Ask The Experts, Home Staging Business Tips, Home Staging Scoop

Five Steps To Take If Your Inventory Is Damaged Or Destroyed By Fire

Posted on by Judy Fobes

When a fire hits your community it can reap havoc with your home and business.  Dealing with the aftermath can be very stressful.  Here are some tips to try to make things a bit more manageable for your business and staging inventory.  If a large area is burned out due to fire, accessing the damage may not be possible. You can be dealing with a toxic environment.

Five Steps To Take If Your Inventory Is Damaged Or Destroyed By Fire:

  1. Contact your insurance company and set up your claim. Always make your agent aware that you are submitting or have them submit for you. They are your watchdog.
  2.  If possible -Take video and pictures of the damage. Access the damaged inventory and make a list of what you lost as soon as possible including values.
  3.  If possible, secure the property from further damage
  4. Clean up as much as possible.  This may not always be the case if you are dealing with a toxic environment. A remediation company will need to manage the cleanup.
  5. Document everything from start to finish so that you can be reimbursed for your inventory to get you back up and running.

The key on your end may be an accurate inventory list and record keeping so that you can advise the insurance company how much you lost or the extent of the damaged inventory.  The better your documentation, the faster you will receive payment from the insurance company.

 

Looking for insurance for your staging business? Learn more about VillaNova Insurance Partners here.

 

Judy Fobes
Latest posts by Judy Fobes (see all)
Share
Judy Fobes

Judy Fobes has been employed in the Commercial Program insurance Industry since the mid 80’s. She purchased PenEx Insurance in 2001. Programs included Architecture, Engineering and Interior Design. In 2007, after gaining a thorough understanding of the real estate staging industry from RESA, she created the Real Estate Stagers Insurance Program. The program has been expanded to include a customized work comp program for many states and been enhanced to grow with the industry’s needs.

Leave a Reply