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Learn How To File An Insurance Claim If You Have Water Damage

Hurricanes are becoming stronger and more frequent as a result of warmer temperatures. These storms are bringing massive amounts of heavy rain, flash flooding and wind damage. With these catastrophic storms and massive amounts of damage, determining insurance coverage, the causes of damage, handling the insurance claims process and dealing with the home insurance adjuster can be quite a difficult feat.

Water damage insurance claims can get messy in more than just your home.

There whenever you need us.

Are You Covered?

Not every water leak incident is covered by your insurance provider. Here are some items that MAY NOT be covered by your insurance:

Our insurance claim experts can advise if you have a claimable situation in your hands or if all cost will need to come out of pocket. Every situation or incident will be unique and will require gathering all the details surrounding the incident to better understand if a claim should be filed or not.

What Does Insurance Cover?

Incidents and services that are covered by your provider varies by policy. Every homeowner at the time of purchasing a home are required to purchase insurance. It’s at this time that the decisions for coverage will determined what is covered at the time of making a claim.

Here are some situations and services that MIGHT be covered by your policy:

Sudden and accidental pipe burst
Roof leaks caused by storm and wind damage
Hail damage to the property
Flood coverage if arranged with the carrier
Earthquake damage if arranged with the carrier
Dry and wet rot if arranged with the carrier
Tarping of roof
Sudden and accidental interior water damage

Fire and smoke damage to the property
Remediation efforts if the claim is accepted
Asbestos abatement if the claim is accepted
Led abatement is the claim is accepted
Pack-out/Pack-in
Loss of use
Law and ordinance

Based on all the potential coverage, it is important that you understand your policy to know if you have a claim that will be approved by your insurance provider.

How We Can Help

The experts at Built Right Construction & Design can assist you with:

Understanding your policy
Claim filing assistance
Negotiating with your carrier for a fair claims settlement for all necessary repairs
Providing Xactimate estimates
Scanning the property pre and post remediation to better document all efforts necessary to remediate and repair the property
Engineering and architectural services if the property has sustained structural damage
Filing for permits with the city if required
Reconstruction efforts with the superior quality offered by our company

Water Damage Insurance Claim Tips

The following water damage insurance claims tips can help you avoid losing money owed to you from your claim on your insurance policy.

Notify Your Insurance Company Immediately

The first and most important tip when dealing with a homeowners claim for water damage is to notify your insurance company immediately after the disaster occurs and damage has taken place (assuming you and your family are safe, of course).

If you are filing a homeowners claim for water damage, most homeowners’ insurance policies require the homeowner to give “prompt notice” to the insurer. If you fail to report a claim immediately after it occurs, or if you start removing and fixing things before reporting it to your insurance company, then your claim may not be fully honored.

After filing a claim for water damage your insurance company with send an insurance adjuster to perform an inspection.

Insurance companies have 24/7 claims reporting systems. Use them.

Secure The Property And Prevent Additional Damage

Your property insurance policy will have a section on your duties after a loss stating that you’re required to prevent further damage to your property. When water damage occurs, and you can do something to reduce the damage, then you should take that step (without endangering yourself, of course).

In many cases you may need the help of a professional water damage restoration company. Both your insurance company or a local public adjuster should have recommendations for companies they have used in your area. Because the cause of loss and and any resulting damage are crucial determination factors when filing a water damage insurance claim, the insurance claim process actually starts from the moment the damage begins or you notice the damage – as opposed to when you call to report an insurance claim. The water damage restoration company you use can affect the outcome of your claim.

If your insurer finds that you could have reduced the damage had you taken a simple action, then your claim may be reduced. In other words, additional damage that occurs after you’ve noticed any damage is not always covered by your insurer.

Some of the tips and advice for reducing further water damage inside your home include:

Removing any standing water
Drying the affected area
Boarding up doors or windows to prevent the ingress of water
Removing property from the water to prevent further damage.

While performing these tasks, keep in mind that you should throw away nothing, nor should you alter the scene until the insurance company’s adjuster comes and inspects your property. If you hire professionals or spend any money in order to reduce the amount of loss or damage be sure to keep records and receipts. Most insurance policies will include reimbursement for reasonable expenses to mitigate (reduce) the loss.

Take Photographs And Inventory After Water Damage

Make sure there’s evidence of the water damage that occurred to your property. After you’ve performed a basic cleanup and lockdown of the scene, take lots of photographs of all the damage that occurred. One of the most important things to remember, when dealing with any type of insurance claim, is to always have more evidence than you think you need. So take dozens of photos of all areas of damage, from several distances and angles. Remember to keep organized records of your evidence, and all communications between you and your insurer while you’re at it.

Combine your photographs with a written inventory of lost or damaged property. This inventory should include:

Description of the item
Make and model number of the items
Age of items

Replacement cost of the item (which is the price it would cost to replace the item today, not what you paid for the item 10 years ago), and the item’s real cash value (the value of the item at the time of the loss)

The more detailed you are with photographs and inventory, the better off you’ll be. When it comes time to dealing with the insurance company adjuster that comes to your home to inspect water damage, having all of your photos and evidence organized will be a huge help.

Find Temporary Housing To Live In

Water damage can be nasty. It can lead to contaminants, bacteria, mold problems and structural issues. If your home’s safety and security are compromised, then you may need to find temporary housing.

Your insurance company may provide you with additional living expenses. Feel free to use that to get a hotel for the night. However, if your home is going to be unlivable for a long period of time, then your insurer may be responsible for paying for a comparable dwelling for the near future. Be aware that flood insurance policies do not include additional living expenses. If the only cause of damage is covered by your flood insurance policy then there likely will not be any coverage for additional living expenses. Although with a major storm such as a hurricane that causes wind damage and flooding, that wind damage may be covered under your homeowners, commercial property or business owners policy and include additional living expenses. Check your policy and check with your insurance company to determine if additional living expenses are provided.

Combine your photographs with a written inventory of lost or damaged property. This inventory should include:

Description of the item
Make and model number of the items
Age of items

Contact Claims Mate To Get Help With Water Damage Claims

ClaimsMate knows the insurance industry comprehensively and will put that knowledge to work on your behalf. This can be the difference between having your water damage insurance claim fully covered – or missing out on tens of thousands’ of dollars in compensation legally owed to you.

If your home has suffered serious water damage – like over $10,000 in damages – then contacting a public adjuster may be a great option to get professional assistance with your insurance claim and dealing with the insurance company adjuster after water damage. A public adjuster is a licensed professional who represents homeowners and business owners like you – not the insurance company.

How to Handle a Burst Pipe Insurance Claim

Whatever type of burst pipe problem you are dealing with, these tips for filing a burst pipe claim should help.

Step 1) Call your Insurance Company

Your insurance company understands that you need to move fast when handling a burst pipe insurance claim. If you contact your insurance company and explain the situation, then they will typically recommend several local water damage remediation and restoration companies, including 24/7 emergency services that can arrive on-site to fix your water damage problem.

Step 2) Get the Situation Under Control

Our remediation experts can arrive on-site quickly in most instances to tackle the problem. Typically, we take over damage control from here. We can turn off your water (if you haven’t already done so). We can setup fans and other equipment to dry out your home and prevent mold.

Step 3) Documentation & Estimate

Documenting all the damage areas by scanning all affected areas with a Matterport is the most efficient way to show the damage and the repairs needed. An estimate can be created using the Matterport system as well.

Step 4) Begin the Remediation Process

At this point, we can begin restoring your property to its pre-loss condition, cutting out mold-damaged walls and fixing your burst plumbing.

Step 5) Finalize your Insurance Claim

Your insurance company is required to compensate you for the cost of restoring your home to pre-loss condition. Your insurance company will send a claims adjuster to assess the damage, identify the root cause of the damage, and type up a claim.

In some cases, the insurance company will approve some repairs, but not others. The insurance company will cover whatever damage was legitimately caused by your burst pipe, but they might dispute other damage – like pre-existing problems with your home, which they are not required to cover. We offer to meet with the adjuster to assist in pointing out all the damage areas and documentation to assure proper coverage of legitimate damage.

Step 6) Maximize your Insurance Claim

Remember: insurance companies often offer a low initial settlement hoping that the homeowner will avoid disputes or negotiations. The insurance company often assumes that the policyholder is not going to ask for additional coverage or negotiate the claim.

This is where a we come in and negotiate with your provider to obtain a fair settlement on your claim. Since we are first on site, we have all documentation and reports as well as providing a solid estimate which eliminates hiring third party companies or lawyers that would ask for a portion of the repair funds as payment.

The goal is to maximize your insurance company payout and secure the highest possible settlement for the client to provide all necessary repairs. We are your one stop shop from emergency respond, to proper mitigation, assisting in obtaining a fair claim settlement, and performing quality repairs, returning your home to you and your family in better condition before the incident took place.

428 N Buchanan Cir #4, Pacheaco, CA 94553