Claims are won and lost in the first two days, mostly on documentation. Here’s the order.
1. Safety, then photographs
Water and power don’t mix and a compromised roof structure can come down. Once it’s safe, photograph everything before you move anything: wide shots of each elevation of the house, then close-ups. Date-stamped, from your phone, more than you think you need. Video walking through each room helps too.
If you have to move something to stop further damage, photograph it where it lies first.
2. Stop the damage from getting worse
Every policy obligates you to protect the property from further damage — tarps, board-up, water extraction. Do it, and keep the receipts. Reasonable emergency mitigation is generally reimbursable, and skipping it can reduce what’s owed on the damage that follows.
What it doesn’t mean is starting repairs. Mitigate; don’t rebuild.
3. Report it, and write down the claim number
Call your carrier or call us and we’ll do it with you. Get the claim number, the adjuster’s name, and a direct phone number if there is one. Start a single note on your phone with all of it, and log every call: date, who, what was said.
That log has settled more disagreements than any argument about policy language.
Louisiana has a filing deadline on property claims, and it is shorter than people assume. Don’t sit on it while you decide whether to file — report the loss, then decide.
4. Don’t sign anything the first week
After a storm, contractors work the neighborhoods, and most of them are fine. Some are not. Be careful with:
- Anything assigning your insurance benefits to a contractor.
- A contract with no scope, no price, and no completion date.
- Anyone demanding a large deposit up front.
- Anyone offering to “cover your deductible.” That’s fraud, and it’s your name on the claim.
Take the paperwork to us before you sign it. That’s a phone call, and we don’t charge for it.
5. Build your own inventory
For contents, list what was damaged: item, age, roughly what it cost, and a photo. Receipts and old phone pictures of your own house help enormously here. Nobody enjoys this and everyone who does it recovers more.
6. Track additional living expenses
If the house isn’t habitable, your policy likely pays for somewhere to stay and for the extra cost of living elsewhere. Keep every hotel folio, every restaurant receipt, every mile. Get the ALE limit from us so you know what you’re working within.
7. Meet the adjuster with your own documentation
Be there when they inspect. Walk them through your photos and your list. Ask them to show you the scope they wrote, and ask for a copy of the estimate.
If the estimate misses damage you documented, that’s a normal conversation, not a fight — supplements happen on most large claims. Send us the estimate and we’ll read it with you.
A word on why we push this
Our owner holds a Louisiana adjuster’s licence as well as a producer’s licence, and has worked claims from the carrier’s side. The difference between a well-documented claim and a poorly documented one, on the same damage, is not small. Everything above is the free version of what that experience buys you.
If you’re a client, call us first — (225) 347-4185 — and we’ll walk it with you from the first photo.
This is general information about how coverage typically works in Louisiana, not advice about your specific policy. Policy language, carrier practice, and state law all change, and yours may differ from what's described here. Your policy and its endorsements are the contract. For an answer that applies to you, send us your declarations page or call (225) 347-4185.Red Stick Insurance Agency · Louisiana licence #1260833 · NPN 22128563.