As some of you will be aware, our home was flooded during the heavy rains in Brisbane in late May. Our ground flood is split level; the rear (larger) portion was flooded to a depth of around 70cm, and the front portion to about 10cm. The upstairs is much smaller than downstairs, so the vast majority of our floor area went under. I've uploaded a few photos, if anybody's interested.
I thought it might be useful to some of you, both as home and IP owners, to share some of the things we have learned and experienced thus far in the flood aftermath:
1) Flood vs stormwater damage
Suncorp is one of the very few companies who cover flood (water rising up from a waterway) as well as stormwater damage (water rushing through your house after rain because it can't drain away quickly enough). It's pretty rare to get knocked back by water being deemed a flood rather than stormwater, and our neighbours insured with other companies weren't knocked back, but they had a few anxious nights wondering. We knew - as soon as I checked our policy, anyway - that we were covered.
2) Suncorp's reputation as a generous payer
Dealing with various assessors, builders, and neighbours with other companies, Suncorp seem to have an enviable reputation with regards to honouring claims and being generous when paying out, and that's been our experience. Of course, like all insurers, they have requirements for substantiation, but they don't seem to look for reasons to deny and/or reduce your claim. In fact, they reminded us of several things that we didn't realise we could claim! Similarly, I said to the builder "what about if Suncorp say we had this quality of finish on an item, and I think we had a higher quality and want it replaced like for like?" He only does insurance work, and said that every Suncorp home he'd ever rebuilt ended up better than it started out, with no such problems. I tend to think this is correct, because they asked me if I had any kitchen manufacturer I preferred. I told him that there was a particular kitchen designer and company I'd seen that had won lots of awards in a magazine, but I was honest and said that I suspected that they were very expensive. Within an hour, he'd booked me an appointment with their kitchen designer (for tomorrow)!
Yippee! I'd also found a company who supply magnificent hardwood entry doors, and was prepared to pay extra to upgrade from "bog standard Doors Plus" entry door, to this company's. He said I could have the hardwood one within my allowance. I think I'm going to enjoy this rebuild...
3) Contents status post-flood - possibility of sewage contamination?
When you're flooded, if there's a chance of contamination by sewage (eg if there are septic tanks in the area, or - as in our case - the flooding causes the water to run backwards out of the sewage pipes - ewww), they write off everything that got wet, for hygiene reasons, even if it's retrievable. And in our case, Suncorp didn't want the items back, or proof that they'd been disposed of - their attitude was that if we were able to salvage anything, that was our good luck. All our electrics - nearly $10K just of fridges and freezers, plus washing machine, dishwasher, stove, pool pump, etc - were all written off (ie we'll be paid out), and I think everything still works. Suncorp are not unhappy about us keeping using those items - their argument is that mud has gotten into the mechanisms, and they could die at any time, so they've given us money to replace them as they'll probably die prematurely due to the ingress of muddy water. If they keep going for a long time - good luck for us. All our hardwood furniture (probably from virgin Indonesian rainforest, I don't want to know *sticking fingers in ears and closing eyes*) seems fine to me after a clean, but it's also been written off. (And when I say sewage contamination, let me be clear that we're not talking floaties here - the quantity of water was so huge that the sewage contamination was very, very diluted. )
4) Work required on your home post-flood
Once your walls have gotten wet, the job of fixing your home becomes huge. If you're not insured, you may not bother, but if you have an insurer, they will rip off all the plasterboard (in our case up to 1200mm), remove all insulation etc, spray with anti-microbial sprays in the cavity and on the structural timber etc, then restore and repaint. Suncorp are even repainting all the ceilings - which obviously didn't get wet - because "it would look silly to have brand new fresh paint on the walls and not have repainted ceilings", which I thought was surprisingly generous. All the doors and timber door frames also come off and are replaced. Western red cedar garage doors - they're being replaced, too. All the electrical wiring that went underwater - also being replaced. (That's most of the downstairs power points.) All the 4-year-old kitchen cabinets - being MDF core - also written off and being replaced.
5) Ensuring you have adequate coverage
I know that nearly all of you will know it: but make sure you're generous in insuring your home and contents. I thought, that at $580K for our home (6 bedroom) and $130K for contents, we were pretty generously insured, but I now think that our insurance was just adequate. It is enough, but it's not too much! When we added up all the contents that we claimed, it came to around $90K. Thankfully, relative to our sum insured and the floor area that went under, that doesn't seem outrageous and Suncorp haven't balked (yet!). But I'm glad we weren't insured for any less. I actually skimped on the claim a bit - didn't claim nearly as many CDs and kids' games as we really lost - because I didn't want to raise any eyebrows. If we'd been insured for more like $140K, our claim could have been about $5-10K more, I reckon. (Not that I'm complaining!)
I also discovered that the amount available to us for alternative accommodation - as our house was rendered uninhabitable for probably 5 months - is based on the amount that the house is insured for. If we'd had the house insured for any less than $580K, we would have been quite short on the cost of alternative furnished accommodation for the 8 people and a dog that make up our household. We got an allowance of $1176 per week for furnished accommodation, but it's actually costing us $1250, so we are a little short - again, not that I'm complaining.
6) 50% Contents Rule
Many contents insurance policies have a rule that your contents claim for any event short of a total loss, or for a flood, can't exceed 50% of your contents value. I was told by the assessor that this rule would apply to us, but by Suncorp that it doesn't. In any case, something to be aware of. I know that at least one of our neighbours got their claim reduced due to this rule. He - a single guy - had contents insured for $52K, and probably lost 90% of his stuff (his home is single storey), but only got $26K due to the 50% rule.
7) Processing of contents claim
Our contents claim is coming through in "dribs and drabs". We got $5K as an emergency payment within days of the flood, and have since received another $40K for items on the claim that Suncorp considered straightforward. I believe that, for the rest, Suncorp are checking prices on the larger items, eg fridges, dishwasher, etc, and the remaining funds will come through in the coming weeks. Suncorp can get the fridges etc cheaper than retail through their buying power, so if we choose to be paid out cash rather than have them replace an item, we only get cash to the amount that it would cost Suncorp to replace (which is fair enough). So I suspect the $45K remaining on "our" list will come in around $30-40K.
Overall, despite the chaos, getting flooded has been quite a pleasurable experience. LOL
I thought it might be useful to some of you, both as home and IP owners, to share some of the things we have learned and experienced thus far in the flood aftermath:
1) Flood vs stormwater damage
Suncorp is one of the very few companies who cover flood (water rising up from a waterway) as well as stormwater damage (water rushing through your house after rain because it can't drain away quickly enough). It's pretty rare to get knocked back by water being deemed a flood rather than stormwater, and our neighbours insured with other companies weren't knocked back, but they had a few anxious nights wondering. We knew - as soon as I checked our policy, anyway - that we were covered.
2) Suncorp's reputation as a generous payer
Dealing with various assessors, builders, and neighbours with other companies, Suncorp seem to have an enviable reputation with regards to honouring claims and being generous when paying out, and that's been our experience. Of course, like all insurers, they have requirements for substantiation, but they don't seem to look for reasons to deny and/or reduce your claim. In fact, they reminded us of several things that we didn't realise we could claim! Similarly, I said to the builder "what about if Suncorp say we had this quality of finish on an item, and I think we had a higher quality and want it replaced like for like?" He only does insurance work, and said that every Suncorp home he'd ever rebuilt ended up better than it started out, with no such problems. I tend to think this is correct, because they asked me if I had any kitchen manufacturer I preferred. I told him that there was a particular kitchen designer and company I'd seen that had won lots of awards in a magazine, but I was honest and said that I suspected that they were very expensive. Within an hour, he'd booked me an appointment with their kitchen designer (for tomorrow)!
Yippee! I'd also found a company who supply magnificent hardwood entry doors, and was prepared to pay extra to upgrade from "bog standard Doors Plus" entry door, to this company's. He said I could have the hardwood one within my allowance. I think I'm going to enjoy this rebuild... 3) Contents status post-flood - possibility of sewage contamination?
When you're flooded, if there's a chance of contamination by sewage (eg if there are septic tanks in the area, or - as in our case - the flooding causes the water to run backwards out of the sewage pipes - ewww), they write off everything that got wet, for hygiene reasons, even if it's retrievable. And in our case, Suncorp didn't want the items back, or proof that they'd been disposed of - their attitude was that if we were able to salvage anything, that was our good luck. All our electrics - nearly $10K just of fridges and freezers, plus washing machine, dishwasher, stove, pool pump, etc - were all written off (ie we'll be paid out), and I think everything still works. Suncorp are not unhappy about us keeping using those items - their argument is that mud has gotten into the mechanisms, and they could die at any time, so they've given us money to replace them as they'll probably die prematurely due to the ingress of muddy water. If they keep going for a long time - good luck for us.
All our hardwood furniture (probably from virgin Indonesian rainforest, I don't want to know *sticking fingers in ears and closing eyes*) seems fine to me after a clean, but it's also been written off. (And when I say sewage contamination, let me be clear that we're not talking floaties here - the quantity of water was so huge that the sewage contamination was very, very diluted. )4) Work required on your home post-flood
Once your walls have gotten wet, the job of fixing your home becomes huge. If you're not insured, you may not bother, but if you have an insurer, they will rip off all the plasterboard (in our case up to 1200mm), remove all insulation etc, spray with anti-microbial sprays in the cavity and on the structural timber etc, then restore and repaint. Suncorp are even repainting all the ceilings - which obviously didn't get wet - because "it would look silly to have brand new fresh paint on the walls and not have repainted ceilings", which I thought was surprisingly generous. All the doors and timber door frames also come off and are replaced. Western red cedar garage doors - they're being replaced, too. All the electrical wiring that went underwater - also being replaced. (That's most of the downstairs power points.) All the 4-year-old kitchen cabinets - being MDF core - also written off and being replaced.
5) Ensuring you have adequate coverage
I know that nearly all of you will know it: but make sure you're generous in insuring your home and contents. I thought, that at $580K for our home (6 bedroom) and $130K for contents, we were pretty generously insured, but I now think that our insurance was just adequate. It is enough, but it's not too much! When we added up all the contents that we claimed, it came to around $90K. Thankfully, relative to our sum insured and the floor area that went under, that doesn't seem outrageous and Suncorp haven't balked (yet!
). But I'm glad we weren't insured for any less. I actually skimped on the claim a bit - didn't claim nearly as many CDs and kids' games as we really lost - because I didn't want to raise any eyebrows. If we'd been insured for more like $140K, our claim could have been about $5-10K more, I reckon. (Not that I'm complaining!)I also discovered that the amount available to us for alternative accommodation - as our house was rendered uninhabitable for probably 5 months - is based on the amount that the house is insured for. If we'd had the house insured for any less than $580K, we would have been quite short on the cost of alternative furnished accommodation for the 8 people and a dog that make up our household. We got an allowance of $1176 per week for furnished accommodation, but it's actually costing us $1250, so we are a little short - again, not that I'm complaining.
6) 50% Contents Rule
Many contents insurance policies have a rule that your contents claim for any event short of a total loss, or for a flood, can't exceed 50% of your contents value. I was told by the assessor that this rule would apply to us, but by Suncorp that it doesn't. In any case, something to be aware of. I know that at least one of our neighbours got their claim reduced due to this rule. He - a single guy - had contents insured for $52K, and probably lost 90% of his stuff (his home is single storey), but only got $26K due to the 50% rule.
7) Processing of contents claim
Our contents claim is coming through in "dribs and drabs". We got $5K as an emergency payment within days of the flood, and have since received another $40K for items on the claim that Suncorp considered straightforward. I believe that, for the rest, Suncorp are checking prices on the larger items, eg fridges, dishwasher, etc, and the remaining funds will come through in the coming weeks. Suncorp can get the fridges etc cheaper than retail through their buying power, so if we choose to be paid out cash rather than have them replace an item, we only get cash to the amount that it would cost Suncorp to replace (which is fair enough). So I suspect the $45K remaining on "our" list will come in around $30-40K.
Overall, despite the chaos, getting flooded has been quite a pleasurable experience. LOL
