Images

Some insurance companies are trying a new approach to settling home insurance claims. Now they are basing their settlement offers on just a few pictures of the damage.The main reason they are doing this, is ultimately it saves them time and money.

Unbelievably, insurers are now making their customer do more work, so they can do less. How? By making their policy holders email them photos of the damage to their home. Then, they will offer a cash settlement on the basis of what they can see in the photographs. Accepting a cash settlement without a full property damage assessment, isn’t a good idea. This is why we highly recommend that you do not accept a settlement without having a thorough assessment first.

Trying to cut costs by using office based Claims Handlers, is an awful way to deal with a claim. Instead, your insurance company should send out a Loss Adjuster to actually assess the damage.

Photos do not show the full extent of the damage – especially where water damage is concerned.

In our experience, office based Claims Handlers don’t have the same knowledge and experience to settle a claim as a Loss Adjuster. In addition, what’s really worrying, is that photographs wont show any damage beneath the surface. With water damaged properties in particular, this is a big problem. As, if a Loss Adjuster doesn’t actually see the damage, how can they be sure there is no damage beneath?

Here’s an example of what Loss Adjusters can overlook when settling home insurance claims.

IC Assist were called in to survey a water stained ceiling caused by a leak from the flat above. The Loss Adjuster and contractors that attended prior to us, were all proposing to just stain block and paint the ceiling.

During our survey of the property, we removed the kitchen plinth to assess the walls behind the cabinets. As suspected, there was significant mould and water damage to the walls in the kitchen and bedroom. Based on this, we believed the underside of the ceiling plasterboard was likely to be mouldy and saturated. After further investigation, the damage we discovered was so bad, we had to rehouse the tenant. Multiple layers of plasterboard, insulation and even the timber structure were compromised and required replacing.

So, if a Loss Adjuster and other contractors who actually surveyed the damage can overlook this amount of damage. How much hidden damage can an office based Claims handler miss? (Especially, if the base their settlement on ‘what they can see in the pictures’ you forward to them!

Let IC Assist assess the damage to your home, to ensure your insurer doesn’t overlook any necessary repairs.

If your insurance company ask you to send them images of the damage, then please give us a call before you do. As they may be settling home insurance claims in this manor too. As part of our FREE claims management service, IC Assist will forward high quality photographs to them. (But only after we complete a full assessment of the damage to your property.) Also, if there is any water damage, we’ll also take moisture meter readings too. These readings help determine what building materials we can dry and what we’ll need to be replace. In addition, we can also install our drying equipment. This will help stabilise moisture levels and prevent mould or any further damage to your property.

Call 0800 4337 290 now to get your FREE survey of the damage

We would like to share a thank you card we received for managing substantial water damage repairs to a ground floor flat. The message said:

“Thank you for all your hard work. We are so pleased with the flat”.

Sue got in touch as she needed our help with a large escape of water claim. She had a leak from her bath, which had been going on for some time. However, as the bath panel was tiled, she didn’t notice the water leaking from the waste pipe immediately. (It wasn’t until water tide marks appeared on walls throughout the flat, that she realised there was a problem.)

Unfortunately, by this stage the water had already tracked to every room! The concrete subfloors were all soaking wet. This was because the moisture couldn’t evaporate through the laminate flooring or tiles, keeping it trapped underneath. As the concrete became so saturated, it then started working its way up behind the skirting boards. Leaving behind a chalky wave line along the bottom of the walls.

The damage to this flat, could easily have been misinterpreted as rising damp. However, trace and access confirmed the damage was as a result of the escape of water from the bath.

Water damage repairs of this nature require a lot of preparation and drying.

Due to the extensive drying and repairs necessary, the property was uninhabitable. So we found alternative accommodation for this lovely couple, while we dried and restored their home. Finding Sue and Simon a temporary new home was all part of our free claims management service. (Their insurance company covered the cost to move and rehouse them.)

The first stage in restoring this property was stripping out the water damaged building materials. This not only involved removing all floor coverings. But it was also necessary to remove all the wall paper, so we could hack off all contaminated plaster back to the blockwork.

We then sanitised all affected areas and installed our drying equipment. Due to the amount of water that leaked throughout the property, it took over one month to completely dry.

Before re-plastering the walls, we applied a salt neutraliser to prevent the salts from re-appearing. We then fitted new flooring, skirting board and architrave throughout, before re-decorating every room. We also re-tiled the kitchen walls and floors and gave the bathroom a complete re-fit too!

The images above are just a snap shot of the hallway. You can view more photos of the damage to the other rooms and the repairs IC Assist completed on this water damage property refurbishment on Hometalk.

The couple were absolutely delighted with both our claims management service and the refurbishment of their flat. (Please see the image of the feedback they left us on our MyBuilder profile).

If you’re making a claim and need assistance with the repairs, just let IC Assist take care of everything.

Managing a water damage claim of this size and organising repairs would usually be a daunting and stressful task. However, this was not the case for Sue and Simon, as our FREE claims management service took care of everything. IC Assist handled all aspects of their claim. From dealing with the Loss Adjuster, to arranging alternative accommodation and then project managing the drying and restoration.

If you have an escape of water claim and would like some assistance, just give IC Assist a call on 0800 4337 290.