Insurance

All four perils run through the same claim. Four facts decide most outcomes, and nobody you talk to on day one has a reason to explain any of them.

This applies across all four perils: water, fire and smoke, mold, and biohazard.

The four facts #Link to this section

1. Flood is excluded from standard homeowners policies. Flood means rising external water and is covered separately through NFIP or private flood insurance. A burst pipe is not flood.
2. Mold coverage is usually sublimited — often a small fraction of the dwelling limit — and frequently excluded entirely when it results from long-term neglect rather than a covered peril.
3. Additional living expense pays for temporary housing, and is the single most under-claimed coverage in fire losses.
4. An assignment of benefits transfers claim control to the contractor, and is routinely presented for signature before scope is discussed.

Mitigation is not repair #Link to this section

The emergency phase — extraction, drying, board-up, removing unsalvageable material — is a different scope from putting the building back together, and is frequently paid separately. Being handed a single number for “the whole job” on day one is a reason to ask more questions, not fewer.

Sudden and accidental, versus gradual #Link to this section

Property policies generally respond to losses that are sudden and accidental, and generally do not respond to deterioration that developed over months. A pipe that failed on Tuesday and a fitting that has been weeping since spring are treated very differently, even when the visible damage looks identical.

This distinction is where a large share of denials originate, and it is why the timeline of when the water started matters as much as the damage itself.

What this site will not do #Link to this section

We do not predict claim outcomes, and we do not advise whether to sign an assignment of benefits. Both are decisions that depend on your policy, your state and your circumstances. What we do is explain what the documents do and what to ask.

Insurance is state law. Every right, deadline, sublimit and assignment rule on this site cites a state department or statute and carries a dated jurisdiction notice.