Summary. Ten sequences from the hour of the loss to a bad faith file, with every claim-killing deadline flagged.

1. Before any loss (do this today)

  • Walk the house with a phone camera, room by room, narrating contents.
  • Photograph exterior, roof, furnace, water heater, panel, and plumbing — dated.
  • Store all of it off-site (cloud or a relative's drive).
  • Read the declarations page and answer: replacement cost or ACV (structure and contents)? deductible, including any percentage wind/hurricane deductible? ordinance or law coverage? water backup? ALE limit and time cap? suit limitation period?
  • Locate the water shutoff, gas shutoff, and electrical panel; make sure everyone knows.
  • Keep the completed application with the policy.

2. Hour one

  • Safety first: gas, power, structural soundness.
  • Photograph and video everything before moving or cleaning anything.
  • Wide shots of every room; close-ups of every damaged item; serial numbers.
  • Photograph the source of the loss and preserve the failed component.
  • Photograph water lines, debris fields, and the direction things fell (causation evidence).
  • Call the insurer. Get the claim number, adjuster name, and direct line. Confirm by email.

3. Hours one to forty-eight — mitigate

  • Tarp, extract, board, shut off the supply.
  • Get water mitigation out immediately (mold coverage is usually sublimited).
  • Keep every receipt; ask whether emergency expenses will be advanced.
  • Do not make permanent repairs before inspection unless safety requires it.
  • Discard nothing — photograph exhaustively if you must, with a scale in frame.
  • Start the claim diary: date, time, who, what was said, what was sent.

4. Day one to week one — the policy and the deadlines

  • Request in writing a complete certified copy of the policy including all endorsements.
  • Check for catastrophe emergency orders if a disaster was declared — they can extend deadlines.
  • Identify: replacement cost vs. ACV; deductibles; ordinance or law; water backup; service line; mold sublimit; ALE limit and cap.
  • Locate the proof of loss requirement and its deadline.
  • Locate the appraisal clause.
  • Calendar the suit limitation period — often one or two years from the loss.
  • Call the mortgage lender's loss draft department and learn their disbursement process.

5. The adjuster inspection

  • Be present. Walk the whole property together.
  • Photograph everything the adjuster photographs.
  • Provide: your photographs and video with a written index; a room-by-room damage list; emergency expense receipts; any mitigation or contractor reports.
  • Ask and record answers: scope of damage? when will the written estimate arrive? covered in full, and if not which provision limits it? RCV or ACV? what do you need from me and by when?
  • Do not speculate about cause; "I don't know" is a safe and honest answer.
  • Do not sign a release or an assignment of benefits.
  • Ask before giving a recorded statement whether the policy requires it.

6. Valuation and contents

  • Obtain two or three itemized contractor estimates, by trade, with quantities and unit prices.
  • Compare line by line and check for: general contractor overhead and profit; code upgrades; debris removal; matching; realistic local pricing; access/protection/cleanup lines.
  • Send a written line-item comparison and request a supplement.
  • Build the contents inventory room by room — closets, drawers, garage, storage, pantry.
  • Reconstruct from photographs, receipts, card statements, and order histories.
  • Confirm the valuation basis for contents (often ACV even when the structure is RCV).
  • Check sublimits: jewelry, firearms, cash, furs, business property, electronics.
  • Track additional living expenses as the INCREASE, not the total; ask for advances; watch the time cap.

7. The conditions that forfeit claims

  • Prompt notice — given and documented.
  • Mitigation — done and documented.
  • Sworn proof of loss — submitted within the deadline (commonly 60 days of request), notarized, certified mail, with a written reservation to supplement.
  • If more time is needed, get the extension in writing — a verbal assurance is worthless.
  • Cooperate with the investigation; produce what the policy requires.
  • Suit limitation period calendared and protected.

8. The depreciation holdback

  • Confirm the policy is replacement cost.
  • Note the deadline to complete repairs (often 180 days or one year).
  • Complete the repairs.
  • Submit final invoices and photographs of completed work.
  • Request the holdback in writing, before the deadline.
  • Request an extension in writing if the work is delayed.

9. Appraisal

  • Confirm the dispute is about amount, not coverage.
  • Demand appraisal in writing, quoting the clause, naming your appraiser.
  • Choose an appraiser competent in this loss type and genuinely independent.
  • Understand the umpire usually decides and awards are hard to set aside.

10. Examination under oath

  • Retain counsel before responding.
  • Understand: refusal generally forfeits the claim.
  • Review your claim diary, proof of loss, and everything submitted — inconsistencies are the point.
  • Produce what the policy requires; object in writing through counsel to anything beyond it.
  • Answer accurately and briefly. A false statement can void the policy entirely.
  • Recognize the signal: the insurer is likely investigating fraud or building a denial.

11. Denial and escalation

  • Identify the exact policy provision relied on; demand it in writing if not stated.
  • Identify the factual basis and what evidence supported it.
  • Identify what the denial did not address — your evidence, your expert.
  • Respond in writing, point by point, with the contradicting evidence and a deadline.
  • Demand the report on which the denial rests (required in many states).
  • Escalate to a supervisor, by name, in writing.
  • File a department of insurance complaint — it forces a written response to a regulator but does not toll the suit limitation.

12. Building a bad faith file

  • The claim diary — every call, date, name, and promise.
  • The timeline of communications, requests, and responses, showing gaps.
  • Evidence the insurer did not investigate or ignored your evidence.
  • The insurer's own estimate, expert report, and engineer's drafts.
  • Every written request for the policy provision relied on, and every non-response.
  • Consequential harm: foreclosure, business loss, mold spread, medical effects, credit damage — documented.
  • Compare the conduct item by item against the state's unfair claims settlement practices act.
  • Note whether that statute provides a private right of action in your state.
  • Anticipate the genuine dispute / fairly debatable defense and address why the dispute was manufactured.

13. Getting help

  • Public adjuster for a large or complex loss — check licensure with the department of insurance; read the percentage, whether it applies to amounts already offered, and the cancellation right.
  • Contractor — never sign an assignment of benefits without understanding it.
  • Lawyer — for a denial, an EUO, an allegation of misrepresentation, unreasonable delay, large amounts, or an approaching suit limitation. Many take these on contingency and several states award fees to a prevailing insured.

14. If it is a health, disability, or life claim through an employer

  • Determine whether it is an ERISA plan. Employer-sponsored usually means yes.
  • If ERISA: no bad faith, no punitive damages, no emotional distress damages.
  • Exhaust the plan's internal appeals on the plan's deadlines.
  • Put everything into the administrative record during the appeal — courts often will not look beyond it.
  • Check for a discretionary clause triggering deferential review, and whether your state bans them.
  • Determine whether the plan is insured or self-funded.

Related documents

Educational only, not legal advice. Insurance is state law and your policy controls. Find and calendar the suit limitation period in week one.