FMBGN-BTS-Most Homeowners Lose Money Before The Storm Hits

Denied or underpaid storm claims often come down to one brutal detail: you can’t get paid for what you can’t prove. We’re launching the Before The Storm series from Fort Myers Beach with building science investigator Shane Bailey, and we get intensely practical about hurricane preparedness that actually protects your home, your health, and your finances.

We talk through the unglamorous steps most people skip until it’s too late: reading your entire insurance policy, spotting exclusions, and understanding what your carrier expects you to do right after a storm. Then we get tactical about documentation for an insurance claim, including how to film your house, capture receipts and appraisals for jewelry and heirlooms, and build a usable home inventory. The goal is simple: turn “I think we had this” into clear evidence an adjuster can trust.

Recovery is not just cleanup, it’s moisture control. In Florida’s heat and humidity, mold can grow fast when the AC is out, so we discuss generators, getting the building back under conditioned air, and why photos plus moisture readings can strengthen water damage claims. We also cover how to choose a qualified third-party inspector, what credentials to look for, and how to avoid storm chasers who appear after disasters.

If you live in Southwest Florida or anywhere with hurricane risk, this is your reminder to prep while it’s calm. Subscribe, share this with a neighbor, and leave a review, then send us your questions or topics you want next.

Building Science Authority
Shane Bailey, MC, CRT, RMS, ICRA.
239-908-1287
Shane@buildingscienceauthority.com
https://buildingscienceauthority.com/

Ft Myers Beach-Good Neighbor
To Nominate Someone to be Featured
Or
To Subscribe to the Newsletter
CLICK HERE
https://cabowabojim.com/listen-to-podcasts/

Transcript

Welcome To Before The Storm

Intro/Close 0:00

Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor. Before the Storm Series, a community series sponsored by Building Science Authority and Bailey's Generators. Here in Florida, storm season is a part of life, and being prepared can make all the difference. In this series, we'll share practical tips, trusted insight, and important steps you can take to protect your home, power your essentials, and keep your family safe. So join us as we help you get ready, stay informed, and prepare before the storm.

"Cabo" Jim 0:26

Welcome from neighbors to the Before the Storm series, a new series that we have created here with Shane Bailey from uh Building Science Authority. Welcome, Shane.

Shane Bailey 0:39

Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

"Cabo" Jim 0:42

Yeah, I'm uh kind of excited about this because uh, as we know, storms are a big deal down here in Southwest Florida, and uh we've had a number of them recently. So uh anything we can do to prepare and be ready for these uh beforehand helps helps everybody out.

Read Your Policy And Exclusions

Shane Bailey 0:59

Uh we totally agree, and what we find is uh uh the number one thing I should say up front, if you don't mind, is the fact that uh if you have read your entire C entire insurance policy, raise your hand. By the way, if your hand's not up, you're already working from a negative. Uh so we urge you to get your policies out and read them and understand them.

"Cabo" Jim 1:22

Does that make sense? That makes sense because yeah, a lot of people I have insurance, I'm covered, but not necessarily you gotta read read the fine details, right? Correct, yeah.

Shane Bailey 1:32

And uh I literally 99.5 out of the hundred uh homes or businesses we go to do not know what coverage they have.

"Cabo" Jim 1:41

So along with the name of the series Before the Storm, what should people be doing before the storm arrives?

Film Your Home And Valuables

Shane Bailey 1:50

Uh, number one, know your coverages. Number two, know any exclusions that your policy has. Number three, document. No, it's it's funny, document your property. It is so easy to walk around with a camera or even a video camera and document it. And even uh uh perishables or uh what do they call family items that are you know handed down over time? Those things are apparative to video. If you have expensive jewelry, have the jewelry setting there plus the receipts and videotape the receipts of what the jewelry costs. Uh, it's the number one thing that the insurance company doesn't know or doesn't know to believe that if you don't do it, how are they going to know to believe it?

"Cabo" Jim 2:42

Does that make sense? That makes sense, and I'm probably they're not they're probably not the most with coming forward with uh saying, hey, you should do this before a storm comes, because I believe it's in most policies, but it's in really small. That's what I mean. They're not emphasizing it, they're not emphasizing it and making sure you do that because hey, you don't have anything, they don't have to pay out, right? Not the insurance companies are bad, but you know.

Shane Bailey 3:08

No, we're and we're gonna talk. We want to make sure we with it, we do have some great insurance friends out there, yeah. Um, but part of protecting your property is doing this beforehand. And I I can't tell stress enough, we find that 99% of the time people don't do this, and it's such an easy thing. Take uh you and your wife can do it, walk around the house, have a great time, taking uh photos of all these images, you're remember you know, reminiscing over them. Uh, you want to see where your walls are, how they're done, any damages that you can see. Uh, don't be afraid to take those pictures. And here's the reason why a lot of insurance policies have a caveat in them. If the storm comes and make makes damage bigger, it's still coverable. So if it takes a small damage, makes it a big damage, so coverable. A lot of people don't know that. So protecting yourself, protecting your policy, protecting yourself for a success successful insurance claim is number one. And if you do those, we can do a lot more with your insurance claim than you can by yourself.

Protect Your Claim With Photos

"Cabo" Jim 4:13

And talking about prepping for a storm, I mean, we're in a storm air prone area here in Southwest Florida, right? You know, Carl Rogers could last uh you know several days, several weeks, depending on where you're at. Why is all this important to prepare beforehand to make it through those days after a storm?

Post Storm Steps And Mold Risk

Shane Bailey 4:34

Um, my my my uncle, a little idiom he used to say it's better to have and not need than need and not have. So, number one is your insurance policy, most of them speak in my experience. To the fact that you're obligated, because you have insurance and it's your home, you're obligated to after a storm, immediately after, start working on balancing your building. All that means that's a fancy word. For you're you're required to start figuring out how to get air conditioning turned on, if there's water in there, getting the water out, even if you push it out. Uh, now we don't advise you uh going and helping your neighbors and other people because that water is then contaminated once it leaves your house. Um, but that's the number one thing is is is understanding what the insurance company looks for. Because remember, they're in a building somewhere far away, they don't know what they're looking at. So if you took those pictures like we asked you to do ahead of time, the next thing then is once you start balancing or before, take some more pictures. And then after you do that, take some more pictures. And we have the saying in our in our industry, in the storm industry, pictures are free. And really, what happens, you start documenting here's what it looked like beforehand, here's what it looked like after the storm, and here's what it looked like after we start to clean up. It's amazing, it changes their outlook because you know, unfortunately, they get lied to a lot. And so, what we need to do is show them here's a proof. You know, pretend you're from the show me state. Yeah, we want to show what you have. My house is beautiful. Look at this thing, my grandmother's heirloom, and you can't replace it, you know. And uh, we want to document that, document the living daylights out there, if I can say that.

"Cabo" Jim 6:21

Like, and like you said, you know, uh periodical pictures help as well, too, because a lot of that damage sometimes happens after the fact, after the storm, right? The mold starts to set in, uh you know, the water starts to c cause issues and things like that. A lot of that stuff happens after the storm.

When To Call Pros

Shane Bailey 6:38

Boy, you're so right on that. And I'll tell you why, Jim. The the biggest thing we find is one, we live in what's called climate zone number one. It's it's the jungle here. That's what we have: high humidity, high heat. You add that to being without air conditioner, mold can grow within 12 to 72 hours, depending on where the spore is, what kind of spore it is, and um and allergies can last like days to even weeks. So we want to make sure that we um we are doing whatever we can to try to get that building under air conditioning, your house. Um, and and understanding, too, insurance claims are often uh delayed, you know, so you don't have to rush to call your agent. That that would be the next thing I would say. Once you document all these things, I think the next phone call that will help you is to find people who work these types of storms for a living. This is what they do all the time. They're they're not afraid of this. They've worked with insurance companies, they should have a good um a good reputation with the insurance company, but they should also be certified third party. You know, you do you don't want to be biased in any way. So third-party inspections, third-party people to come in and take a look at your home, document it, do moisture meters, all those things that we'll go into in later on the series. But that would be the next thing. You want to call the professionals in. Uh, you remember the insurance companies are gonna have thousands of calls in your area. And so if you wait a day or two, it doesn't matter at all. Um, but because you need to find out what your claim actually is. What people do is they'll call in, they'll say, Yeah, I have a claim. Well, what's damaged? I I don't know. Did the water come up a foot, two foot? I don't know. And so, really, there's no sense of starting something that you don't know. Whereas what we do, and what a good professional would do, would you start stacking documents up? Here's your moisture uh uh meter uh readings, here's your dry out readings, here's your dehumidifier readings, all these things. This is when it was placed, this is how often it was uh checked. And all those things matter because it proves to the point to the carrier, hey, they're not fibbing, they're being they're playing well on the sandbox, right? And and what it does is it makes a such more higher success rate in your claim. Uh, you know, we hear people come complain all the time. And by the way, another show of hands. If you're raising your hands, how many times have you hear that you hear hear someone say, I didn't get what I needed from my claim? And sometimes that's shame on us. Sometimes it's shame on the character, carrier. But uh, yeah, that's the number point uh is to get a professional in your house right away or building.

"Cabo" Jim 9:29

Well, because because one of the points you you we bring up is documentation, not damage severity, determines your payout, right?

Documentation Drives Your Payout

Shane Bailey 9:37

Yes. That is a that is a great uh great way to remind me that I need to say that more often to myself because we get we get so involved in these um in these events that we tend to know what we're talking about, and we also we pass over some things mentally if we're not careful. So that's why we just had a continuing education class about going back to the time of the inspection and starting from the the minute you get there all the way. See hearing what you have to say is a number one. If someone's not by the way, if someone's in your house, they're not listening to you, kick them out of your house because you're the one that lives there all the time. You have the most valuable information that we need to help prove your claim. So if you've taken the pictures before, during, and after, and you can show us that if you even don't have them in a report, we can actually bring those into our report and say the client issued this at uh before the storm, the client issued this to us after the storm, these were after the storm images, and so on and so forth.

"Cabo" Jim 10:44

And that's that's the important part too. So prepare, I'm gonna say preparing, but documenting and saving that information, you know, maybe save that in several places, save it in a safe spot, like they always say. You know, don't save it on your computer, that's gonna get uh flooded, and now you're gonna lose everything on your computer. Save it in a cloud somewhere where you have easy access to it after the storm or somebody else has access to it, correctly.

Shane Bailey 11:08

That's a great idea because a lot of times, guess what happens? Your laptop gets pride. Yep, especially if you have a flood. Um, you know, also, you know, create an inventory. If you really have stuff that you love and things that are uh expensive to you, or even keepsakes that you can't replace, document those things, put an inventory on it.

"Cabo" Jim 11:30

Um, you know, and get them evaluated, get them evaluated for price and value.

Store Proof Safely In The Cloud

Shane Bailey 11:36

That's another great thing to do. Um, most jewelry you can take to any jeweler and they will give you um an assessment on them at a sort of value. Just say I need it for insurance. Because if you say you're selling it, they're gonna try to give you less. But if you say this is for insurance, can you give me a valuation of this jewelry, especially if you have high-end uh items? So, again, first thing, try to get a generator in your house if you don't have one, because then you can run AC. Uh, document, document, document, uh, do an inventory, uh, make sure your critical critical systems have a way to turn on as soon as the power comes back. Those those are all perfect uh en-roads for me to or someone like myself to come in. And if I have that, you have done such a service for yourself and your agent. Uh we joke about an agent has two piles on their desk. One is all the thin files that aren't proven, and those go right to the rejection folder, you know, and then they have the thick files that are proven, and they either approve those or say that that's gonna go to uh our litigation team, you know. And uh you want to be in that second pile. You want to be either, hey, we're gonna we're gonna litigate this, we want to review it further, or no, we're just gonna go ahead and approve it.

Generators And Critical Home Systems

"Cabo" Jim 12:58

Very good. And now getting to the point of choosing the right inspector, you know, well, what should people be looking for?

Picking A Qualified Independent Inspector

Shane Bailey 13:06

You know, that that's one of the toughest questions we have, just like any occupation out there, there's some good players and there's some bad players. Um, we stay away from the companies that are in business all the time to do it and that don't come in from out or out outside the state. And I know this sounds counterintuitive. We think if they're here and they're living here, that's they're they're more prone to being on your side. Uh, but what matters more than any of that is their resume. Ask them for their resume, ask them for their CV, if you will. Um, they should have a plethora of things on your res on their resume you never even heard of, like building science investigator, um um uh building the or balancing the building envelope uh inspections, all those things you want to see that they have are aware of what they're doing. Everyone has LinkedIn on their phone, go to their LinkedIn page. They don't have a LinkedIn page, I'm suspect. If they work for a company, go to that company LinkedIn page. Um, but if you find a great investigator, that might be another thing we should talk about, Jim, to be honest. Yeah, why are we looking at the time when they're most busy? Maybe before a storm, a great prep would be. I just thought of this. Yeah, don't you call around? Find look for building scientists in your area. That would be the number one thing, and it'll give you a list of people who say that in their advertising, and then call call them. Who's the good who's a good remediation company? Who do you use for testing? All those things. They should be able to give you that for free. Absolutely.

"Cabo" Jim 14:39

Yeah, you know, that shouldn't take them long. It's part of the prep, right? It's part of the prep, yeah, exactly. Yeah, interesting. So, what are some of the mistakes people should avoid making? Or the most common mistakes, I want to say you've probably seen a lot.

Shane Bailey 14:55

All right, some of it's gonna be a little repetitive, so please bear with us in the sense of one, not knowing their policy limits, yeah, not knowing what it covers and doesn't cover. Two, um, would probably be calling the insurance company way too soon when you don't know what you're dealing with yet. Uh, sometimes they'll call uh yeah, let me give you a quick example, if I may, on that. Do you know if you have most people in their brain, they don't want their house to be damaged. So the first thing they're thinking, oh, I don't have a lot of damage. That's not a good place to be in. That is an actual mistake. Get a professional out there to tell you that. You're not a contractor, you don't deal in water mitigation, you need someone out there to make sure you're doing that right.

"Cabo" Jim 15:36

But let's say it's like being it's like being in a car accident. I may feel fine, but then a week later, I'm like, all this internal stuff is gonna show up, and I had no idea, right?

Shane Bailey 15:46

Right. And it's a lot harder to go backward then to catch that than it is just to up front. So if you call though and you make a claim, and let's say you don't have a bad situation, and it it and the the repair is actually a little, maybe I don't know, within a certain percentage of your uh deductible, and you go and call them back and say, Listen, I don't have that much damage, it's not really going to cover my deductible. Uh, I don't think I need to have an insurance claim. That still shows as a claim. It's a claim that was not paid out on, but it shows you know, they know they're they have a they have a main tree line of what they all plug into, and they know exactly what you've claimed in that house and what you haven't. They know exactly, especially in this day of information. Absolutely.

"Cabo" Jim 16:33

So, and then a lot of people will get rid of stuff or say, okay, that's damaged without documenting it, right?

Shane Bailey 16:41

That's another big one, you know, or they're guess at the damage value. Yeah, they'll do some guessing, and you know how we are. We're we're human beings, we'll often think that means more to me or that has a higher value than it actually does. And uh, you know, people bring their things into consignment shops and they say, Oh, it's worth this. And it's like I can't get that for that, you know.

"Cabo" Jim 17:03

And so with some pawn brokers, I'll give you two dollars for that.

Common Mistakes That Hurt Claims

Shane Bailey 17:06

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, and and part of that is maddening for us as the consumer, but you know what? There's also a lot of onus on us that we didn't perform properly. Documenting, documenting, documenting. Um, try to be factual, not emotional. Uh, provide an organized document for us or whoever you use. And oh, I would say another thing is I I'll tell you what, this could be the number one thing that people do after the storm is they don't get a third-party independent person. Um, what they do is they say, Oh, well, I trust my uh insurance agent. And not that they're not trustworthy, but but your insurance agent has zero control over your policy. Zero. He can't say, Oh, go ahead and give them a break or make it a little bit more or cut that back. He can't make even take a deduction on that. He's not in that place, he's just an agent. Not just an agent, but you know what I'm saying. Yep, yep. So you need someone on your side that's third-party independent that says, I'm not beholden to you, the house homeowner, I'm not beholden to the carrier, but I report what I see, and and it's known in my industry, you know.

"Cabo" Jim 18:22

And and like we had talked about before, not to bash our insurance friends out there, but the insurance companies are in business.

Shane Bailey 18:30

They are business. You're right, you know, and and exactly. And we can only speak, I can't speak to policy. What I can speak to is my experience. Yep. And if it and put it to you this way, if if you allow your wallet to stick out of your pocket, you're more likely to have it taken. Yep. Right? So let's not do that. Let's be protective, let's know our surroundings and understanding. Yeah, you know, just like you send your kid off to college and you're like thinking, what do you tell them when they go? Always know your surroundings, right? Know where you are. Go with a friend, never leave that friend. All those things apply to this. Know where you're at with your insurance policy, know where you're at. Have you chosen an inspection company already? You should have, you know, and those are have you inventoried your beautiful? I had a lady with China that was just unbelievable. The China cabinet fell. No, and she was just in tears, and it was really good China, but she didn't inventory. She didn't have how many pieces did you have? I don't know.

"Cabo" Jim 19:29

Well, now I got twice as many.

Shane Bailey 19:34

But I can only eat off this corner.

"Cabo" Jim 19:38

But preparation is key, and that's your leverage to get, you know, uh some of that I don't say that money back, but get the value for what these things are worth and get things fixed.

Shane Bailey 19:48

Sure. Yeah, another thing is licensing credentials. That's one I forgot to put in there, if I may tuck that in. Everyone should be licensed to do this, and uh, you want them to have what's called a WRT uh designation, uh, water remediation tech uh technician, at least they should have that, or the company should have that. Um, uh, you know, we happen to have engineers, uh, engineering license and electrical and construction licenses. We have people with all those licenses that can help. Um, your your approach on that you choose should have that reach as well. So that's uh that's uh the big thing. Um, other than that, you're on your way if you do those things we started with. You're on your way to a great claim.

"Cabo" Jim 20:30

Yep. Yeah, and you mentioned it. Like being licensed is important because you get a lot of down here, we get a lot of storm chasers. People coming in from out of state come here to grab the money and they grab the money and leave, and nothing ever gets done. Um that's the big one.

Avoid Storm Chasers With Credentials

Shane Bailey 20:44

That's the biggest one we see. What we find, you know. Hey, you can say uh things about the insurance company, but when we turn that mirror around and look at ourselves, yeah. First of all, a lot of people in a home don't know where to go to find the if they are special approved by the governor, can approve a um a special situation where other people from other states can help, but they have to register with the state. And I believe that's through the governor, uh governor's office. Well, no people, no one knows where to go. So, Jim, how are we going to, you know, how are we gonna look these people up? So, what they do is then they end just up choosing the guy who's knocking on doors, which my gosh, that's a tough job, wouldn't want to do it myself. Uh, but but really you're making the decision after the fact, and how how well do you think that works in any other decisions you make when you make a decision after the problem? So, you know, use your your your guys are smart. Come on, like do the little bit of work up front, and I guarantee you'll have amazing results. But a number one in my experience is they're done denied based on no documentation. That is bad. No documentation is case.

"Cabo" Jim 22:00

That is key.

Shane Bailey 22:01

Documentation is key. No matter what you do, take pictures before, during, and after. And I'm telling you, you'll you'll be you'll you'll you'll want to buy me flowers because it's the most amazing thing you can do. Uh the more the better.

"Cabo" Jim 22:14

The more the better.

Shane Bailey 22:15

The more the better. Yeah. So and we'll we'll have a whole mistakes to avoid uh in in our later episodes. And uh I I am like you, Jim. I'm really excited. I love what I do. Uh they're also the huge negative when you see so much damage, it really hurts your heart um as well. But my word, we can we can made so many people smile just by teaching them what to do up front. And even if they don't use us, the cool thing is they have learned a piece of the puzzle, uh, so they can't get taken advantage of, or they can't be easy, easy to pick up.

"Cabo" Jim 22:49

And that's what this whole series is about. It's about being prepared and just education, you know, and anything or trying to sell anything. We just want to educate people of what they should do beforehand and help them make the right decisions before the storm. I love it. That's it. Well, Shane, it's been a pleasure. I look forward to speaking with you next time. Any last words for listeners today?

Shane Bailey 23:12

Um, no, I just say uh we uh would really appreciate you tuning in. We think we want to provide the service. We're not doing this for our health, and you know, we're doing this to help you. And it's so tune in, uh, you know, check your schedule, Jim's schedule, and find out when we're doing our next one and tune in for us and and let us know. You got any feedback? I'm sure there's a way to contact him. Uh, maybe some and someone wants to ask questions. Uh, is there a way they can do that, Jim?

"Cabo" Jim 23:38

Absolutely. You know, reach out to us on our website, and I'll put our email in the bio down here and they can send that out here. Or there are certain topics they want us to touch on. By all means, send us.

Shane Bailey 23:47

That would be great. Yep. I would be thrilled for that. That would be amazing for us to do. Let's try that. We can do that.

"Cabo" Jim 23:54

We absolutely go. We're we're gonna let people decide what direction we go with this. So all right. I'm excited, I'm I'm looking forward to it. Um, but uh again, thank you, Shane, for for being and and pushing me to to get this done, and uh, I'm glad you're part of it.

Closing And Sponsor Thanks

Shane Bailey 24:10

Uh, thank you. The pleasure is mine. Thanks.

Intro/Close 24:13

All right, talk for being with us for the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor before the storm series, proudly sponsored by Building Science Authority and Bailey's Generators. We're glad to share this series with you as we help our community get ready for Florida's storm season. We'll see you next time with more tips, insight, and resources to help you stay safe, informed, and prepared before the storm. Until next time, remember to cabo until you wabo and keep being a good neighbor.