Q. I serve on a COA Board and we recently had a fire. Our property manager is telling us the contractor will handle everything, while some of us want to talk to a public adjuster. What is your perspective?

Proud to be representing retailer insurance claims at Westshore Plaza after fire forces evacuation. Trying to get things settled without further complications.  https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/escalator-fire-forces-evacuations-at-westshore-plaza/1966197558

Our public adjuster offices settle many claims each month. Here is one written up by our Pittsburgh Public Adjuster, Mr. Zach Flora. It’s a good lesson about digging into the details and taking charge of your claim. On August 25th a Pittsburgh family of 3 were away enjoying a fun filled family vacation when they received a call from a neighbor that quickly turned their sunshine to clouds. The neighbor called with the horrible news that their garage door was mysteriously open and water was pouring out onto the driveway. 

Policyholders who experienced any type of water intrusion from Hurricane Michael may experience mold infiltration. When claims are delayed and repairs put on hold, it can become a real problem because mold can grow unseen for months and create a serious health hazard. Coming to an agreement with your insurance company on how to deal with mold can create major disagreements due to the fact that certain “fixes” can be expensive. So make sure you understand all your options.

The 2019 Windstorm Conference held at the Walt Disney Dolphin Resort hotel was a new milestone on several fronts. This year was the 20^th anniversary of an organization that was founded based on the realization that claims professionals from all different professional disciplines can meet, exchange and debate ideas, and help to formulate best practices to help insured policyholders struggling to recover from catastrophic events. 

A historic deep freeze is gripping the US with sub-zero temperatures and even more serious wind chill factors. With it will come unprecedented frozen pipe bursts, iced dams and roof collapses that will cause extensive property damage and loss to personal property or business inventory.  As for homeowners, if you discover a leak, turn your water off, call in a reputable plumber, inform your insurance company of the damage and get their agreement to fix and pay for the damage before hiring a reputable clean-up company.    

As Hurricane Michael damage recovery moves into the new year, we continue get deluged with property insurance claim questions from frustrated policyholders. Right now, we seem to be at the stage where policyholders have received settlement offers they feel are too low to fix their damage or where property owners feel their insurance company is not being responsive. This is especially true with commercial claims and the business community in the Panhandle as evidence in this article Local Businesses Say Insurance is Taking Too Long on Claims. Now there’s a good way to kill off the small business community!

Happy New Year to all our readers! Before the holiday season gets past us, I want to commend Florida Public Adjuster, Michael Platts who embodies the spirit of holiday giving. For several years, Mike has donated to Metropolitan Ministries in Tampa. This year, after being alerted that the they were in need of gifts for young teens, Mike donated 30+ mixed media art supply sets and made some kids and their family’s holiday. Giving back has always been a hallmark if Mike’s personality. Thank you Mike!  

A lot of properties that experienced Hurricane Michael losses are starting to have Law & Ordinance issues. Law & Ordinance kicks in when the Florida and local building code requirements impact what will be required in order to obtain a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) in order to reoccupy the damaged structure. It is a separate coverage in your policy that you must elect and covers some of the cost of required code upgrades. If your property (be it commercial or residential) suffers a loss where the cost of repairs is greater than 50% of the pre-loss value of the real property, your repairs must incorporate current building code upgrades.

This is about the time in the insurance claims settlement cycle that we start getting calls from property owners living in condos, who are looking for help following property damage to their building that impacted their unit. This often takes the form of damage to the unit owner’s property, including their personal property as well as items such as carpet, other types of floor covering, trim items such as door frames, baseboards, cabinets and the list goes on depending on the type and severity of the damage and the wording in their condominium documents. When a covered casualty event occurs, whether it is from wind, water, fire, or the dreaded “mold” word, the finger pointing starts and in many cases the unit owner is caught in the middle.