HARD KNOCKSCONSULTING
Where These Files Are Lost
The fire is the smallest part of the argument
Almost nobody disputes that a fire happened. The disputes are about how far its effects travelled, whether affected material can be cleaned, and what the four separate coverages actually owe.
Smoke treated as a cleaning problem
Smoke is a chemical event, not a layer of dust. Combustion products penetrate porous material, and protein smoke from a kitchen fire, synthetic smoke from burning plastics, and wood smoke all behave differently, deposit differently, and off-gas differently. Whether a material can be cleaned or has to be replaced is a materials question — and it is nearly always answered in the carrier’s favor by default.
HVAC and cavity contamination
Return air distributes smoke through the whole structure within minutes, and it settles inside ductwork, insulation, and wall cavities far from the fire. A file limited to the visibly charred rooms is a file that ignores where the smoke actually went.
Suppression water, unaccounted for
Fire departments introduce thousands of gallons under pressure. That is a water loss inside the fire loss, with its own removal and drying scope, and it is frequently absorbed into a lump-sum structure number instead of being scoped as the separate work it is.
Contents settled by a room-count guess
Contents deserve an itemized inventory with age, condition, and replacement pricing. Blanket per-room allowances routinely settle for a fraction of actual value, and the depreciation applied to the list is often both unexplained and unsupported.
The File
What a defensible fire file contains
Fire claims are the largest files a homeowner will ever have, and the most complex to substantiate. What follows is roughly the order the work happens in.
Cause and origin, and its coverage consequences
What started it matters, because some causes trigger subrogation against a manufacturer or contractor and some invite a coverage investigation. Get the official report and read it before adopting anyone else’s characterization of the event.
A documented smoke survey
Room by room, surface by surface, with the type of residue and its extent recorded. This is the basis for every clean-versus-replace decision downstream, and no such decision is defensible without it.
Testing where testing is warranted
Air sampling, surface sampling, and independent industrial hygiene assessment when the extent of contamination is contested. An outside report is far harder for a carrier to write off than a contractor’s opinion.
An itemized contents inventory
Every item, with age, purchase price, condition, and current replacement cost. Tedious, unavoidable, and consistently the difference between a fair contents settlement and a token one. Photographs and pre-loss records help enormously if they exist.
Code and ordinance-and-law analysis
A substantial fire rebuild pulls in current code: egress, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, electrical service, insulation and energy requirements, and sometimes structural changes. These are payable under ordinance-and-law coverage up to its limit, and they must be identified and priced to be paid.
Additional living expense, tracked from day one
Rent, furniture rental, storage, increased food costs, pet boarding, extra commuting. ALE is a separate coverage with its own limit and time period, and it is underused because nobody tells the policyholder to keep receipts on the first day.
A rebuild estimate written as construction, not cleanup
Demolition, structural repair, mechanical and electrical rough-in, finishes, permits, general conditions, and general contractor overhead and profit. A fire rebuild is general contracting, and the estimate has to reflect that.
Questions We Get
Fire and smoke claim questions
If yours is not here, ask it on the review form — it gets answered directly.
The carrier wants to clean and seal instead of replacing. Can they?
Sometimes cleaning and encapsulation is legitimate; often it is not. The test is whether the material can be restored to pre-loss condition, and for many porous materials with penetrated residue it cannot. This is where independent testing pays for itself, because it converts a disagreement of opinion into a documented finding.
How does additional living expense actually work?
Your policy pays the necessary increase in living costs while the home is uninhabitable, up to the coverage limit and often subject to a time limit. It pays the increase, not your entire new rent — so a good ALE claim is a well-kept ledger. Start it the first night and keep every receipt.
Do I have to accept the depreciation they applied to my contents?
Depreciation should reflect actual age and condition, item by item, and it should be explained. Blanket percentages across an entire inventory are challengeable. If you carry replacement cost coverage on contents, the held-back depreciation is recoverable when you replace the items — which many policyholders are never clearly told.
Can I use my own contractor?
Yes. You are entitled to choose who rebuilds your home. What matters more is that the estimate your contractor writes and the estimate the carrier writes are comparable documents, in the same platform and format, so the differences can be resolved line by line rather than argued as totals.
The carrier is investigating me. What now?
Large fire losses draw scrutiny, including recorded statements, document demands, and sometimes an examination under oath. Cooperate — the policy requires it — but understand that an examination under oath is a formal proceeding and it is reasonable to have representation before it happens.
Where We Work
Fire and smoke claims by county
Related losses: water damage from suppression efforts, and roof damage where venting or collapse opened the structure to weather.
Fire & Smoke Claims
The largest claim of your life, handled once
Send whatever the carrier has produced so far. Fire files are the ones where early representation changes the outcome most, and the review costs nothing.
HARD KNOCKS CONSULTING
220 South Main Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
(947) 241-2950
stanley@hardknocksconsulting.com
State of Michigan — statewideNPN 20573993