Recovering From Hurricane Milton

Repairs After Hurricane Milton

A client reached out this morning asking for help with damage to their home from Hurricane Milton. So thought I would share that with you here.

Feel Free to share this with who needs it.

Keep Yourself and Your Home Safe

The first step is to of course make sure you and then the structure are safe and secure.

Depending on the damage you can send me a couple pictures if you need some ideas to secure the property. If it’s a roof leak, shingles missing, small section of roof damage, etc, a secured tarp is usually the best bet (usually with bricks, weights, or staples) to prevent further water damage from future rain storms.

It will likely take at weeks to potentially a few months to get the damage fixed depending on extent and insurance claims process.

Harbor Freight has the cheapest tarps, however they do not last very long in the elements. So my recommendation would be a heavy duty one from Home Depot, Lowes or other source though I imagine supplies will be limited.

Insurance Claim Process

I’m assuming this is wind damage and not flood / water damage.

If wind damage, then your Homeowner’s Insurance would be the first contact. You can contact either your policy claim department if you have your paperwork, or you can call your insurance agent / office for who you need to speak with. Not that your insurance agent / office may also be damaged and not readily answering the phones for a few days if they are local to the area. Earlier is likely better than later to get the insurance adjuster scheduled.

Public adjusters can be useful, however since they charge a significant chunk of the eventual claim for their services, it usually only makes sense if there is significant damage.

When I was flooded, it didn’t really make sense unless the claim was at least $80k – $100k+ range since their fee was more than any potential increase in the claims amount.

However, my experience was with a FEMA flood insurance claim. Homeowner’s Insurance is an entirely different (and usually more pleasant experience) for things like wind or tree damage. So you will need to evaluate for your specific situation.

Time Expectations

The main unfortunate recap is that the timeframe on these things is usually lengthy, especially since this is the second major storm in as many weeks.

So even if the insurance claim is processed quickly, the sheer amount of work that contractors have will take a very lengthy amount of time to work through.

One bit of advice is be extremely wary of hiring anyone from outside the area.

After major events people from outside the area descend like locusts and are not licensed to perform work in the county, and tend to move on to the next storm without making sure the work is performed correctly or sticking around to close out permits or worse case just taking deposits never to be seen again.

Do not feel rushed. Double and triple check contractor registration with your local county and city, bonds, and insurance. Having an LLC does not mean they are a licensed contractor!

Final Thoughts

You will make it through this. It looks like a mountain, and it is a lot to deal with.

But it’s one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, appreciate the little things, laugh at what you can, and enjoy and help the people around you.

If you have any additional concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, and I will help how I can.

Ready to get started?

If you have questions not answered here, or any concerns about the process of buying or selling your home, feel free to contact me via this contact for or schedule a phone call for a time that works for you.