Phase 1 · Right now

Safety first, before anything else

Nothing on this list matters until people are safe.

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Do not enter if structural damage is suspected, sagging roofline, shifted walls, doors that no longer fit their frames.
Treat every downed line as live. Stay away and report it.
If you smell gas, leave immediately and call from outside.
Standing water and electricity: do not wade in until power to the structure is confirmed off.
Check on household members and neighbors before property.

Phase 2 · Before cleanup

Make the record, before anything is touched

You cannot re-photograph what has been cleared. Document first, clean second.

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Walk the whole property with your phone: wide shots of every room and every exterior side first.
Then close-ups of each damaged item and surface, floors, walls, ceilings, contents.
Record one slow video walkthrough, narrating what you see as you go.
Do not move, drag, or throw anything away yet. Document everything in place.
Roof, attic, or crawlspace only if clearly safe, otherwise shoot from a distance.
Back it all up now: cloud upload, and text a copy to someone outside the house.

Phase 3 · First calls

First calls, first paper

From this point on, everything gets written down and every receipt gets kept.

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Find the summary page of your insurance policy (the declarations page). A clear photo of it counts.
Report the claim. Write down the claim number, the date, and who you spoke with.
Ask your insurer what they expect you to do right away to prevent more damage (they call this mitigation).
Prevent further damage where you safely can, tarp, board up, dry out. Photograph before and after.
Keep every receipt from here on: tarps, supplies, hotel, meals if displaced. A shoebox counts.
Start a claim log: date, name, what was said, what happens next. One notebook page per call.

Phase 4 · Next 48 hours

The next 48 hours, slow down

The storm damages the house. The week after can damage the recovery. This is where it went wrong for us.

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Do not sign anything at the door, especially papers that hand your insurance rights to a contractor (an assignment of benefits, or AOB).
Verify any contractor’s license at myfloridalicense.com before talking money. Three minutes.
Never pay in full upfront. A deposit and progress payments only.
Get more than one estimate when you can. The one far cheaper than the rest is the risk, not the deal.
On recorded statements, stick to facts you can show. You can always follow up in writing.
Read the 15 contractor red flags before hiring anyone.

Phase 2 is our whole job. If you'd rather have the record made professionally, shot to adjuster standard, organized, delivered in 48 hours, that's storm damage documentation. And the red flags from Phase 4 are explained one by one here.

Se habla español. Versión en español en camino, mientras tanto, escríbanos y le ayudamos en su idioma.