HARD KNOCKSCONSULTING
Local Conditions
Three markets in one city
The building type tells you which argument is coming before you look at the estimate.
Old Town, REO Town, and the Eastside
Pre-1940 housing on original laterals, with wood windows, shallow porch roofs, and plaster interiors. Depreciation and pre-existing-condition arguments arrive early on these files, and both are answerable with documentation of actual condition.
Campus-adjacent rentals
Heavily rented on the academic calendar, with the revenue consequences that implies. Loss of rents, tenant-caused damage, and winter-break freeze losses are the recurring three, and the freeze claims turn on the heat exception rather than on the damage.
Open-terrain wind and hail
Little natural windbreak on the west and south edges means gusts reach full strength at the structure. Widespread seal failure and high hail hit density across all slopes are common, and both are easy to prove when somebody actually tests the roof.
Downtown commercial and mixed use
Office, retail, and government-adjacent property where a loss interrupts operations. Business income and extra expense belong in the claim and are frequently missing from it.
Areas Covered
Neighborhoods in Lansing
Across the city, East Lansing, and the surrounding townships.
Local Questions
Lansing claim questions
What comes up most on files here.
My rental was damaged and the tenants moved out. What can I claim?
The physical repair and the rent you lost while the unit was unusable. Document the lease, the rate, and the actual vacancy period. If the damage caused you to miss an annual lease turnover, say so with the lease in hand — the loss is the year, not the repair window.
A pipe burst while the house was empty between tenants.
Covered more often than carriers first suggest. The frozen-pipe exception generally requires both that the building was vacant or unoccupied and that heat was not maintained or the system not drained. A furnace that failed on its own, or heat that was running, does not meet it. Get thermostat and utility records now.
Wind took shingles off but they only paid for the missing ones.
That is a scope dispute, and the compromised area is almost always far larger than the missing area. Seal-strip testing slope by slope is what demonstrates it, and it is the documentation most first inspections skip entirely.
By Loss Type
How each loss gets fought in Lansing
The relevant loss pages: wind and storm, frozen pipes, and water and sewer backup.
Lansing
Rental calendars and untested roofs
Send the estimate, plus the lease if it is a rental. Both change the number more than most people expect.
HARD KNOCKS CONSULTING
220 South Main Street
Royal Oak, MI 48067
(947) 241-2950
stanley@hardknocksconsulting.com
State of Michigan — statewideNPN 20573993