House renovation

I am happy to say we finally recieved our estimate from insurance.  This is our first fire (or major damage) and we didn't know what the timeline should be.  Our adjuster kept telling us "any day now," and 5 weeks seemed like a long time to be living in a hotel- especially when for 3 of those weeks there was literally nothing happening at our house.  Our tenant's adjuster, at the same company, started telling her to find a new place to live because "nothing's happening at the house."  That's when we understood that 5 weeks is not only unacceptable, but violates our rights as policy holders.  A few calls to his supervisor, and a few hours later at 1:41 AM we had our estimate. 
We met with our contractor Tuesday morning at our house.  We went through and looked at everything that needed to be done.  It took the estimate and will get back to us with by the end of the week to let us know if its fair.  In addition, we're going to make some updates while the house is all torn apart.  We already bought new windows, which will be installed.  My husband and his father, who is a retired pipe fitter, will be updating our boiler and we are getting quotes for central air conditioning.  These updataes are, of course, not covered by insurance, but we figure its better to do it now while all the walls and ceilings are opened up. 
We should be back in our house by Thanksgiving, maybe in Halloween.  Once the contractor has the go ahead, it doesn't take his crew long to update the electrical, sheetrock and paint- what the insurance is covering. 
Everything seemed to be going well Tuesday.  My husband was working from home and I was resting after meeting with the contractor, then we had an unusual earthquake on the East coast.  My husband is a West Coaster, but his first instinct was run out of the building.  Not what you are supposed to do.  You should get in a doorway or under a sturdy piece of furniture.  But the noise and the rumbling made him think explosion- we just don't have earthquakes here.  We are staying in a high rise hotel downtown since the fire.  Buildings, bridges, transit systems, etc here are not designed for earthquakes.  Everything seems to be ok here, but 2 of my sisters live in Northern Virginia and have experienced damage.