This is a situation where we may be able to help. First we would want to arrange an inspection with you and ideally with your contractor. A review of your property insurance contract would be in order to determine coverage, exclusions, limitations, conditions, etc. Do you have ordinance and law coverage for example? Will the building department require you to replace the whole roof because it is damaged and does not meet current code? Based on our/your contractor’s assessment can an argument be made for replacement under your property insurance policy? Will a roof consultant/other expert be needed? Each case is unique with its own set of evidence. But this is a case that we would want to assess in person and then let you know our opinion firsthand. If agreement as to amount cannot be reached with your insurance carrier then a formal appraisal process may be an option.
Without your professional expertise, we would not have known how to assemble our claim or properly document it, nor would we have known what to ask for. Your efforts resulted in an outcome that not only justified your fee, but more importantly helped us get back to business.
– Bahamas Hotel Resort
Understanding Hurricane & Wind Damage
About Hurricane Insurance Claims: Typically a property insurance policy covers direct physical damage from windstorm. If direct physical damage is obvious, such as entire roofs/walls or portions of roofs/walls blown away, then a coverage determination becomes easy. Then the major concern of the property owner becomes, “What is the full value of repair or replacement to make me whole again?” Business owners will suffer down time creating the need to document business interruption losses. Homeowners will want to know where they will live while their home is being repaired. Not only is the building loss a concern, but business inventory losses and personal property damage frequently become a major portion of the windstorm damage insurance claim. Sometimes however, the damage from a covered peril is not so obvious. The expert public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates can point you in the right direction.
What about water damage resulting from a windstorm event? One must always look to the specific policy language of the loss in question. Typically, if the windstorm event causes a breach (break) in the building envelope (that is, the roof or walls) and water comes into the building due to that breach, then you have coverage. This would include water damage to the building itself, such as drywall damage, particle board expansion, electrical damage, mold, etc. Water damage to contents would also typically be included as part of the loss. Wind driven rain can also be very problematic in a hurricane as many insurance companies will not pay unless there is a breach or opening in a structure. Tutwiler and Associates has helped property insurance policyholders involved in every hurricane since 1984 and as many or more tropical storms, tornadoes and severe windstorms for the last 32 years. And remember, during a declared state-of-emergency in Florida, Public Adjuser fees are capped at 10% of the loss amount. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Let the experience and expertise of our public adjusters pay off for you. Tell us about your insurance claim.
More people live and work around the United States coastline than at any other point in our history. Coupled with the ever increasing cost of scarce materials and labor following a catastrophic windstorm event makes exposure to hurricane events more severe than ever. Damage from hurricane events, especially in our coastline areas have high exposure to both windstorm and flood damage. This creates the wind vs. water controversies that fill our courtrooms following hurricane events. Why?
The primary reason is that property insurance contracts that do cover windstorms normally exclude the peril of flood, and flood policies cover flood but not the peril of windstorm. So what happens when a hurricane damages properties, especially near our coastlines? Will the windstorm carriers and the flood carriers point fingers at each other, and leave you, the policyholder, caught in the middle. Our experience is if you have a loss from wind and flood you need to be prepared to prove which caused what part of your damage. Note that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), part of FEMA, underwrites the flood policies. How does one sort out this controversy? The public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates frequently become part of this equation to assist policyholders in sorting out what is wind and what is flood.
What can you expect if a severe storm hits your area and what will the insurance claim enviornment be like? Read Hurricane Disaster Planning – Suggesstions from an Insurance Claim Expert
Some Florida Hurricane History
Most property insurance contracts cover the peril of windstorm to include tornado, hurricane, tropical storm and even wind storm damage associated with thunderstorms. A notable exception occurred in the post-loss environment following Hurricane Andrew in 1992. In Florida, most if not all carriers sought to limit their exposure to windstorm peril from hurricanes by creating high percentage hurricane deductibles in their policies. If you’d like more detail on understanding the impact these percentage deductibles can have on you, please view our complimentary article on Understanding Hurricane Percentage Deductibles. Some insurance companies would not even write coverage and others withdrew from the State in total or set up what was called “PUP” companies in an attempt to limit the parent company liability. These “PUP” companies would only be on the hook for the policies they sold. If they could not pay claims, their organizational structure would limit the parent company’s liability beyond the assets of the “PUPs.” Properties in a high wind zone area often became uninsurable which forced many homeowners in Florida to seek windstorm coverage with the quasi-governmental carrier, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
If you would like help with your wind or hurricane damage insurance claim and want to understand your options, give us a call at 813-412-8357 or contact us.
FAQs About Hurricane & Windstorm
Maybe. A determination would need to be made whether or not you purchased a sign coverage endorsement or not. Typically carriers write the basic building policy and seek to exclude accessories like signs, awnings, antennae’s, etc, unless you have paid an additional premium and added a specific item by endorsement. In all cases it pays to read your policy.
First of all, Tutwiler and Associates has one of the best track records when it comes to handling windstorm losses on behalf of condominium associations. A quick review of our success stories on our web site will vouch for that. We understand the special problems and needs of condo associations and in fact are gold members of the Community Association Institute. We will work with you to bring together the right team of professionals to document your windstorm losses and perfect your claim. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss options.
Yes, in this situation we would recommend several things. After a review of your policy to determine the coverage’s available, we would then want to complete our own building damage assessment and compare it with both the contractors and insurance company assessments. If it is determined that the carriers estimate is deficient, then, with your permission, we would pursue them on your behalf. We would want to complete a contents inventory with you. If you have a lot of contents, then this can be a lengthy and time-consuming endeavor but it can generally pay off for you. Obviously photographic documentation would be made. As far as your temporary apartment, this typically falls under loss of use and/or fair rental value and/or additional living expense coverage in your policy. It would depend on your specific policy language, but in general, these coverage’s are limited to a maximum amount and time and the expense must be incurred by you after that limit is reached. Some policies have language to the effect that they will only pay for the temporary living quarters for the reasonable repair time it takes to repair your home. That can be a subjective determination.
Prior to the 2004/2005 hurricanes their was a section of Florida primary in the then high wind zone of Dade Broward Monroe and Palm Beach counties where there was a wind/paint exclusion. After 04/05 we stared to see these endorsement added to all coastal areas. This can be big expense particularly to large structures like condo towers. It is very likely that your policy has a provision that will not allow you to use this excluded cost to apply as an offset for the large hurricane deductible. This is added insult to injury in our opinion.
It depends. If inspection of your building reveals a breach in your roof membrane that allowed water to enter the building, for example, then you should have coverage. If on the other hand, it is determined that you simply have a wear and tear or maintenance type problem not caused by a windstorm, then typically your policy will exclude this type of loss.
This is a term that has been added to most property policies following litigation in California that provided coverage for a loss when one cause of a loss was covered and the other cause that was excluded occurred more or less at the same time. The courts said the whole loss was covered if one part was covered. The anti-concurrent causation clause was added to try and preclude this result. This issue was litigated in Hurricane Katrina with “slab losses” were a structure was washed /blown away. Expect to hear a great deal more about this controversial term in the next big wind/flood event.
