Hurricane Irma: 10 Tips for Filing an Insurance Claim

The devastating destruction that Hurricane Irma has left on Florida is unimaginable. Cleaning up after the storm will be a long recovery. Thousands of people will be filing insurance claims, but may be unsure on how to move forward with the process of filing an insurance claim after a hurricane.

Stucco refers to the type of siding many homes and businesses use to decorate the exterior walls of their buildings. The craft of applying stucco to buildings has been around since the early 1900s. Within the past twenty years, stucco has been replacing other types of siding such as vinyl or brick because of its economical cost and aesthetic appeal. Currently, thousands of homes, neighborhoods, and businesses across America use stucco as their choice of siding, which has been on the rise since its recent modern inception.

Colder temperatures lead to frozen pipes, and a frozen pipe often bursts. It’s a good idea to know the steps to take if a pipe bursts in your building, and how to address the issue for insurance purposes. Here are some tips to help you along the way.

If you’ve just had fire damage to your commercial property, you’re probably already filed a claim with your insurance company. Before you get to far into the claim process, there are some important points to consider.

It may seem like you would know when a roof collapse has happened (and when you could claim it on your insurance policy). But when you think about it, roof collapse is more of a process than a single event. It doesn’t just collapse out of nowhere. The collapse begins when the roof shows signs of distress. Prolonged distress on the roof--from the elements, or time spent delaying repair the roof--may mean collapse is imminent, even if the roof is still intact on the building. And of course, roof collapse is complete when the roof crumbles to the ground and has to be completely replaced.

Hurricane Matthew has finally dissipated and, assuming your family is safe to re-enter your property, the process of cleaning up the damage has begun. If you're among the one million plus population that moved to Florida within the last 10 years and never experienced a hurricane, you may be lost on how to move forward with the process of filing an insurance claim after Hurricane Matthew.

When your business premises is damaged by an insured cause of loss, there a number of reasons why you might decide to handle your own commercial property claim.

When a fire damages your commercial building, it sets into motion a complicated recovery cycle that can takes months to complete. Assessing the damage is just the beginning, but if you don’t get that part right, the entire recovery process can become more complicated than it has to be.

Settling a commercial property insurance claim is a complex transaction. Though your first impulse after a catastrophe may be to do whatever it takes to alleviate the loss and get back to business as usual, that rarely results in getting you the best settlement. This is definitely a situation where haste makes waste, as accepting an insurance adjuster’s opinions, or your insurer’s first offer of settlement, will likely lead to a settlement that is far below the figure you deserve.