Colorado Springs Wildfire

[DWBuilder]

Scary stuff. My house is about 3 miles east of the fire. Hope it stays that way. My shop is about 4 miles SE.

32,000 evacuated. Fire went form 6,500 Acres last night to 15,000 this morning.

It's 100 degrees here BEFORE the heat of the fire, thanks to all that are fighting it.

I have several friends who live in the neighborhood that the fire swept through last night. Don't yet know who lost their home.

Was listening to the CSFD scanner last night as they were discussing which houses to try and save and which ones were already in flames or gone. Heard several communications where they had to give up on a house and retreat. I've done a lot of work up in that area, kind of startling to hear them talk about houses on streets I'm very familiar with. Sad.

"Structure to structure ignition" was one term I heard.

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[DWBuilder]

More pics...

[tjbnwi]

Stay safe. I hope all goes well for you.

Tom

[parkwest]

The silver lining is it sounds like a lot of insurance work coming for contractors in your area.

[MarkNov]

I just found out that one of my facebook friends lost her house to that fire today. She and her family is officially homeless.

http://www.mydesert.com/article/2012...yssey=nav|head

Mark

[Overbuilders]

Scary stuff. Can't believe how it blew up overnight. So many beautiful properties off Woodman west of I-25. Real shame. As Tom said, stay safe.

[Mbeezo]

just heard on the news that something like 300 plus houses burned down by the fire. Quite a disaster.

Any news on your places?

[DWBuilder]

Hey Guys-

Thanks for all the well wishes. It's been kinda crazy trying to keep an eye on things, breathe the thick smoke and still get some work done....

The past couple of days and nights have been favorable to the firefighters, they have gained on it and are now at 15% containment.

Looks like my house and shop are out of the danger zone. I am due West of the houses that burned, so it was interesting when the winds were causing the fire to explode in my direction. They said glowing embers were starting fires 1/2 mile to 1 mile away. At 3 miles away I was hoping we were safe, but things changed so quickly Tuesday night we didn't really know for sure. It made me think about how much insurance coverage I have and what it would really take to start over.....

I have one friend who could see their house still standing in an aerial photo. Have another who found out their home was gone. There was a meeting last night for homeowners to find out info, haven't talked to anybody yet that was at the meeting.

346 houses burned to the ground. No reports yet on damage to structures that are still standing.

Obama is coming to look today. It's campaign season ya know....

[DWBuilder]

The silver lining is it sounds like a lot of insurance work coming for contractors in your area.

That's exactly right, Park. The gears are turning about how to market my services to rebuild some of the homes.

At this point I am conflicted a little about feeling like a vulture, but someone has to rebuild the houses so I might as well toss my hat in the ring. Early bird gets the worm, I just need to figure out what is appropriate as far as timing and method.

I have a weekend house up in the mountains that burned down in the Hayman Fire 10 years ago, so I have a unique perspective as far as all the questions and emotions involved in a fire destroying everything and then rebuilding. I think I can leverage that aspect to separate myself from the crowd.

However, rebuilding my own place is my only experience working with insurance companies. I owned it free and clear, so they just wrote me a check and said "do what you want". I only do new construction, no remodeling. We're doing good considering the economy, so I don't need to "buy" any experience working with insurance companies, any pearls of wisdom?

[tjbnwi]

Start here;

http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/s...rance-adjustor

Tom

[jimAKAblue]

That's exactly right, Park. The gears are turning about how to market my services to rebuild some of the homes.

At this point I am conflicted a little about feeling like a vulture, but someone has to rebuild the houses so I might as well toss my hat in the ring. Early bird gets the worm, I just need to figure out what is appropriate as far as timing and method.

I have a weekend house up in the mountains that burned down in the Hayman Fire 10 years ago, so I have a unique perspective as far as all the questions and emotions involved in a fire destroying everything and then rebuilding. I think I can leverage that aspect to separate myself from the crowd.

However, rebuilding my own place is my only experience working with insurance companies. I owned it free and clear, so they just wrote me a check and said "do what you want". I only do new construction, no remodeling. We're doing good considering the economy, so I don't need to "buy" any experience working with insurance companies, any pearls of wisdom?

Providing a much needed service, is not anything to be ashamed of.

If you do decide to jump in, you will certainly be able to empathize with any of your potential customers. That will go a long way in building bridges.

However, the insurance industry is getting tougher. They are playing a lot of hardball and you might find that you are facing a steep learning curve in order to get the claimants a decent settlement.

I don't have any experience in dealing with whole house catastrophes myself. I intentionally stayed away from the Austin/Bastrop fires last year because I assumed that most homeowners were going to take a lump sum check and buy somewhere else. I also assumed that the fight to get them paid fair would be too time consuming and not something I was interested in pursuing, even if we did get the adjustment where it needs to be. I'm just not interested in spending a couple of months building someone's house. I also didn't want to get involved in project managing major burn reconstructions.

If you do decide to jump in, I'd suggest checking out this estimating program: http://www.burcos.com/3rstimax.htm. The author, Larry, posts on this forum: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...Txvb8G7xxHFCQQ. There are many, many posts there dealing with the challenges of getting paid fairly from the insurers and Larry seems to be one of the most progressive, and aggressive in terms of dealing with the well fortified insurance industry. He DOES NOT use Xactimate but does have extensive knowledge about it.

I haven't purchased his system (yet) because I am a subscriber to Xactimate but I've decided that I'm going to switch and use his program in conjunction with my own roof building 3d software (Chief Architect) when this subscription expires. Technically, I don't really need the 3d sketches of the roof, especially if I'm working off the insurance paperwork or some satellite but I like to verify all the numbers in order to properly ship enough product when we build the roofs.

Obviously, you have your own estimating systems in place and they might serve you well but I suspect that you'd miss quite a bit of specific insurance catastrophe type line items that could add up fast. I know I've left a lot of money on the table over the past few years in my restoration efforts and using a system like his certainly would have shortened the learning curve.

I think his system is priced at about $350 which is a one time thing. Compare that to an Xactimate subscription of $250 per month and you can see that it will be a cost effective switch for me. I know that I'd re coup the entire $350 on my first roof if I was green in the insurance restoration business. I'd probably have put at least $1000 in my pocket on EVERY roof that I'd done and quite possible a lot more.

[DWBuilder]

Start here;

http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/s...rance-adjustor

Tom

Thanks Tom, a lot of good info.

[tjbnwi]

You're welcome.

The one I'm working on now is the exact opposite, great adjuster, easy to converse with. Customer has been told by me, anything beyond like kind and quality is his responsibility to pay. He understands this and has paid to upgrade a few things.

Read the policy, and understand it. State law and the policy determine how the claim should be handled.

Be upfront and honest with all involved. Do not promise more than you can deliver. If you don't know, say such, it is an acceptable answer. Do your best to find the correct answer. Ever corrispondance from the insurance company will contain a fraud threat, it is a scare tactic, your client is due to them everything allowed under the law and policy. Fighting for them honestly is what needs to be done.

If you need to hire a public adjuster, make sure they are a great auditor and negotiator.

Tom

[DWBuilder]

Providing a much needed service, is not anything to be ashamed of.

I agree Jim. I just need to be thoughtful in my approach. A lot of raw emotions 'round here at the moment.

However, the insurance industry is getting tougher. They are playing a lot of hardball and you might find that you are facing a steep learning curve in order to get the claimants a decent settlement.

The insurance end of it may very well be more learnin' than I am up for, especially since insurance work is not my business model to begin with.....

Every structure I looked at that burned to the ground when I rebuilt my place was a total tear out and rebuild. The foundations were spalled and cracked from heat. When the walls fell either in or out it broke out anchor bolts or took sections of foundation with it--nothing was salvageable. The demo and haul off was pretty straight forward.

For the current situation, I would only target the total losses. I don't have the expertise or subs for the structures that need repair, nor am I interested in learning about it. There are others that would be better suited to the repairs. I prefer to refine and fine-tune what I already do well.

When my place burned, I went back and forth with my insurance company (USAA), but they ended up being more than fair about costs. They also paid me 20% OH&P.

I had a 25% cost of replacement rider on my policy. They said if I spent an extra 25% they would reimburse me. When I called them out to verify the extra 25% was spent, the guy just looked around and said "WOW". Didn't ask for receipts or documentation. Took some pictures and measurements and I had a $40K check a couple weeks later. I rolled that 25% back in along with the 20% O&P and some more cash and we now have the "Taj-Mahal" in the mountains. If it wasn't an hour and a half away, I would live there.

Anyhow, I expect my positive experience with USAA is the exception and probably the polar opposite of what I would encounter with this deal.

[tjbnwi]

The last 2 policies I looked over excluded the foundation. Something to be aware of.

With all of this talk about insuance lately, I hope everyone got their policy out and reviewed it. Google the company for complaints, check your state insurance commissions web site. Easier to change now, than fight after a lose.

Tom