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First time making an insurance claim, need help

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HRC

New member
Hello, I live in Florida and recently file a claim with my insurance because of some damage from Hurricane Irma. I have many missing shingles in my roof, small water leaks in the kitchen and one room, a bigger leak in another room that is affecting the ceiling and wall, one side of the fence felt off and also have a small crack in the dining room ceiling. The insurance gave me a check for about $10,000. After getting the check I contacted a general contractors that came to make an inspection and promised me to call me an give me a quote, but after week of me calling him back he still hasn't given me a quote. The second contractor was the same thing, never gave me the quote. The third contractor told me he could do my roof for the money, and then I should ask the insurance for more money (don't know about this). Then I was advised to get an insurance adjuster. So I called one, but after having me waiting for days, when he finally reply told me there was little money involved in my case so he would not do the job.

Now I m a little lost.
I was told to send the check to the bank so they can endorse it, but don't know if I should send the check before or after I get a quote from a contractor. I have been trying to get the quote before sending the check but I am having a hard time finding someone to do it? Should i get independent contractors instead? What would you advice me to do?

Thank a lot.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What did your insurance company say when you pointed out that you couldn't get the work done for that amount? Oh, wait, you can get the work done by the third contractor, so why should you ask for more money?
 

HRC

New member
Hello, thanks for the reply. The third contractor said he can do just the roof for that money, but not the rest of the work (ceiling, wall, fence).
And I haven't talk to the insurance about not getting the work done for that amount
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
HRC, I am a retired claims adjuster. Before I retired my territory included Florida and I handled the big hurricanes of 2004 and Katrina in 2005. I'll be happy to help you through this but I need you to answer a few questions.

Take out your policy. The whole thing. The booklet, the declarations page and all the pages that are attached to it.

1 - Is your policy an HO-3, also known as Special Form.

2 - Do you have a windstorm/hurricane deductible (common in Florida)? Look carefully through the policy. It could be shown on the declaration page or on a deductible form attached to the policy. When you find it tell me what it is, either the dollar amount or a percentage. If it is a percentage, is it a percentage of the claim or a percentage of the Dwelling Coverage A? It should be specified in the policy.

3 - Along with the check you presumable received an itemized damage appraisal/worksheet with the check. It's itemized. This site doesn't allow uploading stuff so if you can post it on a hosting site and provide a link to it, I can explain it to you and go on to the next step in determining whether or not you are entitled to more money. If you can't post it somewhere, you'll have to reproduce it here by hand showing all the items and all the figures in the columns and at the end.

4 - You might also have gotten a cover letter along with the check. I need to know what that says.

Caution: Try to avoid hiring a public adjuster just yet. They charge 10% to 15% of your entire claim but won't get you more than it takes to repair your damage (no matter what kind of promises they make).

One of the problems with contractors after a hurricane is that they are so busy doing repairs for people that they don't want to take the time to write up estimates.

Meantime, instead of a general contractor, I suggest you have a roofing company come out, inspect the roof, and give you an estimate just on that. You may need to get the roof repaired first to mitigate further interior damage and once you stop the leaks you can work on getting somebody in for the interior and other repairs.
 

HRC

New member
Hi adjusterjack, thanks a lot for your reply. I will try to answer all your question:

1 - I don't think is a HO-3, I cant find that anywhere.

2 - I believe I do have hurricane deductible. This is what the sheet says:
Coverage A-Dwelling:
REPLACEMENT COST ESTIMATE: 11,482
LESS CALENDAR YEAR HURRICANE DEDUCTIBLE: 3,260
NET PAYMENT FOR DWELING: 8,222

3 - I do have that work sheet, but is extremely long, I posted 3 links below with the last pages, don't know if that helps.
https://ibb.co/nvXZo8
https://ibb.co/mG7pMT
https://ibb.co/dCcOgT

4 - I checked all my documents and don't think I have that cover letter.

I will follow, your advice. I'll look for a roofer and do that first since its in my opinion the main problem. Other things like repairing the fence I can do myself. But before I do that should I send the check to the bank? or should I wait.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
My guess is that you do have an HO-3 or comparable. Might just have a proprietary name that your insurance company gives it. My own homeowners policy is called a VIP Homeowners Deluxe.

What you posted was helpful but doesn't jive with what you wrote earlier. You wrote that you got a check for $10,000. What I see on the worksheet is as follows:

Repair cost dwelling (roof and interior) 11482.73
Repair cost other structures (probably the fence) 1546.41
Subtotal 13029.14
Wind deductible 3260
The check should have been 9769.14 (well, that's close to 10000)

So when you say you can't do the repairs for 10000 you are correct, you probably can't. But you should be able to do them for about 13000. You just have to kick in another 3260 out of your own pocket.

As for any individual costs, let's start with the roof. The 5821.78 for the main roof appears adequate for labor and materials. Assuming the 20.36 squares (2036 sq ft - a square is 100 sq ft) is correct that comes to about 286 per square which should be about right for removing the old roofing and installing new roofing. You can confirm that just by calling a roofing company and asking how much per square to tear off and replace the roof.

Moving on, it looks like you have two flat patio roofs and those prices don't seem out of line either. I can't tell if the flat roof sections are included in the 20.36 squares. You can look through the estimate pages and find out.

At any rate, some roofers do just shingled roofs and other do just flat roofs. You might be able to find one company that does both.

One thing I don't find in your insurance company's estimate is Contractor's Overhead and Profit which should add about 20% or 25% to the gross amounts of the claim before the deductible (unless it's in the other pages of the estimate).

In 2013 the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a homeowner’s insurer was required under the language of the insurance policy and Florida claims statutes to include a general contractor’s overhead and profit as part of replacement cost coverage if the insured was reasonably likely to need a general contractor for repairs, even where the insured had not yet replaced or repaired the dwelling.

See the following article:

https://www.hunton.com/files/News/1b5092ed-5bc2-4fce-915b-a9001dbcdd1d/Presentation/NewsAttachment/c50a85fb-a3af-430d-a81a-aabc34202cb6/Ins_Litigation_Alert_Florida_Supreme_Court_General_Contractor_Overhead.pdf

Your repairs involve multiple building trades so you'd be reasonably likely to need a general contractor for repairs and thus be entitled to have the Overhead and Profit paid to you up front. Call your company's adjuster and remind him of that and of the Florida Supreme Court's decision if necessary.

No need to mention that you might not be using a general contractor for all the work.

I don't see any problem endorsing the check over to the bank at this point but I suggest you talk the people who handle property claims checks, usually called the Hazard Insurance Department, and find out the procedure for releasing the money back to you to pay for the repairs. Also find out exactly where and to whom you send the check to and send it certified return receipt. Hopefully there is just one person whose name you can get that you will deal with throughout.

If the insurance company owes you more money for the repair work they can issue a supplement check.

Meantime you have to kick in the 3260 of your own money anyway so you ought to be able to make arrangement with roofers to take part pay and wait for the balance.

Be careful about how much money you give any contractor up front. The lesser the better and make sure you get a written contract that you thoroughly read and understand before you sign.

Let me know if you have any more questions.
 
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