How to make a house fire inventory list

One of the most challenging tasks involved in the claim process after losing your home from a fire is adequately recording your personal property to ensure that you're entirely compensated for what you've lost. Completing a full loss inventory list is a high-stress task, and it must be performed correctly to avoid leaving dollars on the table. Know that it will be messy, time-consuming, and take much patience as you meticulously log the many possessions you have acquired over a lifetime.

Make sure you are safe.

Before entering your fire-damaged house, get express permission from the fire department to enter. Wear protective gear such as a long-sleeved shirt, long trousers, rough close-toed shoes or boots, a hard hat, safety glasses or goggles, and a certified face mask or respirator (marked NIOSH, N95, or P100) to avoid inhalation of smoke, soot, and other hazardous materials.

Creating a total loss inventory involves going through your entire home/buildings, room-by-room, taking several photos/videos, and making a list of your objects, noting the age, condition, and cost value of replacement for each of your belongings.

Creating a house fire inventory.

Create house diagrams, marking all spaces. That helps launch your memory about each room's contents. Draw large objects like furniture and appliances.

One room at a time:

1. Place, picture, several smaller objects on a flat surface, like a tabletop.
2. See for sure what's in the frames.
3. Repeat the process until you've photographed everything in that room, then switch to the other rooms and do it all over again until you've finished all.

If all photos have been taken, you can start the arduous process of going through them and listing every object shown, making sure that it includes brand, age, quantity, cost, condition—be as precise as possible. Our free Personal Property Inventory Calculator will help.

Note the price you paid on your inventory for each item. Wherever practicable, include the property's initial sales receipts. If you don't have receipts or they've been lost, you can get duplicates from merchants. You can also study the online valuation of related objects. Note the cost to replace your damaged item with a new thing like kind and quality.

Another good suggestion is to visit a department store's website and use the wedding registry service to reconstruct a list of things lost in the fire. If the object you missed isn't available, list the most similar items. You can also download a price-scanning app and scan the damaged goods to create a list of new things and prices.

Assign replacement expense to your products

As there are thousands of personal property products to replace, you need to be careful and prepared to build a complete inventory of losses. Few plans offer RCV coverage for damaged personal property, but carriers make their insureds jump through some hoops to be reimbursed entirely. Though frustrating for many policyholders, the procedure ensures that the goods are replaced to protect the insurance provider from overpayment.

When you perform your inventory, go into as much detail as you can, include receipts and photographs wherever possible, and allocate each item a replacement cost. Notice that the insurance company's adjuster will depreciate each object based on age, condition, and wear & tear, reducing it to an ACV number (which is negotiable). Your carrier will delay the depreciated value until a given item has been substituted.

Store all invoices and receipts so you can repay them.

Remember that you are not an expert.

Please note you are not a home insurance claims expert. Don't think the insurance covers the damage you've suffered or not. Let your experts decide what's covered. Consumers are also wise to let their experts determine what items are covered by their insurance.

Get an advocate.

Experienced home insurance attorneys charge money on disputed parts of the lawsuit. That means they won't willingly bill your insurance provider's cash. Insurance companies spread myths, generating uncertainty in consumers not hiring a lawyer because they're too expensive. A home insurance attorney will help you get more. Almost all statistics suggest insurance companies pay more for hiring an accomplished insurance attorney.

Avoid lousy insurance providers.

Consumers are thoughtful to avoid buying insurance from companies wasting their premiums on lobbying state officials and slicking tv advertising rather than paying genuine insurance claims. Insurance companies like State Farm have a terrible reputation for tricking customers. My law firm has discovered that the best way to protect our clients from being victimized by greedy insurance companies is not to buy insurance.