Insurance Claim Estimates

Insurance Claim Comparative Estimates by Professionals

It’s not an event you ever plan for, your water line breaks and you have water flooding the family room. An electrical outlet overloaded and caught fire, now you have fire damage in the kitchen. One of the kids let the bathtub run and it was overflowing for hours, now there is water damage on two floors. Besides making sure everyone is safe, you want to know what to do next.

The first step, of course, is to call your insurance company. They will walk you through the process to file a claim.  They will want to send an insurance adjuster to evaluate the damage. Call ContractorMen to estimate the structural damage of your home.

If it is safe to enter the house or room where the damage has occurred, take an inventory of the room and homes furnishings and equipment. Take photos of each of the damaged pieces (it would be even better if you have photos of the items before the damage occurred) and assign an estimate as to what it cost. If you have the invoices from the purchase of any damaged items, take a photo of those as well. If your home or damaged room in the house is exposed to the elements, try and protect it from additional damage using tarps. Do not throw anything away until the estimator has done their job and evaluated the damage completely.  Fight the urge to start the clean up process until the damage has been assessed.

Why is a General Contractor conducting Insurance Claim Estimates?

Your insurance company will want to make an appointment to send someone from their office to evaluate the damage. At this point you want to inform them that you want to call your own independent evaluation expert to assess the structural damage of your home. Many insurance companies hire retired or former police and fireman to estimate the claims. A former fireman may be able to assess what started a fire and a former policeman may be able to tell if someone broke into the home and caused the damage but they do not have the construction background necessary to accurately estimate the structural damage of a home correctly. In our experience, 9 out of 10 times the insurance company will use the estimate that ContractorMen has written for the damage.

Insurance Claims: True Story

One of our clients had a tree fall on his house. When the insurance company sent out their adjuster for the estimate, the adjuster estimated the damaged was valued at $1,000.  The estimate was nowhere near what it costs to repair the damage the fallen tree had made on the home. It cost nearly $1,000 to remove the tree from the house!

The Theory of Indemnity in the insurance industry simply states that the home must be in the same position with regards to the value of the home, that it was before the damage occurred. If there is a mortgage on the home, the bank will insist that an inspection is done at the conclusion of the repair work so the home is not devalued. Having a proper insurance estimate and the right construction company to perform the work will ensure that your home and its structures are as safe and sound and valuable as they were before the damage occurred.

If you have experienced water or fire damage and the damage is beyond the personal belongings in the home and have affected the homes structures itself,  call ContractorMen for an accurate and professional estimate of your home’s damage. We are general contractors and can assess the damage completely and perform the necessary work to get you and your family back in your home again. Contact us or call us today at (706) 216-2244.