The complete guide to a property-insurance claim

Most guides to a storm claim are a checklist. A claim is not a checklist: it is a negotiation with a counterparty that has a financial interest in paying less, governed by a contract most people have never read and deadlines that do not forgive. This page walks the whole path in order, and behind every stage sits a deeper guide, a tool, or a local page. Start at your stage; the map runs the rest of the way.

Prepare: the policy and the paper trail

The strongest claims are half-built before the storm forms. Two things decide how a future claim goes: knowing what your policy actually covers, and being able to prove what the property looked like before the wind hit. Both are free to do now and expensive to lack later.

Pull your declarations page and find three numbers: your dwelling limit, your all-other-perils deductible, and your separate hurricane deductible (often 2% to 5% of the dwelling limit, not a flat dollar amount). Then walk the property with a phone camera: every room, every roof slope you can safely see, the exterior on all sides. Timestamped, pre-loss photos are the counter-evidence to every "pre-existing damage" argument a carrier will later make. Our before-the-storm checklist and the coverage library cover both, and the deductible calculator turns that percentage into a real dollar figure.

Document the loss

Once it is safe, document everything before you touch it. Photograph and video every damaged area from wide and close, room by room and slope by slope, with a scale reference in frame where you can. Keep a running inventory of damaged contents with rough ages and values. You are allowed, and expected, to make reasonable temporary repairs to prevent further damage (tarping a roof, stopping a leak); keep the receipts and photograph the damage first.

The evidence you gather now answers the causation fights later. Our photo protocol is the shot list; documenting roof damage covers the plane-by-plane method that survives an aerial-photo challenge; tree damage has its own rules; and the photo guide tool walks you through it on your phone.

File the claim

Give the carrier prompt written notice: a phone call starts the clock, but put it in writing and keep a copy. From the first contact, keep a claim log: every call, every name, every date, every promise. When the field adjuster comes, be present, share your documentation, and take your own photos of what they inspect. If the storm made your home unlivable, your policy's additional living expenses (ALE) coverage may pay for temporary housing; keep those receipts too.

The mechanics, step by step, are in how to file and the after-the-storm sequence; ALE / loss of use covers temporary housing; and sample letters give you the written record templates. If you want to know how your specific carrier tends to handle claims, the carrier dossiers collect the public record: NAIC codes, financial status, claims contacts, and the dispute types their policyholders report.

Read your policy: what is actually covered

Every claim is decided against the words in your policy, so this is where the real work is. The two clauses that drive most storm disputes are the perils (what caused the damage: wind is covered, flood usually is not) and the exclusions (wear and tear, mold sub-limits, anti-concurrent-cause lead-ins). Water splits the policy: wind-driven rain through a storm-breached roof is typically covered by your homeowners policy, while rising surface water and storm surge fall under a separate flood policy.

Deductibles and how the payout is calculated

Two numbers turn a covered loss into an actual check. First, the deductible: hurricane claims usually trigger a separate percentage hurricane deductible (2% to 5% of the dwelling limit) which on a $400,000 home is $8,000 to $20,000 before the carrier pays a cent. Second, the valuation method: a replacement-cost (RCV) policy pays to rebuild with like kind and quality, but often holds back depreciation until repairs are actually done, while an actual-cash-value (ACV) policy pays the depreciated figure and stops there.

The gap between those two is where a lot of underpayment hides. The deductible calculator gives you the real dollar figure for your policy, and depreciation & the holdback shows how to recover money the carrier is holding back, and how to spot a depreciation figure that is simply too aggressive.

Denied or underpaid? Answer the argument

A denial letter is not a ruling: it is the carrier's opening argument, a paragraph of policy language applied to facts gathered in one site visit. A low payment is the same thing in a different form. Both are answerable, and both reverse on evidence rather than on complaint. The denials library takes the most common arguments apart, one guide each, with the counter-evidence that beats each one.

Roof claims run on their own rules: the roofs silo reads each material's damage signature. The full library, ranked by which arguments fail first on scrutiny, lives on the denials hub.

Appraisal, mediation, and the DOI complaint

When you and the carrier disagree, you rarely have to go straight to court. There is a ladder, and each rung is cheaper and faster than the one above it. Start with a written internal appeal that attaches your evidence. If the disagreement is about the amount of a covered loss, most policies contain an appraisal clause: each side names an appraiser, the two pick an umpire, and they set the number outside of litigation. State programs add another rung: Florida's Department of Financial Services runs a mediation program, and both states take Department of Insurance complaints.

Our mediation & appraisal guide walks the ladder step by step, and the claim timelines show how long each carrier response is supposed to take. Appraisal resolves amount disputes; it does not resolve whether a loss is covered at all. That stays a legal question.

Bad faith: when the carrier crosses the line

An insurer owes its policyholder a duty of good faith. When a carrier denies without a reasonable basis, drags a clear claim past the deadlines, lowballs against its own adjuster's findings, or misrepresents policy terms, that can cross from an ordinary dispute into bad faith: a separate wrong with its own remedies. In Florida the path runs through the statutory civil remedy (Fla. Stat. § 624.155) and the unfair-claim-practices list (§ 626.9541), and it usually requires filing a Civil Remedy Notice first. South Carolina recognizes bad-faith claims at common law alongside its improper-claim-practices statute (S.C. Code Title 38, Chapter 59).

Bad faith is fact-specific and lawyer territory: it is not a DIY step. Our bad-faith silo breaks it down: the Florida civil remedy (§ 624.155), the Civil Remedy Notice, and South Carolina bad faith (§ 38-59). If your file has the markers (unreasonable denial, unexplained delay, a payment far below the documented damage), that is the point to get a free attorney case review. These statutes are summarized for general information; the elements, notice requirements, and time limits are strict. Confirm them with a licensed attorney before relying on any of it.

Get help: adjuster, contractor, or attorney

Three professionals help with a claim, and matching the right one to your fight saves money. A public adjuster works for you and negotiates the value of a covered claim for a percentage of the recovery. A contractor scopes and prices the repair; read any assignment-of-benefits paperwork before you sign it. An attorney is the right call when coverage is denied, the carrier acts in bad faith, or the dispute becomes legal. None of these directories is vetted or ranked: professionals are listed by public license, and you should verify anyone yourself.

Commercial, condo, and HOA claims

Businesses and community associations run on different rules. A condominium splits between the association master policy and each unit owner's HO-6, and the master deductible passes back to owners as a special assessment. Businesses carry business-interruption coverage for lost income during the shutdown. The commercial hub covers each property type; condo & HOA claims maps the master-policy split; and business interruption covers lost-income claims.

Local claim pages

Deadlines, wind zones, building-code offices, and county resources are local. City pages carry the neighborhood-level detail for the hardest-hit markets, for example Miami, Tampa, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach.

The complete-guide FAQ

Not legal advice. Statutes, deadlines, and figures on this page are summaries as of July 2026; exceptions apply and your policy wording controls. Confirm anything you rely on against the current statute and your own policy, or have a licensed attorney do it.