Planning a home renovation can be exciting for homeowners looking to update a living space. With a variety of details ranging from picking paint colors to selecting fixtures, the last thing renovating homeowners want to think about is having a heart-to-heart with their home insurance company. But with home improvements comes the need for re-evaluate your current coverage. A consultation with an insurance dispute attorney can help you understand whether your insurance adequately covers your recently remodeled home. If you have questions about your home coverage, contact the skilled insurance lawyers in Orlando with the Law Offices of Michael B. Brehne, P.A.

Review Your Homeowner Insurance

Tailoring your home with renovations might also require you to tailor your current homeowner insurance. Insurance lawyers in Orlando recommend contacting your home insurance carrier or broker to assess whether your home and property will be covered both during remodeling and after the renovation is complete. While most homeowners think insurance policies aren’t affected by home improvement, often times, insurance companies require homeowners to contact them when changes are made that affect the overall value of the home, as these changes could deviate from full-coverage protection. If disaster strikes, it’s important to ensure your home has full-coverage to pay for any damages, repairs and restorations needed to return your home to its natural state.

Don’t Risk Being Underinsured

Inflation guard is a beneficial part of homeowners insurance contracts. It helps cover costs of building materials and labor as they become inflated over time. However, if you haven’t made home upgrades since taking out your policy, the insurance guard in your current policy might be all you need to keep your coverage current.
If you’ve done construction which increased the value of your home since taking out your policy, your home has a new higher replacement value that likely won’t be captured by the inflation guard in your current policy. While some insurance agents and brokers send reminders to clients telling them to update home coverage if any improvements or renovations are made, the majority of insurance companies don’t. Even if they do, most homeowners ignore them.  

Should disaster hit, it’s important to be up-to-date with your policy.

To avoid being left without proper coverage, insurance dispute attorneys recommend being proactive about maintaining proper coverage for your home and assets. Contact the Law Offices of Michael B. Brehne, P.A., to discuss your home improvements and effects on home insurance policies.

Follow the 80/20 Rule

Most insurance companies and brokers require homeowners to insure their home for at least 80 percent of their property replacement cost. While total coverage is the best option, insurance companies will often pay out the full amount for a claim if at least 80 percent is covered. If you insure your home for less, any claims you file will be allocated based on the difference between your replacement cost percentage that you are covered for and your policy deductible.

Homeowners who may need to make a storm damage, roof damage or hurricane damage claim in the near future should pay special attention to the importance of having full coverage. Should disaster affect your property, having full coverage will ensure your insurance policy payout covers any repairs, replacements and renovations.

Planning to Renovate? Read Your Policy!

The point of having homeowners insurance is to avoid a risk of financial loss from damages to your home. An experienced insurance dispute lawyer at the Law Offices of Michael B. Brehne, P.A., can help you manage these risks effectively and give you peace of mind for the future.

The Law Offices of Michael B. Brehne, P.A., works with business owners and homeowners in the Orlando, Central Florida and Tampa areas to help them find and acquire the insurance coverage they need for adequate home coverage that meets their needs. Call us for a consultation today!