When a storm goes through, the damage you can see is rarely the whole story. What you do in the first day or two often has more bearing on the final settlement than anything that happens later in the claim.
Here is what we tell property owners across Laois, Kilkenny, Carlow, Tipperary, Kildare, Waterford and Offaly when they ring us the morning after.
1. Make the property safe first
Nothing in a claim is worth an injury. Stay clear of loose slates, damaged chimney stacks and anything near overhead cables, and keep children and animals away from the affected area. If the building looks structurally unsound, treat it as unsafe until somebody qualified says otherwise.
2. Photograph everything before you touch it
This is the single most useful thing you can do. Take far more photos than you think you need — wide shots that show the whole elevation, then close-ups of individual damage. Include the date on your phone camera if you can.
Video walking around the outside of the property is even better. Insurers and their loss adjusters assess what they can see, and once a temporary repair goes on, the evidence of what was underneath is gone.
3. Prevent further damage — and keep every receipt
Most policies place a duty on you to take reasonable steps to prevent the loss getting worse. A tarpaulin over a breached roof, or boarding a broken window, is expected of you.
Keep the receipts for anything you spend doing it. Emergency materials, an out-of-hours contractor, a skip — these are normally recoverable as part of the claim, but only if you can evidence them.
4. Do not throw anything away
Damaged carpets, furniture and fittings are proof of loss. Move them out of the way if you must, but keep them until they have been inspected and recorded. A cleared-out room is very difficult to claim for.
5. Report the claim, but do not guess at figures
Notify your insurer promptly — most policies require it. What you should not do is put a number on the damage over the phone before anyone has properly surveyed it.
An early guess tends to anchor the whole claim, and it is almost always low, because the hidden damage has not been found yet. Water tracking into wall cavities, saturated insulation and heat-damaged roof timbers do not announce themselves on day one. It is perfectly reasonable to say the extent is not yet established.
Where we come in
The insurer appoints a loss adjuster to act for them. You have the same right to appoint your own independent loss assessor to act for you — to survey the property, prepare the costed schedule, and negotiate the scope on your behalf.
We inspect free of charge and there is no fee unless your claim settles. If a storm has damaged your property, call us on 085 818 6980 before the repairs start.