Fire losses are one of the most common perils covered under your insurance policy. Negotiating your way through this type of devastation takes its toll more so than other perils due to the sheer magnitude of damage to your building and personal or business property, which many times leaves little to salvage.
THE SHIRT ON YOUR BACK
Although other perils can be highly devastating, a substantial fire can literally leave you with the shirt on your back, or outside your home clad in pajamas watching your home burn along with thousands of your belongings.
SECONDARY DAMAGES
Of course water damage and humidity resulting from fire suppression methods, as well as smoke containing volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) find their way into every crevice of your living and storage areas, as well as your protective storage containers (Tot’s).
BUILDING DAMAGE
We will account for the quality of your building materials and the appropriate cost of the skilled tradespersons you are entitled to. In order to assure quality construction costs we also account for your general contractor’s overhead and profit, which should include, but not be not limited to their legal requirements to provide employee health, welfare and benefits, which many carrier adjusters reduce or altogether omit from their damage assessments causing policyholders to deal with contractor shortfalls.
WE NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR DAMAGES
Our initial building damage assessments along with any supplemental damages discovered during the course of your reconstruction project will never fall short of what you are entitled to, nor will your settlement force you to retain the services of a sub-standard construction firm unfamiliar with the high cost of repairing and or retrofitting older fire damaged structures.
PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE
Our personnel are trained to sift through, identify and document your contents. Insurance adjusters won’t pay for damages to property that they can’t identify. If you don’t have receipts for what you are claiming, you may not be compensated for missing or unidentifiable hi priced items, however we may be able to assist you in proving what you owned.
OUR WAY
Please ask us to review past examples of our detailed building and personal property estimating methods, that shock insurance company adjusters who habitually bulk estimate policyholder damages and allow thousands of dollars of your undocumented property to be disposed of.
PROPERTY POTENTIALLY INELIGIBLE FOR COVERAGE OR REPLACEMENT COST
Your carrier may exclude “replacement cost value” (RCV) and settled at “actual cash value” (ACV) for your property (i.e. items listed below). In addition, carriers are revising their policy terms and conditions in order to further reduce their financial liability by limiting the value of groups of items and or all together excluding them from coverage.
- Antiques, fine arts, paintings and similar items of rarity or antiquity which cannot be replaced.
- Memorabilia, souvenirs, collector’s items and similar items whose age or history contribute to their value.
- Items that they deem are not well maintained or in good working order.
- Items their adjusters deem are outdated, obsolete and or are stored and not being regularly used.
- Items that are stored in basements, attic’s, garages and or shed or on premise storage sheds / container’s.
GET HELP
If you have a loss of any kind the first step in the right direction is to retain the legal representation from a reputable public adjusting firm who will report your claim correctly and then recommend trustworthy licensed and certified (IICRC) restoration company who will work hand and hand with your public adjuster to protect your interests by separating salvageable and non salvageable items for your public adjuster to photo document, price at an MSRP¹ and present every (individual) damaged item to your insurance carrier for their adjustment and depreciation values.
AN INEXPERIENCED OR LAZY ADJUSTER CAN CAUSE YOU TO LOSE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN POLICY BENEFITS.
No one relishes the thought of darning a breathing element and Tyvek protective clothing to wade through burnt, wet, mold and or smoke contaminated contents in order to photograph and individually identify your personal property, but at CPAC that’s just what we do in order to obtain the replacement cost of thousands of our clients damaged items.
Heavy Mitigation Attire
Post Mitigation Protocols
BULK ESTIMATING vs. INDIVIDUAL ITEMIZATION
It is a daunting task, which requires expertise and dedication. Every damaged item in your home has a value, which can add up to tens of thousands of insurance dollar benefits. Unlike most adjusters and their inventory vendors, we do not bulk estimate your property. Every item, regardless of its size and or value is photo documented and researched for the preparation and presentation of your claim.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT, SECURITY & RESTORATION VENDORS
The moment we are retained we can recommend a number of competing vendors to secure your property while you remove your valuables. We can also recommend a number of certified restoration firms who will assist in separating your damaged and salvageable property under our supervision. Our IICRC certified vendors will perform their duties in accordance with strict industry protocols and will have your best interest in mind by not cutting corners as many preferred insurance company vendors do.
INSURANCE INDUSTRY FACTS
It is a known industry fact that many insurance company preferred restoration vendors agree to accept less than the going published rate in exchange for a much higher volume of work. The result of this arrangement has been known to affect the quality of work policyholders receive.
CUTTING COSTS & VOIDING PRODUCT WARRANTEES
Carrier vendors typically follow cleaning and restoration protocols recommended by unqualified insurance company adjusters looking to cut costs for their employers. There are also many insurance company preferred electronics and appliance repair vendors who are not authorized by the products manufacturer to repair or restore you electronics and disassembling will likely void a manufacturer’s warranty.
ADVERSE CONDITIONS & EXPOSURES NOT INTENDED THAT VOID A MANUFACTURERS WARRANTEE
There are also many insurance company preferred electronics and appliance repair vendors who are not authorized by the products manufacturer to repair or restore you electronics and disassembling them or applying cleaning techniques will likely void a manufacturer’s warranty and may be dangerous.
PRODUCT LIABILITY
If your electronic devices were exposed to heat, smoke particle contaminants and or moisture, it makes sense that the manufacturer of that device will not only void the warranty, but they would not want the responsibility or liability if their product created a danger (fire) after being exposed to conditions not intended when manufacturing their electronic devices.
¹ MSRP- Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price. Carriers instruct their claims personnel to estimate your losses by seeking out the lowest website sale price and then depreciating each items value based upon its age and condition prior to your loss.
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