Professional cleaning and restoration for smoke damage
From getting an expert assessment of works and costs for your insurance company to completing property damage repairs, Allpropertyclaims is an established specialist providing an end to end service for homeowners who are about to make an insurance claim.
Do you have damage from smoke?
If you’re reading this you would’ve probably contacted your insurance company already. Depending on how severe your fire was you may still be living in the property or may have moved to alternative accommodation. Your insurer may have appointed a loss adjuster or alternatively they may have asked you to obtain quotations to put everything right again.
Your insurance company may have been very helpful and they may have set out a plan of action. On the other hand quite apart from the shock of having a fire damage your property and possessions you may be frustrated if the insurance company is dragging their feet.
What are your options?
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You can put yourself in the hands of the insurer and persevere
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You can appoint a traditional loss assessor to obtain a cash settlement and deal with the building and restoration on your own
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You can appoint us
What do we do and why do people appoint us?
We hold your hand from professionally assessing the damage ( not just what you can see) right through to negotiating ALL of the required works with your insurer AND doing all of the restoration and building work OURSELVES – not with a third-party. People come to us because they need all these three things.
We provide a very detailed assessment which includes absolutely everything from specifying cleaning and restoration work, electrical work, electrical re-cabling, plumbing and central heating checks and repairs, assessment of structural damage such as floor and ceiling joists, full specifications for the replacement of floors, joinery and woodwork, specification and building out of kitchens, bathrooms, replacement of plasterboard ceilings, renders and plasterwork, decorative cornices, wallpaper finishes, and decoration. In short we can specify how to put a home back to pre-loss condition starting from scratch. Not all fire incidents need all of this but if it’s needed we can do it. We don’t just do large fire claims, we will consider every type of fire claim.
Our staff know how to deal with tough insurers and tough loss adjusters. We speak their language. We remind them what the Financial Conduct Authority requires from an insurance company when they are dealing with a policyholder’s claim. Our people are expert at understanding contracts and policy wording. They are familiar with consumer law and the insurance conduct of business sourcebook commonly referred to as ICOBS. This is a rulebook which governs the insurance companies should behave. Our contract managers understand all of the operations and sequencing in a building project and can explain expertly why something should be done and why it should cost what it does. We will also liaise with the insurer to get you the best standard of alternative accommodation should this be needed. This is all crucial when it comes to negotiating with insurers. Remember they want to reduce the size of the claim and minimise the real damage which has occurred. This poses a real risk to getting your home back to the way it was. We will never allow that risk to become reality. The cornerstone of our company is to ensure that the TCF principle is upheld at all times : “ Treating Customers Fairly”.
Building works are always complicated require a lot of attention to detail and control. Our contracts managers observe this process on a daily basis by requesting photographs from site pretty much every day. If necessary we will arrange meetings with workmen on site to make sure that everything is proceeding smoothly. If something is not quite right or you’re unsure, we are at the end of the phone and if necessary will come and meet you personally. Our sole mission is to provide the best possible service and customer care to the best of our ability.
We do not charge any fees if you appoint us and we agree to take you on as a customer. We simply cover our costs from the margin we make on the building works as any principal contractor would do if they were undertaking a building and restoration project. But we will only do works once the insurance company has agreed to the works and the costs. There is no question of charging you for the building and restoration works. Effectively this means that you are getting all our in-house assessments, our time in meetings with surveyors and loss adjusters, our skill in negotiations with insurers and loss adjusters over several hours free of charge and at our risk.
People appoint us because they’ve heard of us from our other satisfied customers or have seen our reviews. A large amount of our business is repeat.
Homeowners come to us because we do everything and provide the highest standard of customer care available.
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I’ve had a fire in my home and I’ve contacted my insurance company. Is there anything more I should do or tell them?Your first duty is to make sure that the property is safe for yourself and others and that the damage does not get worse. If your home is not habitable it’s best to get an emergency electrician to make the electrics safe. If the electrics have been switched off ask the electrician to put in emergency temporary lighting because people will need to inspect the damage and will need the affected areas to be well lit. Arrange for a plumber/heating engineer to turn the water off if there are any leaks or burst pipes present or the risk of this happening. The property should be secured against any intruders so arrange for boarding up and temporary locks. This will also ensure that no one comes into the property and harms themselves. If the fire happened out of hours and you can’t stay at home or you feel it might be unsafe move into a local hotel but keep the receipts. Once you have done all of the above explain to the insurer what you have done and why. Make sure the call is recorded and send them an email summarising what you did and why.
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I’ve never made an insurance claim before is there any advice you can offer?When you make first contact with the insurer keep it very brief. Just tell them what happened but don’t offer any explanations as to why it happened. Don't tell them what you do not know for sure – don’t guess. There is nothing wrong in saying “I don’t know”. Let the insurer do their own investigations. If a loss adjuster sent by the insurer has not already visited you then before you meet with him and if you are not sure whether you want to deal directly with insurers it’s always better to meet with companies who you think might help and whom you may wish to appoint. There is always a danger that you will say the wrong thing or the insurer will get the wrong end of the stick which will leave a window open for the insurance company to wriggle out of the claim or cause you difficulties down the road.
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What is the difference between a traditional loss assessor and your company?A loss assessor will not take on your building works themselves but will refer you to a third-party. The loss assessor will charge you a fee to obtain a cash settlement of your claim. We will do everything a loss assessor does but we will also take on your building works and be responsible and completely accountable to deliver all of your building and restoration works to the right quality.
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If I decide to appoint Allpropertyclaims will I get charged a fee?Our business model is very clear and very simple. We do not charge your insurer nor do we send you a bill for our fees because we cover our costs from the margin we make by also acting as the principal contractor for all your building and restoration works. Once we are appointed, all our clients receive the full suite of our professional services and our building services completely free of charge.
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I’m a good negotiator and I like to be in control. I’m also good at finding builders and have experience in carrying out large building projects so why do I need you?If you have made several insurance claims before and you understand policy wordings, the principle of indemnity have a good legal knowledge and know how to interpret and analyse the small print you may very well not need us. If you have done a lot of building work in the past and are used to dealing with builders and understanding building operations, you may very well not need us. If you are retired or work only a few hours a day and you work from home and so are able to supervise workmen in your home and are good at it and enjoy it, you may very well not need us.
FAQs
We can add value if ANY of the following apply to you:
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You have never made an insurance claim before and the insurance company is not being particularly responsive or quick
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You’re not completely sure of what you’re entitled to in an insurance claim and suspect that the insurer will not act completely in your interest
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You are not confrontational but at the same time don’t just want to take what the insurer will offer you
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You have dealt with builders in the past but are not an expert at understanding how to deal with fire damage and you don’t want any nasty surprises down the road
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You have a busy job and do not have much time during a working day to supervise workmen but at the same time you are house proud and want your building works done perfectly.