An insurance claim after a storm in Port Charlotte is only as strong as the paperwork being filed. The strongest version is one dated file assembled a page at a time, with each deadline Florida sets attached to a page. The Department of Financial Services asks you to report the claim to your insurance agent as soon as possible, to take pictures of the damage, and to keep damaged property in place until the company has inspected it. Your policy requires that you have the temporary repairs done immediately that stop further damage, so get them made and keep the receipts. Our crew at PRG Roofing & Construction Inc. works out of Fort Myers, and the roof itself is the part of that file we build for you.
The First Page Is The Date Of Loss
Write the date of the storm above your address at the top of the first page. Florida Statute 627.70132 gives you one year from that date of loss to give your insurer notice of a claim or a reopened claim, in accordance with the terms of your policy. Notice given after that is barred. A supplemental claim has a longer window of 18 months from that same date. Your own policy may ask for notice far sooner, so this date is the number every other page hangs on.
The Photo Set You Take From The Ground
The next pages are photographs, taken from the ground when it is safe. Photograph or video every damaged area before anything gets moved, including the interior stains and the soaked drywall. Read your declarations page and copy the deductible into the file before anyone talks about money. Date every image the day you take it.
The Acknowledgment And The Insurer’s Calendar
Once your insurance claim goes in, the file starts gaining pages the insurer writes. Florida Statute 627.70131 sets the insurer’s calendar, and the deadlines noted below have been in force since March 1, 2023. It gives the insurer seven calendar days to acknowledge a communication about the claim. That acknowledgment goes in the file with the date it arrived. The insurer then has seven days from your proof of loss statements to begin the investigation reasonably necessary for the claim.
The Inspection Date And The Pay Or Deny Letter
Any physical inspection must occur within 30 days of your proof of loss statements, and the date an adjuster walks the roof has its own page. Within 60 days after notice of an initial, reopened, or supplemental claim, the insurer must pay or deny the claim or a portion of it, and that letter is the last page the statute schedules. Factors beyond the insurer’s control are the stated exception to each of those windows. Florida Statute 627.70131(5) lets the Office of Insurance Regulation extend that period by up to 30 additional days after the Governor declares a state of emergency.
The Roof Pages Our Crew Adds
The insurer’s inspection record belongs to the insurer. The file our crew builds belongs to you, and it covers every slope, flashing, and penetration on the roof. Our crew climbs the roof, photographs each failure point, and pairs every close shot with a wide one that locates the finding, so every written cause has an address and a date. We tarp what is open so wind driven rain stops adding to the loss.
Who May Prepare The Claim Itself
One set of pages in this file is licensed work, and Florida names who may hold it. Under Florida Statute 626.854, a public adjuster is a person who, for money or anything of value, prepares, completes, or files an insurance claim for an insured or a third-party claimant. Being paid is what triggers that definition, so your own claim stays yours to file, while paid work on someone else’s claim belongs to an attorney or a licensed and appointed public adjuster. A licensed roofing contractor holds a different license and does a different job. The roof record goes into your hands, and the claim itself stays with you and with whoever you license to hold it.
The Page You Never Sign
Florida Statute 489.147 prohibits a contractor from offering a residential property owner a rebate, gift card, cash, coupon, a waiver of any insurance deductible, or any other thing of value in exchange for allowing a roof inspection or for making a roof damage claim. Every roofing contract with a residential owner must carry written notice of that prohibition, and must tell you in bold of at least 14 points, on your signature page, to contact your insurance company to verify coverage. An offer like that belongs in your file only as a note about who made it, with the signature line left empty.
Starting The File On The Day Of Loss
The record of your roof is the piece of this you own outright, and it’s worth having in hand early. For questions about your rights or your coverage, the Department of Financial Services Insurance Consumer Helpline is 1-877-693-5236, and the department also runs a non binding mediation program for disputed residential claims. Phone PRG Roofing & Construction Inc. at (239) 237-2906 and ask for a documented storm damage assessment, and our crew will hand you dated photographs, a written cause behind each one, and a repair scope that goes straight into your file.
