REINSTATING YOUR DAMAGED HOME WITH INTEGRITY
We lead your dream team when it comes to assessing and reinstating damage to your home
In today’s world of quality data and information why not get the very best information you can get about your biggest asset, your home? Being well prepared for whatever comes your way does minimse future insurance risk, decreases cost, and can speed up post disaster dwelling assessment processes. Implement one of the biggest lessons from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence by having quality-pre-disaster data on your home, data that travels with the home (not the homeowner) because it as valuable as having your home insured.
Our Services
We specialise in supporting homeowners reinstate their homes
If your purchased a home in Canterbury before August 2019, and registered for the Treasury/EQC Onsold Programme before October 2020, you may be eligible to have your home reinstated with over-cap costs met by Treasury under the terms the ‘On-sold Programme‘.
Three really important points about the On-sold Programme. Firstly, it is a homeowner led programme, that means you are in charge, not your builder, not your engineer, not the lifting company, not EQC, and not Treasury. Secondly, you have a right to make an informed choice prior to a settlement with EQC (a decision that pivots on quality information). Thirdly, you will carry the risk during the construction phase (not EQC).
- If you have not progressed past the registration stage yet, contact us and we will walk you through what needs to be done. We will help you follow best practice and a good process. Not only are we project managers we have excellent insurance knowledge and understanding of this Programme.
- If you are some way along (but no hammers have hit nails) we can review what has been done so far; a risk review. Once the risks are known (and cause identified) we work with you, EQC and your builder to satisfactorily close relevant gaps.
Right from the start we wrap a solid process around you and your team. We guide you and your team one stage at a time.
Low profile bots, and sturdy bots for those hard to get places
If you need a bot t get under a ring and pile foundation then contact us. We are building a range of robots in partnership with Rokka Tech. You are welcome to have our tech come to site and take images and be provide with the raw data, or invest in a PhotoBook as an add on. The images we provide are some of the clearest and best in the market, meaning a much better outcome for all stakeholders.
We ensure our robots are all frequency complaint conforming with health and safety regulations.
Deep dive facts about your home
Having as much detail on your home as possible before a disaster will assist greatly when determining the insurance response. This is because the more we know about your home before a disaster the easier it will be to prove loss, progress your claim, and give your insurer (and EQC) the confidence they need to approve claims and reinstatement strategies. It might even help you better determine what your sum insurer should be.
We recommend strict routines be followed and data be gathered by independent professionals using high quality equipment and processes. The facts gathered about a home may include some or all of the following:
- High quality imagery foundation imagery (internal and external as applicable)
- Floor levels
- Soundings (as applicable)
- Cladding imagery / investigation
- Roofing imagery / investigation
Once the facts are gathered we compile them into a digital format for safe retention; data that travels with the home not the homeowner.
Keep all of your ‘house stuff’ kept in one place (that can include claim files and property files too), well managed using content management principles, ideally your house data travelling with your home; transferring from owner to owner.
Keeping it just to the foundation
If your home has a ring and pile foundation we place one of our robots under the floor. We take extensive images of the interior face of the foundation and each pile, but we don’t stop there. We take appropriate images of the exterior face of the foundation as well. We do this so your experts can compare internal and external elements and make informed decisions.
Our data output is compiled into what we call a HouseStuff PhotoBook, it includes links to image maps, and the original image files. Your house data is contained in one safe place for your future use.
Note: Many structural engineers prefer us because they appreciate the quality of the output and our process. Clear, high quality images of inaccessible areas means your team is less likely to miss damage, and your insurer will have greater confidence in the findings.
Initial Assessment – Proving the Loss
We work with you to obtain the initial data needed to re-open a claim or prove loss. The nature of the disaster that caused damage to your home will determine the initial assessments that are required; as will knowing if an insurance claim is involved.
Initial assessment may involve some, but not all, of the following:
- Sub-floor robotic inspections
- Floor levels
- Foundation Soundings
- Cladding inspection*
- Roofing inspection*
*We may recommend you defer cladding and roofing inspections to a later stage in the process based on the nature of the disaster.
Did You Know?
As a homeowner it is technically your responsibility to prove loss. Therefore the more you know about your home before a disaster strikes the more able you are to prove loss.
Deep Dive Facts About Someone Else’s Home
Having as much detail about a home as possible before you buy is useful and will alleviate worry, but it can become very costly. If you are buying in a post disaster environment (for example Canterbury) we recommend the current owner provides you with independent verified data that consists of:
- HouseStuff PhotoBook – ring and pile foundations (option to include floor levels)
- HouseStuff Certified Floor Levels and Soundings – slab foundations
- Flyover Home Imagery
- Data on any previous dwelling insurance repairs and / or claims (inclusive of any discharge of claims)
- Evidence of previous insurance repairs completed
This is because the more you know about a home before you buy it the less risk there is missed damage from previous events that becomes costly and stressful to resolved.
Concerned and Not Sure What to Do?
If you are concerned about the state of your reinstatement project, or perhaps you purchased a home and worried there is missed earthquake damage we can complete a complimentary review of what has gone before – giving you some direction on pathways to ease your concern.
