Experiencing property damage from floods, wind storms and fires can be stressful to say the least. Where do you turn first? What do you do? Here are 5 tips on what you should be thinking about as soon as something big happens:
#1: Take Pictures
Document the damage. Take more than one picture, from various angles and distances. You can never have too many pictures. You don’t have to use all of the ones you take. Taking a large number of pictures allows you the luxury to choose the best ones to properly document your claim.
#2: Call Your Insurance Company
Call your insurance company and make a report as soon as you can. Get the ball rolling on your claim. The recovery and re-build process will take time, but the sooner you get your claim in the sooner work can begin. Insurance companies generally deal with “preferred” contractors. So they don’t always allow you to choose just anyone to perform your repairs. However, if there is a regional disaster and all restoration companies are swamped, special permission will be given to hire alternative contractors to expedite getting the job done. Get the names of more than one contractor you can call, and ask permission to call elsewhere if they are too busy or will take too long to “fit you in”. Also, your insurance adjuster will have some good advice in what to do in the short term and long term as you wait for your request to be full-filled. They will be able to give you some good guidelines on what is covered and what is not covered in your particular policy. The more information and understanding you have about the process, the better.
#3: Keep a Paper Trail of Conversations and Appointments
Who did you call, who came to inspect the property, who called you to follow up and when What was said and what was agreed upon and when
#4: Do Your Best to Mitigate the Damage
Most insurance policies REQUIRE you to do your best to mitigate damage. This means, if you experience flooding – GO GET YOURSELF A SUMP PUMP and get that water out of your house ASAP. Take pictures, document exactly what you did, and save the receipts of anything you had to rent or purchase. (e.g. sump pumps, fans)
#5: Become Clear on What is NOT Covered
If you have cracks in your basement walls, or pipes exposed to open air, generally insurance companies will not cover damage caused by these weaknesses, as they assume it is the homeowner’s responsibility to keep the house “up to code”. The sooner you know what is not covered, the sooner you can make a decision what to fix and how to fix it,, and even whether to process an insurance claim at all. Sometimes, it is simply not financially advisable to file a claim because filing claims can cause your insurance premiums to raise beyond what your payout from your claim turns out to be. Spend some time considering your options, and look at all the numbers.
- What is your deductible?
- What is going to be fixed by the claim?
- What will not be covered?
- How will this impact your insurance rates in future years?
As we stated at the outset of this article, suffering property damage can be stressful and uprooting. Hopefully these tips have given you some ideas of how to proceed to make the next few days a bit more comfortable. Feel free to call us and set an appointment where we can discuss our services in dealing with catastrophes. We have a long history of working with large disasters not only on the restoration side, but on the insurance industry side as well.
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