House Burned Up -- Anyone Know about Insurance?

[rox]

I know what you mean about wanting to handle things yourself most of the time but there comes a time when it is more in your interest to hire a professional. I'm curious as to how you found the adjustor you hired. Was it references from people you know or internet searches or what?

 

[txdon]

....... my policy really says that it is my responsibility to give the company a claim for my loss....... the insurance company then has to either pay based on my estimate, or prove to me that mine is too high.

I think there is going to be a lot of valuable information in this thread thanks for taking to time to share you acquired knowledge.

 

[EddieWalker]

Today I hired a Public Adjustor to deal with the insurance company.

He already proved his worth by pointing out that my policy really says that it is my responsibility to give the company a claim for my loss. I had been all caught up in the fact that they hired a contractor to estimate my loss, and was attempting to show him how high the loss really was. That is the wrong approach. I need to put together my own, independent, estimate of the loss and under the law, the insurance company then has to either pay based on my estimate, or prove to me that mine is too high.

Thanks for the latest update. This is becoming very educational for me. I don't know if I would have done this myself because thats just how I am. It's very difficult for me to hire people to do things that I think I can do myself. But it's pretty obvious that the insurance companies have been doing this for a very long time and have all the angles worked out. Something as subtle and simple as sending their guy out for the estimate and pretending like that's the way it works is pretty sly on their part. Then it's on you to decided if that sounds right without actually knowing what the real amount should be.

Please keep adding to this. It's probably very frustrating and stressful for you, but I for one can attest to how much I'm learning and appreciate it.

Eddie

 

[CurlyDave]

... I'm curious as to how you found the adjustor you hired. Was it references from people you know or internet searches or what?

I found the particular adjustor I hired through a recommendation from a fire reconstruction contractor.

Immediately after the fire, a number of public adjustors contacted me, but it was very clear that they did not understand how unique this situation was. They would have had value if I had lost a lot of personal property as well as the building, but most of that property had been moved out before the fire. As far as the building went, they all acted as though it was a contractor-built house (no offense to contractors here) instead of one built by an owner-engineer-craftsman.

I had put a lot of extra features and hand labor into the house, which they didn't seem to want to consider. My policy calls for "similar construction" in the rebuild, and I wanted them to at least pay for re-creating the thousands of hours of hand labor in the fit and finish of the house.

In addition to the pubic adjustors, a lot of fire reconstruction contractors called, left cards in the mailbox, or mailed advertising to me. The insurance company told me that they really wanted bids only from fire reconstruction specialists, primarily because they wanted to salvage as much of the house as they could.

I interviewed a few of these contractors, and selected one who was willing to listen to me and bid the rebuild based on how I had originally built the house, instead of someone who wanted to do things his way.

This contractor then recommended a public adjustor he has worked with in the past. I toured the burned remains with the adjustor and he impressed me with his rapid grasp of the quality of the house and his understanding of the issues with getting a real estimate for rebuilding as the house was originally built.

Right now we are in agreement that the real loss will probably exceed the limits of the insurance policy, but that the excess loss will probably have to be covered by the real estate agent's liability policy.

 

[radioman]

Thanks for the latest update. This is becoming very educational for me. I don't know if I would have done this myself because thats just how I am. It's very difficult for me to hire people to do things that I think I can do myself. But it's pretty obvious that the insurance companies have been doing this for a very long time and have all the angles worked out. Something as subtle and simple as sending their guy out for the estimate and pretending like that's the way it works is pretty sly on their part. Then it's on you to decided if that sounds right without actually knowing what the real amount should be.

Please keep adding to this. It's probably very frustrating and stressful for you, but I for one can attest to how much I'm learning and appreciate it.

Eddie

I concur. This thread has been very informative and covered points I have not thought of. I admire your tenacity to protect your property best interests. Your situation is definately unquie and have a certain flair to it.
I usually have a hard time to swallow my pride and do it the way you have done, but hopefully you would aspire to the best of us.

 

[ultrarunner]

Living in Oakland, many of my friends lost homes in the Fire Storm... almost, without exception, the ones with private adjusters came out ahead... even a lawyer acquaintance cut a deal with an adjuster... his reasoning was he found himself neglecting his practice dealing with the rebuilding and that the adjustor's fee was money well spent.

Another Business owner paid for a trip to Europe for the adjuster and his wife on top of the fee. His case was based on the numerous insured antiques lost in the fire and it took the adjuster to recover their full value.

I appreciate you keeping us informed!

 

[RadarTech]

I have read through the entire chain and a few things I am really intrigued by:

1. the working times allowed in the area..
2. the difficulty of the agents..
3. building codes people and how they worked with you at all!!

As some of you know, I just finished and moved into a new house myself..

We got delayed 3 months because one neighbor was going to let us use their private road for construction trucks, and the others blocked it.. Really stupid.. It meant we had people working at late at 1 ot 2 AM to make up for lost time. and it required generators at times... good thing I live in the country!!!

Agents, the !@#!@@!%^$%@# anyway... we all have to have a job... but to be so difficult?

Building codes people? We had one inspector that even contradicted his own building code! When another reveresed nearly everything he said.. we waited for the "good guy". But he was so well like it meant waiting a week sometimes..

Once the insurance stuff is over, sounds like the building will also be fun with all the codes mentioned for you..

I do know one thing the codes inspector told me..
As of the 2008 national electrical code ARC Fault breakers are required for ALL breakers! at ~$30 a pop, that would have cost me over $1400 for the electrical bump.. I have (2) 40 slot panels.. and unless I am miscounting I have about (48) 15 and 20 amp breakers! Beware of that one.. If they are following that new code...

I know the next county below me is not following it, and my county and the county east of me are.. I got grandfathered since my permit was a 2007 permit...


good luck Dave!!!

Jim

 

[rox]

I will secong that this is a very imformative thread. First off I never even knew that there is a profession of Public Adjustor. Second I am learning a lot about building and building codes after a fire. I would have thought that you would have had to prove tht the existing wood was had lost it's structural integrity and it turns out this is not an issue at all, it is contrary to your building codes. Thirdly I would not have thought about going after the realtors insurance for any deficincy. This is a very informative thread.

Is your gut at this time saying that you will get to tear it all down which IIRC is what you wanted?

 

[CurlyDave]

...Is your gut at this time saying that you will get to tear it all down which IIRC is what you wanted?

I think I will get them to pay for a complete tear-down and reconstruction.

I know they will fight me every inch of the way, but now that I have the magic formula which says I make the claim and they have to either dispute it or pay my claim, it is going to get a lot easier. Plus the PA knows the ropes and is going to be very valuable.

I am thankful for two things. One is that I am retired and have the time to take on mortal combat with the insurance company. The second is that we had moved most of our other property out of the house before the fire. Think about the fact that the average home contains thousands of items, most of which cost less than $100, maybe even less than $20. Loosing one or two of these things isn't bad, but not being able to document even half of them is going to be a real financial blow for most families.

As soon as this ordeal is over I am going to invest in a video camera and walk through the new house, documenting everything in there.

 

[Sigarms]

As soon as this ordeal is over I am going to invest in a video camera and walk through the new house, documenting everything in there.

That sir is a great idea. Just thinking about it, I'd make sure you keep the tape in a secure, fireproof location.