After a fire, the loss is bigger than the burn — and the policy is bigger than the carrier tells you.
Your policy isn't one coverage. It's a stack of them: dwelling, contents, additional living expenses, and a layer of sub-coverages most homeowners never hear about because they only trigger under specific circumstances. The carrier isn't going to walk you through them. We are.
The coverages nobody mentions
Buried in most policies are sub-coverages that pay only when a specific condition is met — code and ordinance upgrades when the rebuild has to meet current code, debris removal, temporary repairs to protect the property, trees and landscaping, food spoilage, re-keying locks, fire department service charges, damage to other people's property in your home. Individually they sound small. On a real fire loss they add up to serious money, and they go unpaid for one reason: nobody claimed them. Knowing which ones your loss triggers is the job.
Smoke goes where the fire didn't
Soot and smoke travel through the whole house — into ductwork, insulation, contents, and finishes far from the burn. Assessing that takes more than a walkthrough, and it's routinely underestimated.
ALE: you're entitled to your standard of living, not a hotel room
Additional Living Expenses exists to keep your household living the way it lived before the fire. If you lost a three-bedroom house with a kitchen and a yard, comparable housing is what the policy owes you — not six months in a roadside hotel eating takeout. Carriers under-house displaced families constantly because most people don't know what "comparable" means. We do, and we hold them to it.
Common questions
What is ALE and am I entitled to it?
Additional Living Expenses covers the cost of living elsewhere while your home is uninhabitable after a covered loss — housing comparable to what you lost, plus the extra costs of being displaced. Most policies include it. Most families are put up in far less than the policy owes, for far longer than anyone told them it would take.
How would I know which sub-coverages my claim triggers?
You wouldn't — that's the point. They're scattered through the policy and each has its own trigger. Reading the full policy against the facts of your loss is the first thing we do, and it's free.
Not sure where your claim stands? We'll tell you for free.
Free review, no obligation — and no fee unless we increase your settlement.