The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
Navigating Hurricane Aftermath: Insurance, Repairs, and Legal Insights
Can you afford to misunderstand your insurance policy when a hurricane strikes? Join us on the Carolina Contractor Show as we unravel the complexities of post-hurricane home management. You'll learn the crucial first steps to take after a storm has wreaked havoc on your property, including the importance of promptly filing insurance claims to secure a place in the repair queue amidst potential supply chain disruptions. We emphasize the necessity of having your claim numbers at your fingertips, capturing photos of the damage for ironclad documentation, and the pros and cons of hiring contractors for temporary repairs. We also address common concerns about signing contracts for immediate repairs with practical advice that will bolster your decision-making confidence during these trying times.
Furthermore, we shine a light on the often-overlooked intricacies of hurricane insurance, dispelling misconceptions around flood coverage and the true costs of hurricane damages. Our discussion also navigates the legal waters of dealing with overhanging tree branches and the responsibilities tied to tree removal after a storm. With insights drawn from historical hurricanes like Katrina and Hazel, we explore how past experiences have shaped our current understanding and preparedness. This episode is your go-to guide for managing the aftermath of a hurricane with savvy and preparedness, ensuring you're equipped to handle both the expected and unexpected challenges that come your way.
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard, brought to you by GAF, the world's largest roofing manufacturer, gaf. We protect what matters most, what matters most. Goodbye August, hello September, and welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show. My name is Eric Smith. I do inside sales for Home Builders. Supply in Wilson and Greenville, across from me the yin to my yang, the up to my down, the left to my right, the good to my bad. It's general contractor Donnie Blanchard. He's also the owner of Sure Top Roofing and Blanchard Building Company and just by our job descriptions we hope that gives you an idea what the show is about. Yeah, we like to talk about your house and building things and DIY projects and repairs and renovations and hopefully our job descriptions kind of mean we might know a teeny bit about those subjects. If you don't believe me, you can go to the website thecarolinacontractorcom. I'm going to talk about that a little bit more in a minute, but I do want to preface this with.
Speaker 1:Today's show is going to be talking about what to do after a hurricane or tropical storm rolls through. Now we have the remnants of a dahlia coming through. It hit Florida in the Panhandle region earlier in the week, and now it's kind of off in between the outer banks and Bermuda, just kind of sitting there causing its own havoc, but not on land. So I guess that's good. But anyways, you might need to go around your house and take a look at it, especially if you're in the eastern part of the state where you got more effects of it. But you might not know exactly what to look for after a hurricane or a tropical storm rolls through. So we're going to focus on that. Back to the website thecarolinacontractorcom. Maybe there's another subject you want to listen to. Well, we've uploaded years worth of shows and they're organized by the subject. So if there's something specific you want to learn about or listen about or get our take on, you can go to the website and download it in podcast form. We also have links to our Facebook page up there. We've got links to our YouTube page. We got links to Instagram Kind of a secret, that's not a secret. We're going to be on TV next year, that's right. But anyways, thecarolinacontractorcom, all right, let's focus on today's show what to do after a hurricane and anytime there is a natural disaster, whether it was like the fires in Hawaii or Hurricane Adalia, if you want to do something quickly to help support them. Check out your local Red Cross or search it on the web and you can make a donation there.
Speaker 1:But one thing that was a big problem just a couple years ago with the COVID pandemic was we had a short supply of construction materials. We had short supplies of everything, but construction materials were becoming scarce. You had to wait longer before you could get them, and anytime you have a supply issue and it's compounded by a natural disaster, things get very hairy very quickly. Fortunately, the time it takes to get building supplies for repairs and things like that is nowhere as bad as it was a couple of years ago, but still there can be some delays. Donnie, I want to start off right there. The idea of a natural disaster hitting this time of our lives, the past few years, and having supply issues, that's kind of worrisome. Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Everybody that's worth their salt right now in the construction world are already backed up months, as it is, Like I said, just a labor shortage thing. All these factors combined it wouldn't be pretty.
Speaker 1:Well, then let's jump into today's subject on the Carolina Contractor Show. By the way, you can listen to past episodes, including the one we did that was getting ready for a hurricane, at the website thecarolinacontractorcom, and at the end of the show I'll tell you some of the other things related to the website that can help you out. But today we're talking about what you need to do after a hurricane or a tropical storm hits, especially if you have damage, and, donnie, you know a lot about this, so let's start off with you calling that claim in. If you have damage, it's got to be the first thing, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yes, sir. I used to see people wait around for a couple of weeks to call the claim in because they just didn't know any better. But having that claim number handy it's usually a 1-800 number with most insurance companies and they have a call center there that's made to field those calls and basically direct you to the right area, the right adjuster but I would have that number handy If we know a hurricane's coming. It just takes a couple minutes to go ahead and have that, because you know the internet may be out, you may have to dig for that with papers or, for whatever reason, may not have easy access to that. So having that number to get in line because everybody in your zip code is doing the exact same thing and you know first come, first serve is kind of how the insurance companies work. I would say the follow-up to that is to have a contractor on call and you're more than likely going to have a need for temporary repairs. One thing that's important to do is have that contractor. If they come out to tarp your roof, for instance, you want to take pictures of the damage before the tarp goes on. So pretty much everybody has a smartphone in their pocket now and that's not a tough thing to do. But having pictures of the damages prior to the temporary repairs could save you from having to undo those temporary repairs when the adjuster comes out. A lot of times these adjusters are computer guys so they're not qualified to take that tarp back off and install it the same way a roofer would, for instance.
Speaker 2:Another thing that goes along with this is people say do I sign a contract when they come out? Because a lot of pushy roofers really are the first people to get you to sign what's called a contingency agreement and we've talked about this on a past show, it just hasn't been recent. But a contingency agreement is not an illegal thing. But what it does is it locks you in to work with that particular contractor and what it says is if they get your roof paid for by the insurance company, that they have to actually do the work.
Speaker 2:Where it gets a little bit hairy is a lot of these guys are storm chasers that do this. So most of the companies have a 1-800 number on their truck and they've come in from Texas or from the Midwest or something and they're just trying to make a quick buck, and we always steer our listeners away from anybody who's just in town temporarily because something happens. Even if they put a good shingle on, you're not going to have any recourse if something happens with that roof. It's guaranteed that they're going to use all subcontractors so they don't use the same people from job to job to job, and I just think it's a no-brainer to use a local roofer in that circumstance.
Speaker 1:Hey, Donnie, I got a question Is a homeowner responsible to mitigate damages? So if they get a crack in the roof and there's water coming in, or whatever the case may be, do the policies all of them do it, or do some of the policies require that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they pretty much all do, and within reason.
Speaker 2:If it's a two-story roof and it's a steep slope, they don't expect you to get up there during the rainstorm, but they do expect you, you know, to go ahead and get that at least temporarily patched up before the next rain hits, for instance. So it is the direct responsibility and we mentioned that a little bit last week that mitigation of damages is definitely on the homeowner. If you let something go for a week and just let it keep raining in your house, they're technically not obligated to pay for that. Their measuring stick or their rule of thumb in the insurance world is they have to put you back where you were before the storm, and you know that's within reason on their end too. So they have to put you back to par, not no more, no less. But if the house condition deteriorates because of someone neglecting it or just not taking the appropriate action, they do have a little recourse in that. And you know, taking pictures and videos before the cleanup and before you make a lot of moves is a really big thing for documentation.
Speaker 1:You know, one thing we mentioned last week, and I think it's so important, is, if you're watching a tropical storm or a hurricane and you've got several days before it affects you, that's probably a good time also to take pictures and videos of your house, especially the outside, because you would be able to quickly demonstrate to an insurance company. This was my house three days before that hurricane. You can see it was well kept, the pool was clear, this tool shed was in excellent shape and then, if there's any damages again, I'm making an assumption an insurance company would probably be more motivated to get this settled and get you back to where you were before the storm, because you have excellent documentation.
Speaker 2:Agreed, yes sir, they really like it when you do that and it just shows that you've done your part, that you know a little bit about the situation and that you're a responsible homeowner. So they have to do this per your locale and group you together with other appointments that they may have in that area. So you may luck out and get them second or third day, but a lot of times it takes as much as two weeks for them to come out and what they'll do is they spend a few hours documenting everything and they use a software. Most of them use a software called Xactimate and Xactimate generates prices quarterly, so calls it Xactimate, and Xactimate generates prices quarterly. So Raleigh has a different price code from Greensboro and they take in the house value into account for that. But what happens is they input all your measurements and information into this software and for whatever is damaged it will crank out a value for them to give you. So a lot of times they'll tell you well, go get three estimates. You can do that, but I may go against some of my insurance friends when I say this. They're wanting you to go get the lowest estimate possible. So the value that they normally generate with their software is going to be more than what your estimates will be, especially if you're using local contractors, so you can get those estimates. However, it gets a little hairy when you start turning those into the insurance company because they're going to give you the money from the lower estimate.
Speaker 2:You don't really want to do that to yourself, but a lot of people just don't know. They think that they're doing their due diligence. They will issue a check out after they do the measurements and enter all that into the software, get the value. They'll issue a check and basically a breakdown for everything that they're paying you for. That check will usually be in the form of a two-party check, because most people don't own their house outright, so it'll be you and the bank. This is another thing to go ahead and get ahead of before the storm hits, because a lot of cases you don't have a local branch for your mortgage holder and you'll have to mail that check off. So if you wait two weeks for a check, you may have to wait another two weeks to get that check endorsed and mailed back to you.
Speaker 2:So a lot of banks actually have a, not a call center, but they have a location that specifically does this. So having all that in order before knowing exactly where to send what when you actually get that check will speed up the process. And a lot of people say, well, they only paid me, they depreciated everything and they only paid me for a certain amount. That depreciation in most cases is recoverable. What they do is depreciate it. They make sure that you actually go through with the work. After you do that, your roofer or your contractor should know the correct documents to submit to them to recover that depreciation. So they usually give you about 70% upfront and then they'll retain that 30% for the backend after your deductible is removed already All right In a couple minutes.
Speaker 1:Donnie, I want you to go into some detail about coverages and endorsements and stuff. But we all know after a storm or any sort of event that affects your home, you've got a tree through the middle of it or you've got flooding. You obviously know those are things that need to be called in and you make a claim on because you can see it easily. But there's a couple of things I want to go over real quick that after a storm you need to look for because you might not catch it with a casual view of your house. If it's safe, check your attic and what you're looking for is water coming in. If it's safe, check your attic and what you're looking for is water coming in wet spots on the inside. Obviously a small branch small being relative, you're talking something just a few inches in diameter. With the speed of winds and the general weight they can poke a hole in your roof, no problem. So look for things like that. No one ever thinks to look at their HVAC units for damage. Something can fall on that and damage them, bend something, cause a disconnect. Obviously, check your cars. If you see standing water somewhere, try to drain it because that, especially under your house, is just no fun to take care of. Two weeks later, have a submersible pump. If you don't already, you can get them for under $100. But be careful if you have like extension cords putting them around or underwater.
Speaker 1:And the big thing about hurricanes that people don't realize is flooding kills more people than the actual hurricane event. People try to go out, and too early after a hurricane they don't. They look at rivers. For some reason we're just drawn to a river that's swollen and flooding, but it can take a week or more for those things to crest. And this is where I wanted you to talk about stuff. We assume that our homeowners insurance includes a rider or a policy on floods and we assume anything tied to the hurricane covers your house. But it's not that black and white, right Donnie assume anything tied to the hurricane covers your house.
Speaker 2:But it's not that black and white, right, donnie? No, sir, a flood policy is actually a completely different policy than a homeowner's policy. So homeowners does not cover flood. They do have an endorsement that you can add for a sewer backup and things like that if you have a basement. But flood policy is completely different. And important to note that flood policies max out at $250,000. So that's the most you can get for a flood policy and most people choose to get the maximum amount of coverage because if you do in fact get flooded, it's pretty much no saving anything that that water touches, especially if it gets up above the 18 inch mark where the outlets are.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that kind of goes back to me saying know about your insurance coverage, know who to call with the insurance company, because knowing how much coverage you have, what endorsements you have, is really an important thing. And you know, once you get the damage and you don't have a particular endorsement, it's too late and a lot of people, a lot of insurance agents, are kind of lazy. They've had the same clients for 20 years. They get everybody in their family, so you know they may pad you for what the house was worth 10 years ago. But house values, like we commented a few shows back, have went up so much that it's important to have the appropriate amount of coverage and the rule of thumb in the insurance world is that you should carry at least 80% of what the house is worth. So basically what that is is saying if you've got a half million, a half million dollar house, you should have at least $400,000 in coverage.
Speaker 2:And why that's important is that if you do not carry they made us do these things when I was an insurance adjuster called ITV insured to value reports and if you do not carry at least 80%, you disqualify yourself from regaining that recoverable depreciation that I just mentioned. So that's called. People say I have replacement cost coverage. That's called RCV for replacement cost value. The other version of an insurance policy is called an ACV policy, which is actual cash value. That means you get the depreciated amount only and the recoverable depreciation just isn't an option and carrying less than that 80% house value automatically disqualifies you from RCV and gets you ACV coverage.
Speaker 1:Wow. So with these house prices the past couple of years skyrocketing up the values, that's probably something a lot of people need to look into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a big deal. When I was in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina, there were people headhunting these insurance agents. They were insurance agents that just never moved back to Louisiana because of that. And you got to think, you know, these people were wiped out. The upper part of their house was on their homeowner's insurance, of course, with the roof being pretty much gone and the lower portion of their houses had been flooded in some cases. And you got to think about the big numbers that we're talking here $400,000 worth of insurance payout, and if that got reduced down to $200,000 and you didn't get your depreciation back, you know somebody's got to pay for that. So those are some big numbers that ruined a lot of people's lives.
Speaker 1:All right, this is the Carolina Contractor Show, talking about things you need to do after a hurricane, especially if you've got to make a claim and there are common damages. You see, after a hurricane hits, and I guess most of that's just completely dependent on the wind speed.
Speaker 2:Donnie right, yes exactly the most we really ever see around here is a Category 1 or a 2. And I'll go through the wind speeds just to clarify that. But a Category 1 is sustained winds at 74 to 95 miles an hour. Category 2 picks up at 96 miles an hour and goes all the way to 110 mile an hour, which sounds scary. But category three which is what Katrina was when it actually made landfall uh is 111 miles an hour to 129. Uh. Cat four is 130 to 156 and a cat five is you might as well not even think about it because it's it's pretty much going to wipe everything out in its path.
Speaker 2:And a funny story that people thought Katrina was a category four or five and it came in at a three and you know the majority of the damage was that the levy, the wind speed broke the levees that flooded the basin and people say New Orleans is in a bowl. But you know that that was. It was a lot of factors that all came together to to really mess that place up back in 2005. But yeah, that was only a Cat 3.
Speaker 1:And I remember the strongest storm Well, I don't remember it because I wasn't even a glint in my dad's eye but the strongest storm that hit North Carolina, that was Hurricane Hazel and that was in October of 1954. And that made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. And you go back 50 years, 50, 60, 70 years. When a hurricane hit it was totally different, the effects it would have.
Speaker 1:Now, one beef I do have when it comes to the cost of a hurricane, meaning they tally up all the damages and they say climate change is causing more damaging hurricanes because look at the cost it is to replace all this stuff. They never take inflation into effect. This stuff, they never take inflation into effect. So something that in 1954 cost $25,000 to build the equivalent house built, today they would say $150,000. And they're saying well, the damage is much worse. The damages adjusted for inflation aren't that great. But anyway, go over some of the things that happen when these hurricanes hit, especially, like we said, wind damage to your roof. That's very important, and especially with roofing in general, like sure top roofing does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was a really good point. By the way, on the inflation and talking about how they try to attribute climate change to higher numbers and everything, I never thought about it that way. But yeah, wind damage to your roof is probably the most common thing we see with a hurricane when it passes over and primarily we see damage to three tab roofs. I have probably 200 roofs right on the coastline that are all architectural. They're all the GAF Timberline series and when I installed a lot of these back in 2018, we had, I want to say, three landfalling hurricanes that year and I haven't lost a single shingle to date. They had a 130 mile an hour wind rating on those Timberline back then and then the next year, in 2019, they wrote the new ASTM standards that go in the code book and they tested these. We've commented on the test and how they did it, which is hard to wrap my mind around, but they couldn't get the shingles to blow off, so they actually test out now with an unlimited win rating, meaning if you lose your shingles, you're probably going to lose more of the house than that A cool thing that GAF does for a roofing manufacturer to do. I want to say that the wind rating on a three-tab shingle is about 60 miles per hour. So that's not even a category one. And when people put these shingles on we harp on no three-tab all the time because the three-tabs are just so inferior, they're very prone to wind damage and they have three independent tabs on each shingle. That you know. Once they flip up and break then you're at the mercy of the weather there and I just think it's a no-brainer. The labor is the same to install this architectural shingle and the three tab in the architectural. The only difference is the price of the material. So definitely recommend or point people towards the architectural in that situation.
Speaker 2:Second thing I would say most common is downed trees. So a lot of people don't even think about that big, tall pine tree that may be on the east side of your house. But if we get something from the Atlantic and it comes, you know, comes west pretty hard, then it's going to push those especially pines with. They don't have a really strong root structure so they're very prone to go down with anything more than, say, a 60 or 70 mile an hour wind. So take an inventory on those trees, like you said last week. I think is a very important thing before the hurricane hits, whether it be wind damage to the roof or maybe a tree makes contact with your roof, normally we'll breach that envelope and put a hole in your house, which changes the pressure and a lot of other damage can happen as a result of that. But once the envelope is breached, you know water. That water intrusion is going to basically keep going into your house until the rain passes over and heaven forbid it rain again afterwards, because you're just going to take all that in. So having buckets or maybe big trash cans in place, should that happen, would may save your floor and your crawl space and a lot of things under that.
Speaker 2:One of the things we ran into in 2018 is that hurricane it wasn't, I think, I want to say it was a category one that swept through right down there in the Emerald Isle area and it ripped off ridge vents.
Speaker 2:So with the ridge vents coming off, it exposes about a three-inch hole that runs the length of your house if you have a certain type of roof, and when I put the new roof back, people said we don't care what the manufacturer says, we don't care about the warranty, we just want no ridge vent, and kind of see their point because they were evacuated. Ridge vent comes off, it rains in the ridge vent for two days straight and then, when they come back, it basically destroyed the interior of their house. So I get that point. However, ridge vent ventilation is the one thing that all the manufacturers in the roofing world agree on. So they all have their points of why their shingle is better than the rest, but they all agree on that. One thing is that ridge ventilation is mandatory for the lifespan of the roof is mandatory for the lifespan of the roof.
Speaker 1:A lot of stuff to consider and, again, it's why it's important to be proactive and making sure your roof is in good shape and it's why SureTop Roofing will do free estimates for you and a question like that. You know ridge vents. Most people don't even know what a ridge vent is, let alone how it benefits your house when there's not a hurricane. But, like you said, get a pro's advice and you say it's worth having that ridge vent in place versus trying to protect something that might not affect your house for years to come. We're going to put this information up at the website, thecarolinacontractorcom, and I got a question for you, donnie, in just a second here. If you have a question about your house, you can go to the website and click on a button called Ask the Contractor and that goes to Donnie, who again is a general contractor. And if you have a question about this show in particular, something you should do before or after a hurricane or a tropical storm hits, whatever it is, hey, do you have a question about countertops? Just go to the website, thecarolinacontractorcom.
Speaker 1:So I was talking to my neighbor the other day. He's got a seven foot wood fence going around his property and so he has neighbors on three sides. And the neighbor in the back part of the yard has a tree. It's probably six feet from his fence but it's like 40 feet tall and it has branches hanging over the side of the fence into my neighbor's yard, in some parts about 10 feet over into his yard, and he's fearing that those branches are going to break in a storm and just wreck his fence.
Speaker 1:So he asked his neighbor hey, can you prune them? Can I prune them? Do you want to go in halvesies and remove the tree altogether, because this thing falls in a storm, it's going to do a lot of damage. And the neighbor very politely told him to pound sand. So he, my neighbor, asked me can I prune those branches back myself that are hanging over the fence? And I said I think you can, but I don't know for sure. Let me ask someone who knows something about it, hence Donnie Blanchard. So can you prune tree branches off your side of your property, even if the tree is on another side of the property?
Speaker 2:Legally, yes, you can Neighbor relations. I guess that's up to you and so if it's a sentimental tree, it'd probably be best to not even ask and maybe just do it. And legally there's nothing they can do to you for basically preventative maintenance, because if that could be a problem with a windstorm and of course you're a lot closer to the coast than I am and more likely if we do have a landfall and hurricane to get the brunt of that but basically the way that it works in the insurance world is that your neighbor's tree falls across your fence and this doesn't sound right, but this is how it is is that your insurance company is on the hook for the portion of the tree that's downed in your yard and they have a couple of maximum amounts that they'll pay. They'll pay whatever it takes to get the tree off of the covered structure covered, meaning covered by insurance. They'll pay whatever dollar amount it takes to get the tree off. And then they have a $500 limit on removal from premises.
Speaker 2:So if you've got six trees down after a hurricane, they'll pay whatever it takes to get the tree off of the fence, off of the house, off of any kind of covered property that you have, but all those only have a $500 limit, and I'll just say this off the record. I guess it's all on the record, but you can usually get a tree company that understands how to write the bill and so they'll take care of everything and they'll just put that they charge you $500 for removal from the premises. But that's another thing. Document that really well, take pictures of it before they touch it, and it doesn't sound right that you would have to pay for your neighbor's tree, but that's just how it is All right, good advice right there.
Speaker 1:And again, if you have a question about your house or your neighbor's trees hanging over your house, submit it at the website TheCarolinaContractorcom. Hit on the Ask the Contractor button and we thank everybody who's been following us on Facebook and on Instagram. Appreciate the people following us there and you can find links to me and Donnie up there also, and we'll put that information up at the website, thecarolinacontractorcom. We thank you so much for tuning in. Thanks everybody. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Learn more at thecarolinacontractorcom. Summer is storm season and if you suspect a severe thunderstorm or hailstorm has damaged your roof, contact sure top roofing. They'll inspect your roof, document any damage and provide you with a written report. Sure top roofing will help guide you through the roof repair process, making it as stress-free as possible, from repairs to replacement. Sure top roofing offers exceptional service. Sure top roofing, your local gF Master Elite certified roofer. Visit SureTopRoofingcom or call 336-270-9292.