Help me learn from this experience...

[Steve Smith]

I'm reflecting back on a situation that happened over the last several days and trying to ensure that I properly identify the lessons learned.  I'll lay out the scenario below, and I'm hoping you all can provide some third-party perspective to help me figure out how I can handle this better in the future.  

Last week Thursday I received a call from one of my tenants informing me that a chunk of ice on the roof had fallen to the ground, taking with it the soffit, facia, and electrical mast.  The tenant had called the utility company, who shut down the power to the house, since the service from the street had been compromised from the falling ice.  

I had a chance to speak with the utility worker, who informed me that I should contact an electrician.  That the electrician should be able to fix the mast and appropriate components on the house and then the utility worker could come back out and restore power to the home.  This was all at about 10 pm or so.  I attempted to call an "emergency" electrician, but he never called me back.  

The next day, Friday, I called several electricians.  I was finally able to find one that had time to look at my project later that day.  At this point, my tenant was staying at a family members house.  The upcoming weekend was Christmas weekend.  The tenant wanted to get back home before Christmas, and I wanted that to happen as well.  

When the electrician arrived, he pretty quickly called me to let me know that the damage was pretty severe.  That, coupled with the fact that the house is very old, he anticipated that we'd need quite a bit of work done.  Independently of this, I had a handy man out at the house that day working on another more minor project.  While he was there, he took a look at the damage to the property and was pretty quick to advise me that I should file a claim with my insurance company.  Both the electrician and handyman thought that repair costs could easily be in the few thousands and therefore it'd be worth the effort of filing a claim with insurance.  

So, I called the insurance company next and filed a claim.  Due to the upcoming holiday weekend, they weren't able to get an adjuster out to the property until the following Tuesday (yesterday).  I wanted to wait for the adjuster before doing any work, but ultimately wanted to get power restored to the house before the weekend.  The insurance company said that I could start doing work before, but to take a bunch of pictures.  Also, the electrician informed me that this type of work is generally covered by insurance.  

With that information in hand, I went ahead an allowed the electrician to begin working.  I won't get into all of the details of that here, but all-in-all, the electrician restored power to the house and the tenant was able to get back in for the holiday weekend.  Because of the extent of the damage, the invoice for the electrician ended up being about $6,200.  My insurance policy has a $1,000 deductible, so I figured I'd be out the $1,000 and then have coverage beyond that.  

Fast forward to Tuesday (yesterday) and the adjuster was able to go out to the property to take a look.  He called me and informed me that he had had a chance to view the damage.  He also informed me that my landlord insurance policy was a "major peril" policy and only covered for 8 major items (fire, smoke, hail, etc., etc.).  But, ice dams were not one of the covered items and therefore I had no coverage for this particular claim.  I went back and forth with him and my insurance agent a bit, but it's ultimately not looking good in terms of getting any sort of coverage.  

The end game is that we are now out the $6,200 with no relief coming from insurance.  Add to that, the soffit and facia is still completely off from the house.  So, I will still need to get someone out to the property to make that repair.  At this point I'm not sure what that will cost, but it will be completely out of pocket.  

I've been replaying this scenario in my head trying to make sure I get the lessons learned down.  I certainly don't want to repeat any mistakes made here in the future.  

I'm hoping the community can weigh in and let me know what you think.  Where did I go wrong here?  Should I have had the electrician hold off until the adjuster was able to come to the house?  Should I have had better insurance?  Should I have waited until I could get more quotes for the electrical work?  Is $6,200 a reasonable amount to pay for that work (new mast, restored service, new electrical panel, arc faults, etc. -- I don't know much about electrical--)?  I'd love to hear what everyone thinks.  I'm located in Grand Rapids, Michigan for all those that have their keyword alerts set up.  Thanks - Steve

[Justin Workman]

sorry to hear of your mishap.  You have a made a few mistakes, and unfortunately they are going to cost you on this occasion, but you will learn from them and be better prepared for the future. First was your insurance policy, if you dont understand it, dont buy it.  Find an agent that will explain the policy options, and parts of the policy that you have questions about.  I am guessing that you have an acv policy, or maybe modified replacement for major peril.  Insurance is a major expences and should be gone over extensivly when shoping policies.  There is nothing you can do, but shop for a new plan, posibly an agent.  The second is the electrician.  Without an initial quote you set yourself up for being over charged.  A normal service upgrade, whitch includes a new panel, and mast should cost between 2 to 3k.  Its a one day job, and materials cost under 750 dollars which are included in that price.  I would ask the electrician for a detailed break down of his time and materials for the project,  make him be specific, provide you with recipts, and have your handyman verify his hours.  A typical electrician should charge between 75 and 125 an hour.  I can normaly rewire a house and have the mast replaced for less than 6k whitch includes around a week of labor and all the materials.  In the future find your trades when you dont need them, so you have them for occasions like this.  Looking back it will be one of the may educations that you paid for and will be smarter because of it.  Good luck.