solicited reviews from personal networks. The more detailed reviews from established reviewers (Local Guides, accounts with multiple reviews) consistently praise Reuben and Akim by name and describe specific project details, which lends them more credibility. The owner responds to negative reviews with specific details rather than template language — the 1-star response addressed the exact situation, and the 3-star response came from the owner personally with an honest explanation of their scheduling limitations.
Reuben Federer (owner, also spelled Ruben/Ruban — praised for fast response, personal attention, patience with insurance process, hands-on work). Akim (technician — praised for speed, quality of work, punctuality across multiple reviews).
Ask for Reuben directly when you call — he appears to be the person who sets the tone for how your job goes. If scheduling reliability matters, ask upfront how they handle conflicts between emergency calls and pre-scheduled work. Get a separate mold test from an independent inspector before agreeing to remediation, since this company does both.
Keep in mind
- They do both mold testing and mold remediation. When the same company tests for mold and then sells you the remediation, there is an inherent conflict of interest. Consider getting an independent mold test from a separate inspector before committing to remediation.
- This is a small team. One reviewer had her job canceled the day before it was scheduled because an emergency call took priority. The owner acknowledged this is a structural limitation of their size. If your project is on a fixed timeline, confirm how they handle scheduling conflicts.
- A large share of the 5-star reviews come from single-review Google accounts with brief, similar-sounding praise. The overall rating may not reflect the range of experiences you would see with a larger review sample from established reviewers.
- They claim a service area stretching from Beaverton to Camas, WA — roughly a 40-mile span. Confirm response times for locations on the edges of that range, especially for non-emergency work.