Archive for April 2018
Insurance claims on natural disaster
Hail, wind and storm damage are considered as a lost to the insurance company on your homeowner’s policy. Most of the insurance companies will pay the entire cost, less your deductible, for replacing the damaged roof. All of these claims are considered a natural disaster and does not count against your rate increases on your monthly premium. Homeowner’s policies cover full replacement value of damaged roof; however, insurance company will determine what the actual value of roof today with it’s useful remaining life. Then the company will pay the actual value first and hold the depreciated values, or technically, the replacement value until the submission of a signed contract with a licensed contractor for the work specified in the insurance adjusters’ summary reports or hold the check until the work is done.
Many people will be confused when they received the check from the insurance company thinking the deductible amount is already taken away from the check, however, deductible should be pay directly to the contractor. Hence the total pay to the contractor should be homeowners’ deductive plus check from the insurance company. Often insurance personnel will ask you to look for at least three contractors and choose from the three. Some people get the impression that they need to choose the cheaper contractor out of the three, but it is not true as you need to choose the contractor who could do the best job replacing your roof. When insurance is paying for the work, the dollar amount of the estimate is not very important as long as it is equal to or less than the insurance company’s estimate. Your contractor can charge more than what insurance adjuster has offered. This is usually happening because adjuster missed in the scope of work to completed. We could be resolved with the insurance company by submit what is called a supplement with documentation in the form of pictures, measurements and paperwork. The insurance company will review the supplement and upon approval, send a check for the additional money needed for the job.